Dunedin mental health crisis respite care home opens

Dunedin’s new mental health crisis respite care home opens today significantly increasing the city’s capacity for emergency respite care.

Located less than 10 minutes from Dunedin Hospital, the five-bedroom property and its dedicated team of clinical staff and trained mental health support workers will provide adults experiencing acute mental distress with 24-hour residential support.

The new service is the result of an expanded contract between Te Whatu Ora Southern and community service provider Pact. The service will be run by Pact, which specialises in helping people recovering from mental illness through supported 24/7 accommodation, respite care and community support. Pact manages a similar home in Lower Hutt.

The newly renovated property is comfortable and spacious, and provides home-like surroundings in a tranquil garden setting. There is space for whānau to see their loved ones privately or even stay overnight on site if they wish to do so.

It will accommodate clients referred by Mental Health, Addiction and Intellectual Disability (MHAIDS) or General Practice teams, who require crisis respite in a residential setting. Pact will work closely with the teams and inpatient services to ensure tangata whaiora (those seeking wellbeing) receive the support they need.

The specialist home will result in a fivefold increase in Dunedin’s mental health respite capacity – from 365 bed nights per year to 1,825 bed nights per year – and aims to free up hospital beds and staff.  Inpatient hospital services will continue to be available for those who need them.

Toni Gutschlag, Executive Director of Mental Health, Addictions and Intellectual Disability for Te Whatu Ora Southern, says Dunedin has historically had a one-bed unit available for emergency respite care so the capacity expansion is addressing a long-standing service gap.

“Many more people in crisis will be able to access professional, clinically-led, community-based support rather than hospitalisation, enabling them to remain closer to home,” she says. “Our aim is to provide earlier intervention and more focused care for people in the Dunedin region, and an improved experience for users and their whānau.”

Pact General Manager Thomas Cardy says Pact is delighted to offer the new support option as a potential alternative to hospital admission for the Dunedin community.

“We anticipate it will help a number of people who otherwise might have been admitted or sent home to access short term support with clinical oversight in collaboration with Te Whatu Ora Southern mental health teams and the Emergency Psychiatric service.”

The Dunedin initiative meets areas of need identified through the 2021 Time for Change – Te Hurihanga review. It is part of a larger programme of mental health reforms underway to bring mental health and wellbeing care closer to home and make it easier to access for everyone.

Time for Change – Te Hurihanga is a focused year-long project led by Te Whatu Ora Southern to address health, equity, location, social and systemic issues and put people at the centre of care.

It’s part of the direction to transform Aotearoa’s mental health and addiction system over the next 10 years. The new health and disability reforms recognise that mental wellbeing is influenced by factors including income, housing, and employment - requiring a whole-of-government approach. It aims to support people to stay well, and have access to help that works for them, when and where they need it.

More information about the Time for Change – Te Hurihanga programme and review are available at www.southernhealth.co.nz/timeforchange.  An interim report detailing the projects and their planned timelines, an overview of the actions completed or underway, as well as next steps, will be released in the next few weeks.