Work Opportunities Trust

We are a Dunedin based, supported employment agency assisting those with Mental Illness to secure and maintain real mainstream employment within the Otago Region. The Work Opportunities Trust plays an important role in improving the social and economic participation of people with Mental health challenges and or disabilities in Otago.

The Work Opportunities Trust supported employment services assist our clients to improve their wellbeing, while achieving financial independence and improving equity of outcomes through meaningful employment.

We are dedicated to helping people find and maintain employment by working one on one for as long as it takes to achieve an outcome which is client-centered, while still being skills and aspirations focused, with no fee to the client. 

We work directly with Employers to identify positions suitable and available, and once employed continue to support our clients. Many of our clients have an “invisible disability” that is not generally easy to recognise or well understand. We provide a safe space for them, as their challenges can be intensely personal, difficult to share and cannot be overcome with physical modifications.

For over 25 years we have developed an evolving program of support and advocacy for our clients, promoting employment as part of a pathway to health and wellbeing.

We provide resilience training for those clients, who will benefit from such a program and we provide both Women's and Men’s Group for clients to gain social skills within our team environment and then within the community as they move forward. This allows a both a safe environment, and a chance to meet up with others, meet people and allows friendships to grow within this new-found community they find themselves in, with others who too, understand them.

The Work Opportunities Trust stand by the following principles:

• All Employment is based on mainstream Employment, equal opportunities for all
• We support each Client on an individual basis first and foremost, extra group work is optional depending on what a Client wants from the program, and what will help them move in a positive direction.
• We match clients with Employment they want to do, and outcomes they want to achieve
• Our support services and strategies are signed to achieve the best possible outcome for both employer and employee, and promote the development of natural supports, which may and can lead to the withdrawal of formal support services.