Our services are available to whānau from a diverse range of backgrounds, aimed to restore their well-being and enhance their social resiliency.
Our kaimahi take a trauma-informed, non-judgemental, strength-based approach to help strengthen relationships between parents/caregivers and their tamariki.
We aim to educate whānau, develop their parenting skills while focusing on improving all challenges and encouraging intergenerational change, including health, children’s growth and development, learning and relationships.
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The Family Start programme offers free, voluntary home visits to support expecting parents and those with pēpi and tamariki (up to 2 years old).
You can self-refer through this website, by email or by calling us. You can also be referred by healthcare or education providers, legal professionals, or community workers.
Family Start empowers whānau to build a strong and positive future for their tamariki. Our focus is on the health, education, safety, and development of your tamaiti.
We achieve this by:
A dedicated Family Start worker will visit you regularly at home, starting with weekly visits. They'll get to know your whānau – you, your partner (if applicable), and your precious tamariki. Together, you'll explore your parenting strengths and identify areas where support might be helpful.
They will also help you get the right health care for your tamaiti, support you to keep your pēpi safe, explain how your pēpi is growing and changing at different ages, and help you work out what you want to achieve, change or improve. Your kaimahi will also make a plan with you to help you get there, offering advice and ideas to help you solve problems.
Read the Family Start brochure for more info.
"Cathy would visit me in my home every week and gave me exercises to help me bond with my baby [...] all of these exercises really helped me connect with my son before he was born"
Expectant parents and parents of newborn and young children qualify for Family Start. If this is you, you can self-refer using our contact form or get your healthcare professional or community worker to refer you.
You can self-refer by calling us or using the contact form on our website. You can also ask your healthcare professional or community worker to refer you directly. We have a downloadable form you can email or print out if you'd like to refer this way too.
Our Family Start programme is free and voluntary, meaning that you can withdraw at any point with zero consequences.
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Our Home-based Family Support programme provides personalised guidance in your own home, helping you build confidence and nuture the potential of your tamariki.
You can self-refer through this website, by email or by calling us. You can also be referred by healthcare or education providers, legal professionals, or community workers.
Our Home-based Family Support service works with parents and caregivers who want to develop and strengthen their parenting skills and confidence, so that their tamariki are able to reach their full potential.
Our social workers visit whānau in their own homes to:
Alongside this, we also aim to support other areas that impact on parenting:
We can support you with goals that you want to work on, as well as offer the Circle of Security Parenting Course one-on-one, in your home. At your place, at your pace.
Read the Home-based Family Support brochure for more info.
You can self-refer by completing the online form, calling us or using the contact form on the Contact Us page. You can also ask your healthcare professional or community worker to refer you directly. We have a downloadable form you can email or print out if you'd like to refer this way too.
A Social Worker will come visit you and your whānau weekly at your own home.
Our Home-based Family Support service is a short to medium term programme (around 6 to 9 months) for parents/ caregivers with tamariki and rangatahi aged up to 18 years.
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A community-based justice process that offers victims of a crime the opportunity to address the harm done, and what can be done realistically by the offender to put things right.
You can self-refer through this website, by email or by calling us. You can also be referred by healthcare or education providers, legal professionals, or community workers.
Restorative Justice refers to a process where those affected by an incident of wrongdoing come together in a safe and controlled environment, to share their feelings and opinions truthfully and resolve together how best to deal with its aftermath. The process is called restorative because it is concerned primarily with restoring the dignity and well-being of those harmed by the incident.
We have a contract with the Ministry of Justice and are the only provider in Otago to provide restorative justice services to the Dunedin and Alexandra Courts of Law.
When an offender has pleaded guilty or been found guilty in court, a judge decides if restorative justice should be explored. It is a voluntary process for both the offender and the victim. If the offender is willing to take part, the case will be assessed to see if it is suited to restorative justice. Then the victim will be contacted to ask if they are interested in talking about it with the facilitators.
All referrals to this service come through the court system or police diversion. To find out more about Restorative Justice call 0800 FAM CARE (03 477 0801) or enquire through this website using our contact form.
This service is voluntary, so it can be limited by how willing each party is to participate.
When an offender has pleaded guilty or been found guilty in court, a judge may direct if restorative justice should be explored. If both parties are willing to participate, they will meet separately with our trained facilitators. The facilitators will assess whether or not it is appropriate to continue with a meeting together.
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The counselling service offers free counselling for individuals with a focus on restoring parents/caregivers wellbeing to strengthen relationships within the whānau.
You can self-refer through this website, by email or by calling us. You can also be referred by healthcare or education providers, legal professionals, or community workers.
Our short-term service is offered in a warm, welcoming, and non-judgemental space, with a solution-focused approach. We hold at the core of our values that the client has the resources to find solutions to manage life’s often complex and sometimes unexpected challenges.
This service is for people who wish to enhance the well-being of tamariki in their care by being supported to live their lives in a more satisfying way - both personally and in their relationships with their tamariki and whānau.
To qualify for our counselling service, the person referred needs to be responsibile for the care of tamariki between 0–18 years. This could include shared care, regular contact, as well as full time care.
Counselling is delivered by qualified members of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC).
On occasion, we have counselling students on placement who are in their final year of study. All our students are well supervised and working towards their membership to the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC). Working with students is voluntary.
Read the Counselling brochure for more info.
Yes, this counselling service is free.
The Counselling Service is a brief intervention service and the usual amount of sessions is between six and eight. There can be some flexibility in exceptional circumstances.
Counselling sessions can involve exploring sensitive issues that can bring up strong emotions that may not be appropriate to have a child present for. We ask that children not come to appointments and try to accommodate appointment times that support this.
Our Counselling Service offers individual counselling for adults. The only criteria for our service is that the person referred has the care of a child/children between 0-18 years (this can be fulltime, shared care, regular contact). Our Counsellor uses person centred and solution focused approaches in the sessions as well as offering specific approaches where appropriate, eg: Circle of Security Parenting Programme, Deep Brain Re-orientation (specific approach for PTSD and anxiety).
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North Otago
South Otago
Central Otago
Dunedin
A free home-based service that assists whānau who have been affected by family violence. This service is driven by whānau, our role is to support them to move towards their dreams and aspirations. We work with whānau to begin the process of building a whānau plan, including developing a safety plan together.
North Otago
South Otago
Central Otago
Dunedin
A coordinated community approach that helps whānau reach their potential. At the heart of the Strengthening Families process is a whānau having trouble coping with life’s challenges. Strengthening Families brings them together with all the agencies that have a part to play in helping whānau achieve their desired outcomes.
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