A Brief History of the Otago Mental Health Support Trust

The Otago Manic Depressive Support Trust was established in August 1989 following the provision of education groups within the Dunedin Public Hospital and awareness amongst those people with the disorder and health professionals that there was a need in the community for better education and support services.

The information and education groups used material developed by the Christchurch Manic Depressive Society Inc. The Christchurch Manic Depressive Society Inc. was funded by the NZ Department of Health and the Roy McKenzie Foundation to prepare these educational booklets.

The Trust was incorporated as a society under the Charitable Trusts Act on 24^th September 1990.   At that time, the Board consisted entirely of people with the disorder, with the exception of one who was a Health Professional.

In February 1991, a Fieldworker was appointed, funded through the New Zealand Employment Service Job Subsidy and the Lotteries Commission. A second Fieldworker was appointed in 1994. To this day the Trust seeks to employ at least one fieldworker with the disorder.

Up until 1991, the Educational Groups were run by Health professionals with the society providing support and advocacy for persons with the disorder. During 1991, the society went through a period of conflict where the consumer driven model came into conflict with the medical driven model. The outcome was that persons with the disorder began running the educational groups.

The Trust until then had operated from the Social and Rehabilitation Centre in Union Street. Following the conflict, the Otago Manic Depressive Support Trust moved to premises located within the Dunedin Public Hospital Community Health Services Section.

In 1994, the group contracted directly with the Regional Health Authority for the provision of the services. The service then moved to its own premises in a central location not affiliated with the hospital.

The Signpost contract was offered to the OMDST in an umbrella role by the then Health Funding Authority in late 1999. This followed the breakdown of an existing trust, the Otago Community Mental Health Trust which had been allocated the funds but did not have a membership able to implement it. Some of the people in the original trust formed a steering committee that worked through 2000 in partnership with OMDST staff and management to pilot the programme. After consultations and negotiations a separate contract for 1 FTE was accepted by OMDST. This represented a departure from the original aim of the trust, which was to provide services solely to those with a bipolar diagnosis.

In April 2005 the Trust legally changed its name to Otago Mental Health Support Trust. This is the legal entity that manages two services and two contracts, Bipolar Network and Signpost. For clarity, from this point forward the trust will be referred to as Otago Mental Health Support Trust.

2^nd August 2005