Mrs Turia told more than 150 people attending the first day of a two-day physiotherapy scientific conference that the family provided ''a vital source'' of identity, security and strength, and the Whanau Ora scheme was based on this premise.
The PhysioForward 1913 conference is part of a series of activities being held in Dunedin this week to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Otago University School of Physiotherapy in 1913.
Mrs Turia, who is also the Minister of Disability Issues, said much of Government policy was focused on people as individuals, but the Whanau Ora scheme acknowledged that many people ''can't really take care of themselves'' as individuals, and also needed strong support from their families.
The aim was to take control of the situation, to ''take control of the future'' when it came to family-based support.
She also took issue with critics who put too much emphasis on the weaknesses of families, ''rather than looking at their strengths''.
Many families had had ''a number of different agencies treading down'' their pathways, but a more family-based, interagency approach had been needed.
The ''exciting'' reality was that 33,000 families, including non-Maori families, had already been involved with the Whanau Ora approach and feedback suggested they were finding this a positive approach.
In the past the extended family had played a bigger role, and she suggested to physiotherapists that they think not only of their patients as individuals, but also took account of their family backgrounds.
