About
Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki
Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki grew from lived experience, cultural connection, and a deep belief that carers deserve to feel seen, supported, and understood.
This space is being created as a place of learning, listening, and community, where carers and whānau can find support that honours both culture and personhood.
Meet The Founder
Hinemoana Harding
Founder - Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki
Walking alongside carers, honouring Elders, and strengthening spirit through culturally safe dementia support.
Informed by lived experience as a dementia carer and academic study in dementia care and social ecology.
My journey into dementia care did not begin in a classroom — it began at home.
When my mother was diagnosed with dementia, I stepped into a role I had not anticipated: daughter, advocate, learner, and carer. Like many families, we initially mistook the early changes for normal ageing. Yet even before her diagnosis, Mum sensed something was shifting. She described her memory changes with the words hoha wareware, expressing both frustration and humour.
Caring for Mum opened my eyes to the complexity of dementia, not only medically, but culturally and relationally. I witnessed how identity, dignity, and spirit are just as important as clinical understanding.
This experience led me to deepen my knowledge through formal study in dementia care and ageing support, confirming what I had already come to understand: dementia is experienced differently by every person and every family, and cultural context shapes how care is understood and given.
My Journey
Walking alongside Mum — the beginning of a deeper understanding.
As I navigated this journey, I chose to deepen my knowledge through formal study in dementia care and ageing support. What I learned confirmed what I had already felt: Dementia is experienced differently by every person and every family, and cultural context shapes how care is understood and given.
Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki grew from this lived experience, a desire to create spaces where carers feel supported, where Elders are honoured, and where cultural knowledge and clinical understanding can sit respectfully alongside one another.
From these experiences, Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki began to take shape, not as a business idea, but as a response to what I had witnessed and learned.
It grew from a desire to ensure that carers, particularly within Indigenous and culturally diverse communities, feel supported in ways that honour both knowledge and spirit.
Our Purpose
Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki exists to support carers of people living with dementia through culturally grounded education, connection, and wellbeing practices that honour Elders, families, and community knowledge.
The Heart of This Work
This initiative is shaped by listening, learning, and community connection.
Living These Values
These values are not simply guiding words — they have shaped my own caring journey and continue to guide how this work grows.
Whanaungatanga
Connection & belonging
Connection and belonging have been central to my caring journey. Whanaungatanga reminds us that no one should walk this path alone, and that care is held within relationship.
Manaakitanga
Caring for my mother taught me the depth of dignity and respect within care. Manaakitanga calls us to honour the mana of elders and carers alike.
Care & Respect
Wairuatanga
Spiritual Wellbeing
The caring journey touches the spirit as much as the body. Wairuatanga holds space for reflection, meaning, and steadiness within change.
Caring Spirits & Wairua Manaaki respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which this work takes place across Australia and pays deep respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders past, present, and emerging.
We honour their enduring connection to Country, culture, community, and storytelling.
This work is also grounded in Māori values of manaakitanga (care and hospitality), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and wairuatanga (spiritual wellbeing), reflecting my own cultural heritage and guiding how this initiative walks alongside carers and whānau with respect and humility.
Cultural Acknowledgement
Care happens within culture, whānau, and community — not in isolation.
Every caring journey is unique, and support should honour people’s values, identity, and lived realities.
Rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions, this work grows slowly and thoughtfully in response to carers’ voices.
A Guiding Thought
Whaia te iti kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei.
Aim for what is truly valuable; if you must bow, let it be to a mountain of great importance.