Head injury horror AROHA'S ANCIENT REMEDY

When depression hit, the Mean Mums’ star turned to Maori medicine

- Kasia Jillings 

Mean Mums actor Aroha Rawson's lifepath forever changed after falling through a skylight, leaving her with a head injury and a broken back.

Then 27 years old, the terrifying near-death experience began a lifelong healing journey into rongoà (Māori healing).

"I had the whole out-of-body experience," recalls Aroha of the 2002 accident. "I saw myself lying on the ground and had a light to my right. I couldn't see him, but Dad, who died when I was nearly three, was there. The message was I could come to him, but I didn't have to. I thought of Mum and went back."

Initially, treatment was in the public health system with many specialist appointments.

"There was a clinical psychologist, musculoskeletal specialist, occupational and physiotherapists - multiple people working on one body," says Aroha, now 47.

"I had the same conversation repeatedly. It was my untrained responsibility to decipher and weave the information from one specialist to the next.

“The head injury was a huge challenge and triggered depression.”

A resilient Aroha persevered with her recovery while starting to reconnect with her Māori heritage.

Raised in north Canterbury by her Scots/Irish mum after her Māori father passed away, reclaiming her culture was initially a distant hope.