The Collaborative for Research and Training in Youth Health and Development was first conceived in late 2002. The idea was to set up a centre of excellence for research and training to fill a perceived gap in the South Island.

In Auckland the Centre for Youth Health carried out this function, but in the South Island there was some excellent research being done but, researchers and people in the community were often not aware of each others work, and training was happening in an inconsistent way.

A working party was formed after a meeting which invited people from a wide variety of organizations working with young people and some young people themselves. This group appointed Dr Ria Schroder, to investigate possible structures for the centre. This scoping exercise was funded by the Christchurch City Council. The report suggested that a Centre could be set up by an independent trust or within an existing institution such as a university department. The working party decided to form a Charitable Trust. This had the freedom to work with many different university departments, and also the flexibility to work with young people at all levels and to be close to the community. The disadvantage was that a Trust did not supply the underlying infrastructure that a university department may have done.

The Collaborative for Research and Training in Youth Health and Development Trust was finally incorporated as a charitable trust under the Charitable Trusts Act 1957, on the 27th October 2004. The original trustees were Gillian Abel, Susan Bagshaw, Peter Harman, Lisa Fitzgerald, Alison Locke, Sarah Lee Te Huki, Maria Pasene, Lynda Jeffs, Ria Schroder, Marijke Freeman-Moir, and Tammy Rouse.

The role of the Trust is to bring together: researchers to work in collaboration with each other, young people and those who work with young people and a wide range of service providers, health promoters and educators. In addition the Trust will work in collaboration with other centres working in the area of youth health and development such as the Auckland Centre for Youth Health, to deliver training to professionals and education to parents and others in the community.

In February 2005 with assistance from the Christchurch City Council and later the Canterbury Community Trust the Collaborative set up an office and employed Lynda Jeffs as a Development Manager/researcher on a part time basis. In late 2005 the Collaborative won a contract to undertake the evaluation of a mental health promotion programme called FRIENDS, which operates in both primary and secondary schools. The evaluation was to take place over 5 years. On the strength of this contract we moved into new premises in Hereford House, where we had offices for researchers involved in the project and a training room. Managing the evaluation project proved to be a full time job and midway through 2006 Lynda Jeffs moved out of the Collaborative to manage the project full time. In early 2007 the Collaborative decided to reduce its costs and move out of Hereford House to continue its business of research and training through the website as its main communication tool, in order to build up reserves and a funding stream for another paid worker. Since then it has been working out of a small part of the main office at the 198 Youth Health Centre.