About us
Our mission: Supporting people to lead fulfilling lives in the community.
Nowadays, trying to cover all our services in one sentence can cause us to run out of breath. Our funders have expanded to include the Ministry of Social Development, Oranga Tamariki, Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Corrections and Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora, and our support now looks like this:
LOCATIONS AND SERVICES
So, rather than explaining what we do by service type, it’s simpler to explain that we provide support to anyone with a support need, so they can lead fulfilling lives in the community. It doesn’t matter why you need our support or what that support looks like – we’ll figure that out with you.
We have about 135 staff supporting people throughout Southland with staff and clients in Invercargill (which houses our office), Gore, Winton and Western Southland.
About 30 staff support people in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts. We have services in Cromwell, Alexandra, Wanaka and Queenstown.
We have around 40 staff supporting people in Nelson, Motueka, Richmond and Picton. Our office is in Richmond.
We have more than 300 staff supporting people throughout Otago, with staff and clients in Dunedin (which houses Pact’s head office), Oamaru and Balclutha.
We have more around 70 staff supporting people throughout the West Coast with staff and clients in Greymouth (which houses our main office), Hokitika and Westport.
About 180 staff support around clients in Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, Porirua, the Kāpiti Coast and Palmerston North. Our office is based in Lower Hutt.
OUR CONTRACTS
Pact has a variety of funders, with contracts covering a broad range of needs, age groups and support types. Click below to find out more.
BOARD & EXECUTIVE TEAM
Pact’s chief executive Paul Chamberlain, Board of Trustees chair Bill Dunbar and other trustees have experience in health and disability fields and a wide range of skills that help provide governance. When looking at new services (even challenging ones), they always ask “if not us, then who?”
Paul Chamberlain
Chief Executive
Simon Anderson
Chair
Mark Miller
Deputy Chair
Marie Ballagh
Board of Trustees
Simon Cameron
Board of Trustees
Michael Ferrari
Board of Trustees
Robert Gale
Board of Trustees
VISION, VALUES AND ATTITUDES
HISTORY
There aren’t many organisations which can claim a history going back to the 1800s, but we can.
We had our beginnings in an organisation called the Patients’ and Prisoners’ Aid Society of Otago (PPAS). PPAS was set up in 1877 by a group of Dunedin people whose mission was to “help the helpless and bring relief to the needy.” It provided support, help and hope to people in Dunedin prisons and “lunatic asylums”.
In the 1980s two new trusts were set up to provide separate services – one for patients (called PACT – which at the time stood for the Patients and Community Trust) and one for offenders (PARS – Prisoners Aid & Rehabilitation).
Pact rapidly expanded in Dunedin in the 1990s, and we also began services in Southland, followed by the West Coast, Balclutha and Oamaru.
In early 2006 we rebranded with a new logo and changed the look of our name from PACT to Pact. The concept behind the red icon on Pact’s logo is based on the idea of a “pact” – a pact being an agreement between two parties. It also plays on the customised service that people experience; this is represented by the two shapes fitting together.
In 2014 we expanded into the North Island, when we merged with Wellington and the Hutt Valley provider, Q-nique.
In 2022, we opened our first home in Wānaka, for people with intellectual disabilities, and our expansion continued in 2023, when we moved into the upper South Island with a youth supported accommodation service in Nelson, building on our relationship with Oranga Tamariki.
In 2024 we expanded into Alexandra and Cromwell with homes for clients with an intellectual disability. We also opened new homes in Richmond and Motueka.
Growth continued in 2025. We welcomed the Papatūānuku Independency Trust to the Pact family, meaning we now have a residential intellectual disability service in Picton. We also began residential intellectual disability and youth services in Palmerston North expanding our Lower North region northwards.
COPYRIGHT PACT GROUP
COPYRIGHT PACT GROUP