Tāne Wānanga

Moana X Planting Seeds X McIndoe Media

Little Matters is a movement kicked off by ACC, and an invitation to all of Aotearoa: take it and make it your own. We took them up on the offer, with one tāne wānanga.

There's a healthy men's movement happening, and it's growing every day. Most of it began with mental health and suicide. But the issues underneath are the same ones that sit under addiction and violence. The tāne movement's first job was breaking down walls. Making it okay to talk. Making it okay for men to be soft and tender. Making it okay to feel things. Making it okay to ask for help. That work has been happening for a while now, to the point it's less about 'making it okay', and more that it's strong, even normal, to talk, feel, and get help.

The next shift is from 'talking about it' to 'being about it'. Talking is still needed. But more tāne are finding connection where nothing has to be said out loud. Everyone knows the intention, and the codes and tikanga the group lives by. A run club. A monthly hīkoi. Getting together for acts of service.

Little Matters fits naturally into both of those spaces. So, if we can show one tāne wānanga incorporating it, then maybe another will too. And another. And that's how movements are created.