Online Supervision with Dr Diana Kopua is a kaupapa for kaimahi, paid employees and volunteers, who have been working in the affected areas of Aotearoa offering support and relief from the flood and devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle. This is aimed at those on the front line, as well as carers of those who have been impacted.
Online Supervision is a space that supports frontline workers and volunteers to share information, seek diverse input and promote collective thinking.
Diana is of Ngāti Porou descent although raised in
Porirua under the umbrella of Ngāti Toa. In 1990 Diana began her journey in the health industry, training first as a nurse. Diana developed Mahi a Atua in the mid-90s and then in 2002 studied medicine at the University of Otago. In 2014 she completed her specialist training in psychiatry and is a Fellow of the Royal Australia New Zealand College of Psychiatry. Mahi a Atua was embedded into several services and it became the philosophy behind the ground-breaking Te Kūwatawata service and Te Hiringa Matua (a parenting and pregnancy service working with families struggling with addictions). These services aim to address institutional constraints that impact negatively on Māori. Diana was the Clinical Lead for both these services in their inception and development. Diana continues to lead change through her collaboration with her husband Mark Kopua and together they are growing a collective of Mataora (change agents who are trained in Mahi a Atua) who work to indigenise their respective communities of practice.