Not one mental health consumer has been able to access the work training program in Port Macquarie due to a lack of funding.

A minimum of $300,000 a year is needed to run the vocational rehabilitation program from the Endeavour Mental Health Recovery Clubhouse at Hamilton Green.

The clubhouse was culmination of supporter persistence spanning more than a decade, about $200,000 in community fund raising, state government and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council funding support and the building efforts of a Work for the Dole team.

The Mid North Coast Local Health District provided funding towards a business plan.

The clubhouse is complete with a full commercial kitchen for hospitality training and it is wired up to train people in technology as a step towards employment. Endeavour Recovery Clubhouse Committee member Ruth Durrant said people reacted in one of two ways when they learnt the clubhouse was not operating.

“There is just a completely astonished look on their face and another is ‘you’re kidding’,” she said.

“The community really supports us and they have expectations.”

The committee turned to Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams and Lyne MP David Gillespie in its funding bid.

Mrs Williams said she was supportive of the model and would continue to do what she could to at least get the program started.

“I will continue to liaise with the health district about how we might be able to find some funding out of their budget and I will be talking again with the new minister [Jai Rowell] and hopefully bringing him to Port Macquarie to have a look at the clubhouse and other aspects of mental health,” she said.

Mrs Williams encourages the committee to partner with a non-government agency in delivering Endeavour Clubhouse services.

Lyne MP David Gillespie said while he really admire and could see the objectives of the Endeavour Clubhouse model, he had informed the local group there were no recurrent funding programs delivered by the federal government. 

He said this was an issue for the states.

The committee also applied to two foundations for start-up funding.

One application was unsuccessful and the committee is waiting on a response from the other foundation.

The committee is looking at ways it can work with other agencies in the delivery of the program.

Clubhouses are safe havens for people with mental illness.

They provide employment pathways in partnership with businesses to help people get back into the workforce, as well as social benefits.

Mrs Durrant said the clubhouse model built self-esteem, self-motivation and a sense of belonging.