The Nazareth Half-way House facility for mentally ill men at 21 Duncan Street , Port of Spain , was formally opened on December 15 th 1989 by then Minister of Social Development and Family Services, the Honourable Gloria Henry. It was the "brain-child" of Marjorie Baptiste, a psychiatric social worker and Steve Solomon, former Executive Secretary of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul .

When the Community Mental Health Service was created in 1975, it had been assumed that this would relieve the pressure on an already over-burdened hospital system for bed space for the mentally ill.

In fact, the continued high demand for institutional care resulted in a situation in which patients were discharged as soon as medical symptoms were controlled, in spite of the fact that they may not have been ready for re-integration into society.

For these persons, the options seemed obvious enough - stay on the streets or go back to St. Ann 's. So it was, that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul , along with other voluntary organizations was approached with a view to providing sheltered residential accommodation for these special people - as yet too emotionally disturbed to return to society and too much recovered to benefit from institutional life.

The plan was to renovate the old Working men's hostel and set up a facility to house some 56 residents whose psychological disturbances had been brought under control at the St. Ann 's Hospital and prepare them for the stresses and demands of independent living.