Methodist Mission Southern’s vision is of a safe, caring, and sustainable society where every citizen is valued and respected, and enjoys an equal opportunity to lead a fulfilled life.
We deliver a broad range of evidence-based services to people of all ages, throughout Otago and Southland. Our social and educational services aim to develop skills and build resilience in every person we work with – to create meaningful, long-lasting changes for themselves, their whānau and their communities.
We are committed to strengthening our partnerships with Māori, improving our bicultural practices across our entire organisation, and using our skills and resources to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and support positive outcomes for Māori.
Our Work
Our current work includes; early childhood services, self-regulation and oral language programmes, youth transition housing, client support services, speech-language communication support, prison-based education, literacy and numeracy programmes, parenting programmes, driver licence training, and capability building initiatives for other social service providers.
We are constantly looking to improve the quality of our work, and our Innovation Lab is responsible for the design, development and testing of new initiatives – including play-based approaches for improving children’s life course outcomes, virtual reality education tools for prison-based learners, transitional housing models for young people, new practice models for supporting individuals and whānau to achieve their goals, and innovative uses of data to gain insights into issues and opportunities for clients, measure outcomes, and improve service delivery across the social sector.
The implementation of high quality science in real world settings is also a high priority across all of our services – working in partnership with the scientific community, philanthropic funders, commercial partners and policy experts to ensure that evidence-based approaches to wellbeing are made available, at a large scale, to the people with the most to gain from this knowledge.
Our work is funded and supported by a variety of organisations and individuals, including several Government agencies, philanthropic funders, small grants providers, and a number of individual donors.
Methodist Mission Southern has been working to improve social outcomes since 1890, and we remain committed to our purpose statement:
Change That Works: enough support and challenge for you to risk a better future.
Management
Laura Black
Kaihautū
Director
Laura has lead the Mission since 2007, managing the strategy, culture and values of our organisation, heading the Management Team, and representing the Methodist Church’s social service ambitions for Otago and Southland.
Laura has lead the Mission since 2007, managing the strategy, culture and values of our organisation, heading the Management Team, and representing the Methodist Church’s social service ambitions for Otago and Southland. Laura has a 30+ year background in not-for-profit governance and management, presenting and writing on the issues affecting the social services sector.
Vacant
Kaiwhakahaere
Chief Operations Officer
Pip Hannah
Kaitiaki Pūtea
Accountant
Pip is responsible financial reporting to the board, preparation of annual accounts and to assist in the preparation of the budget and forecast.
Pip is responsible financial reporting to the board, preparation of annual accounts and to assist in the preparation of the budget and forecast. She oversees all administration of organisation and management of the administration and cleaning teams.
Jimmy McLauchlan
Kaiwhakawhanake Pakihi
Chief Development Officer
Jimmy is responsible for the design, development and funding of innovative, evidence-based social service and education programmes.
Jimmy is responsible for the design, development and funding of innovative, evidence-based social service and education programmes. Jimmy’s work currently includes; self-regulation and oral language initiatives for preschool and primary school children, speech language communication programmes for youth and adults, virtual reality education tools for prison-based and community learners, transitional housing models for young people, data-driven capability building initiatives for social service providers, and modified e-therapies for supporting mental health and wellbeing.
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-mclauchlan-525a76115
Dave Eggers
Kaiārahi Hakarau Pāroko
Chief Advisor Data
Dave is responsible for aligning the Mission’s vision and objectives with technology by providing best practice digital systems governance.
Dave is responsible for aligning the Mission’s vision and objectives with technology by providing best practice digital systems governance. He is interested in exploring the value that appropriate use of data and technology can provide to the social services sector and assisting in developing technology infrastructure to connect communities of need.
Mere Baker
Kaitohutohu Māori
Board
Julie Pearse
Tiamana
Board Chairperson
Rachael Masterton
Kaitiriwā Tiamana
Deputy Chair
Previously Methodist Church of New Zealand District Superintendent, and an experienced community volunteer.
I have worked in banking for all of my working life alongside volunteer work for The Methodist Church of NZ and Girls Brigade, serving at both national and local levels. I have been studying theology part time over the past few years as an interest and recently taken up running. I have long had a passion for helping others and serving in the community, wanting to ensure people have the opportunity and support to be what they hope to be.
