About us
The Canterbury Men's Centre was established in 2007, supporting positive community outcomes and hosting thousands of private counselling sessions for men and couples.
Founders Dennis Valentine, Ken Clearwater, Paul Scott, Don Pettit
One of the original founders, Dennis Valentine, shares the origins of the Centre through the 1980's up to today...
In the 1980’s the Men For Non Violence network was establishing itself around the country. Throughout the late 80's & 90's anger management programmes and mytho poetic groups based on the work of Hillman Bly & Meade were also being formed to assist men to address their personal issues and to this end the Christchurch 'Men's Trust' was created and offered weekend retreats & mens circles.
At the time it was also perceived that the role of fathers in society had been diminished and dads were struggling with what they experienced as a biased Family Court and how they were being disenfrachised from their children.
Men were noticing that they were being excluded from services and what services were available were often experienced as not being ‘Male Friendly’.
The first Children's Commissioner Laurie O'Reilly held a Fathering the Future Forum in Christchurch from which the 'Father & Child Trust' was formed and other support groups like Christchurch's 'Caring Dads' were created to assist men going through the Family Court system.
It was against this backdrop that in 2006 Warwick Pudney of Auckland's 'Man Alive' agency facilitated a Men's Issues Summit in Christchurch. At this conference Donald Pettitt (Chair of the 'Mens Trust') proposed and called for expressions of interest & support to form a Men's Centre in Christchurch. In 2007, the Canterbury Men’s Centre was established initially to act as a distribution point of men’s resources and a referral point to more Male Friendly services
Over time Donald supported by the original Board of Trustees, Paul Scot, Ken Clearwater and Dennis Valentine realised there was a far greater need than first envisaged and Donald was inspirational in developing and expanding services to meet those needs which included:
- Social Work Assessments
- Counselling Services
- Health Promotion
- Support Groups
- Men’s Sheds
- Advocacy
In 2016 following a request from Male Survivors Aotearoa (now Tautoko Tāne) the Canterbury Men's Centre were delighted to continue the Peer Support Service to male survivors of sexual abuse previously provided by Ken Clearwater’s Christchurch based Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Trust (MSSAT) now Survivors 4 Survivors Ōtautahi'.
Today the Canterbury Men’s Centre supports hundreds of men a month, providing onsite access to a wide range of male friendly supports, programmes, groups and daily activities, including programmes and groups embedded in whānau ora and mātauranga Māori.
We work with a number of other amazing organisations to ensure our men are aware of, and have access to the supports and services that will work best for them.
Trustees
Our sincere thanks to the Board of Trustees for their leadership, professionalism, and enduring compassion in guiding and upholding our kaupapa.
