Our History

The CCT was formed in 1995, it has evolved from a Dunedin After Care Society. A change in the national health funding structure, at that time, meant that the After Care Society needed to change it's function and purpose.

The Dunedin Community Care Trust (DCCT) was formed, with fifteen people supported by one staff member, to access the community for support with shopping and appointments.

In 1996, a lack of alternatives to group homes, saw us develop the innovative Core and Cluster service in Dunedin. This was based on models being used in Scotland.

Our success in supporting challenging and complex young men in this service, prompted us to look at supporting other people with high and complex needs, in a range of independent living arrangements.

We collaborated with the Health Fundation Authority (HFA) to develop, using the same innovative service specifications, both the Core and Cluster (1996), and then the High and Complex Pilot Projects (1998).

It was at this time that we decided that all support and funding would be managed in the same way. We began our current practice of only contracting funding for staff support and associated staffing costs.

Two very early and radical decisions for that time which we have maintained were that:

  1. Everybody we support would receive their own income and be supported to live within this, and
  2. The Trust would have no property assets.
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Changes to training of staff

In 1996, we purchased the IABA competency based training package for all staff  for supporting people with challenging behaviour. We adopted the IABA Multi-Element Model and their Periodic Service Review (PSR) for internal quality management.

This ensures all staff are competent and professional to a consistent level, they understand behaviours and know how to value and support people in a positive manner to achieve their goals.

The PSR ensures that we have all the information, systems and resources in place that allow staff to complete their work with all the best possible outcomes for the individual. These remain in place today.

In 2010, we are now a larger organisation that supports over 150 people, in Otago and Southland with over 150 staff.

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