Services

Mission to Men

Individual Alcohol and Drug Service
People over the age of 13 years are offered counseling and case management in order to reduce the harm caused by their own or others alcohol or other substance misuse . Referral to residential or outpatient alcohol and drug services is provided if required.

Home Detoxification Service
This service offers people the opportunity to remain at home during detoxification and have their withdrawals managed by a specialist detoxification nurse and their own General Practitioner.

Night shelter
The Mission 's Men's Emergency Night Shelter offers free short term dormitory style accommodation for men over17 years of age.  The Shelter opens at 5.00pm 7 days a week, 365 days a year and can accommodate up to 27 residents each night. A shower, hot dinner and a breakfast is then provided for these men who must then leave the shelter by 8.30am each morning. A super is also made available to marginalised single men in the community as a means of providing them with social interaction and social work support. Trained social work staff and community nurse are available to provide these men with any assistance that they require.

A free medical clinic, for the Night Shelter clients, is also available each Tuesday evening with a Doctor volunteering his/her time to the Mission .

Intake Social Worker
The Intake Social Worker provides a short term generic social work service to clients who present at the Mission with general life issues. An initial assessment is completed, information/advocacy given and then, if appropriate, a referral made to the appropriate Mission service, in most cases being the Budget and Advocacy Worker or Food-bank Co-ordinator.

Clients who present to the Intake Social Worker are usually very marginalised people/families with complex and varied issues.
However common issues often seen by the Intake Social Worker are:

• People requesting assistance with power costs
• People presenting with accommodation issues, particularly women and youth
• Youth presenting with varying issues
• People presenting with mental health issues
• Offenders released from prison with no support
• Client's not being able to access other social services for a variety of reasons. Quite frequently client's who present at the City Mission lack skills that would enable them to communicate their needs appropriately. This often results in them being stood down or b anne d from other services.
• Physical health issues such as asthma in children

Budget
The Mission 's Budget and Advocacy Worker provides financial support and advocacy to clients.

Free short and long term banking facilities for clients is available who, for a variety of reasons, can not open a commercial bank account. Our Budget and Advocacy Worker can also help the client work out a financial plan for any debt repayment and bill payments.

The Budget Worker also educates and advocates for clients around financial issues, such as with WINZ, other creditors, power companies, landlords etc, to ensure clients receive all their entitlements and then understand their rights and responsibilities. This often involves the Mission receiving the client's benefit payment each week, and then paying this out in cash to them when they present in person.

Food bank
The Christchurch City Mission's food-bank is open between 10.00am and 12.30pm Monday to Friday. No food parcels can only be approved outside of these hours unless in an extreme emergency.

The Food-bank Co-ordinator carries out a brief interview with the client prior to allocating the necessary food. Free clothing and household items are also available if required.

Up to 20 free food parcels per client/family are distributed