Chief Executive Officer
Mapu Maia

Tuala is currently the CEO of Mapu Maia, leading a team of experienced and qualified Pacific clinicians, social workers, peer support workers and public health promoters in mental health, addictions and co-existing issues, Rainbow services, research and youth services. Over the last twenty-four years, Tuala has worked in problem gambling, public health, tertiary education and community development. She has previously served as an elected board member for the New Zealand Health Promotion Forum, elected co-chair of DRUA, the National Network of Pacific Mental Health and Addiction Practitioners of NZ, and as the National Director of Public Health at the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand. She also represents the Pacific sector on the NGO Health and Disability Council of New Zealand. Tuala is passionate about working towards positive health outcomes for Pacific families and communities, affirming that our solutions come from within us.

I bring a comprehensive understanding of the health and social services sector from both a governance and front-line perspective. Furthermore, I carry knowledge of trends in Aotearoa, New Zealand’s gambling space, and a deep understanding of the variety of service user needs, broader population strategies and the requirements for a fit workforce to serve Māori and Pacific communities. As such, I can provide correspondence on the status of Pacific Health, its current trends, and the challenges that service users and health providers face in fully supporting these communities. Having been a CEO for a sector-leading health provider for clinical and non-clinical services, I can speak to the experience of strategically leading and monitoring workforce needs and professional development pathways for individuals of all levels of work experience. I also have taken strategic steps in developing a plan for responsiveness to Māori communities and whānau after observing the overlap of health needs for Māori and Pacific clients engaging with Mapu Maia’s services. As a current board member serving on multiple boards, I carry a diverse understanding of the workforce needs for Pacific organisations occupying different spaces and the current trends of Pacific health workforce competencies. I am eager to offer my insights on how this knowledge can apply to similar circumstances and the wider workforce development status of the social services sector.

I would like to see a collective input from the variety of expertise of NIAG members utilised to form progressive solutions for challenges faced by Aotearoa, New Zealand’s workforce. More specifically, I would like to see increased development for Māori and Pacific workforce competency, skillsets, and pathways for increased representation of Māori and Pacific peoples across health and social services. Furthermore, creating necessary improvements to form new Māori and Pacific workforce standards that combine cultural competency, mainstream skills, and an authentic determination to support their communities in achieving positive health outcomes.