Our history

In 1994 with the closure of Porirua Hospital, mental heath consumers, their families/whanau, community services providers, culturally appropriate organisations and mental health professionals, formed a working party to determine where the gaps were in mental heath services for people living in the Hutt Valley.

It was recognised that there were very few openings for people with severe and/or ongoing mental health needs to return to paid employment, or regain the necessary confidence and skills to enter into paid employment.

A committee was formed and funding was sought from the then Health Funding Authority (HFA) and other sources to develop a project providing employment to client/staff in the area of horticulture.

On April 6th 1995 Earthlink was formally registered as an Incorporated Society and in August of that year began providing paid employment to 9 client/staff based in Lower Hutt. At that time Earthlink Inc. was the first organisation to provide paid employment on a full hourly rate (aligned to the minimum adult wage) to clients.

In August of 1997 Earthlink made the decision to expand into providing horticultural services in Upper Hutt, following the model of the original operation in Lower Hutt while catering to consumer demand for horticultural workers and expanding client base.

In April 1998 Earthlinks' Administration and Upper Hutt Horticulture division were moved to Upper Hutt and the Lower Hutt Horticulture division moved to premises in Nae Nae.

Due to the evolving needs of Earthlinks clients and staff, and the indentification of other areas within which Earthlink could serve the community, the organisation became an NZQA registered training provider in 2000.

In 2002 the Recycling to Retail project was launched. This project involved collecting items from the Silverstream landfill and after cleaning, refurbishment and electrical checks where necessary, selling those items through the recycling division shop..

In 2005 the Recycling Shop moved to a dedicated facitlity at 24 Goodshed Road.