Youth is a distinct developmental stage marked by rapid biological, cognitive, and psychosocial change. Today’s rangatahi are navigating compounding pressures driven by major global environmental, economic, political, and technological shifts. There is clear evidence of rising distress, including declines in mental health. Persistent inequities in this distress, including in suicide rates, continue to widen, and these inequities must remain a central focus as we seek solutions.
The way we work, our relational approach, values, and the power arrangements we enact, is as important as the methodologies we use. When we commit to a relational and values‑driven approach, and to achieving transformative outcomes that genuinely change the lived realities of the people we seek to serve, our methods must evolve accordingly. This commitment often requires us to adapt, refine, or fundamentally transform our methodological frameworks. It also means stepping aside so that methodologies grounded in Indigenous epistemologies can guide the research.
Grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, our programme of research centres mātauranga Māori as equal to Western psychiatric paradigms, and this stance reshapes research priorities and questions, our ways of working, the outcomes that are valued, and the evidence that is generated. Examples from our youth suicide prevention research will be used to illustrate how epistemic and decision‑making power have been shifted so that Indigenous knowledge, youth expertise, and equitable power arrangements are centred, enabling typically marginalised voices to become methodological leaders rather than participants. As a result, the entire research endeavour, from the questions asked through to research outputs and implementation, is reshaped, with methodological innovation producing meaningful and equitable outcomes that can be implemented to support genuine and enduring change.