MYND was founded in Auckland in 2001 in response to the lack of restorative programmes within the Youth Justice system.

The programme started operations in South Auckland moving into the Central Auckland area in 2004. By 2006 MYND expanded its operations to all CYFS sites within the greater Auckland region allowing the opportunity for more young people to access its services.

In 2007, the Government asked FYD to look into the youth offending area as there were too few programmes that were effective and sustainable. After much research FYD was directed, by Chief Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft, to MYND which was successfully running in South Auckland. The programme was doing great things, but its small team was suffering from burn-out and lack of resources.

In July 2008 the MYND programme merged under the governance of the Foundation for Youth Development. This merge has enabled the programme to access strong governance, leadership, strategic direction, resources and expertise of FYD’s National Support Office (NSO) and become more sustainable and transparent.

The programme has always worked in partnership with government agencies and communities to address the multitude of challenges and issues facing youth offenders and continues to strengthen networks and resources to better serve the needs of its clients.