The service will be provided by Central Lakes Family Services, and will have branches in Queenstown, Wanaka and Alexandra.
Mental health advocate Fiona Fairbairn said the introduction of the new service was exciting.
"It feels like they are finally listening to people with lived experience," she said.
By having more services in the area, people did not have to travel more than three hours, isolated and away from their support networks to get the help they needed, she said.
"It means that it can tap into services here and know what is going to be available for you," Ms Fairbairn said.
The new service will have two stages, outreach support — which launches in December — and short-term residential care, which will be confirmed once suitable locations have been secured.
Outreach support will include home-based support for people experiencing acute distress, as well as education and support for whanau and carers.
Te Whatu Ora Southern executive director of mental health, addictions and intellectual disability Toni Gutschlag said the new service was designed to provide better crisis support and options closer to home for Queenstown-Lakes and Central Otago individuals experiencing mental distress.
"Our goal is to enable local people to access services within their community and keep them with their support networks as much as possible, so this is a big step towards transforming mental health and addiction services in a part of our region that has historically been underserved," she said.
The workforce consists of registered health professionals, social workers and support workers.
Peer supporters — those who have lived experience — will also be on the team.
The new service will sit alongside the current 24/7 regional crisis response service, providing local options to support people in mental distress.
The localised model of care is part of a larger programme of mental health reforms, after needs were identified by Te Whatu Ora Southern in the 2021 Time for Change — Te Hurihanga review.
The Central Lakes Family Services team was already established and worked closely with mental health services and key agencies so their skills, knowledge and experience would add huge value, Ms Gutschlag said.
Central Lakes Family Services general manager Tina Mongston said her team was looking forward to offering the much-needed mental health support service.
"Creating a feeling of safety and trust is paramount in our line of work and I’m fortunate to have a team of really experienced locals who are deeply embedded in the region and have strong relationships with the services, health providers, businesses, schools and groups we work with," she said.
"We all care deeply about our communities and feel honoured to have the opportunity to help more people in their time of need."
The Central Lakes model was developed by clinicians, iwi, primary health providers, community agencies, NGOs, tangata whaiora (people seeking wellbeing), whanau and government agencies working together to design the services.
The model is regularly reviewed to understand community needs and how community members use the service.
