In 2018, McKenzie Centre merged with Enrich+, another well-respected disability services provider in the Waikato. Each organisation was excited by the possibilities this partnership offered, from having more capacity to better meet the needs of people with disabilities and their families, to combining resources and adding value for greater efficiencies.

McKenzie Centre and Enrich+ share many values, as well as a vision of enabling people with disabilities and their whānau to have great lives. We also have a collective understanding of the role that disability service providers need to step up to take, in order to better support people with disabilities and their families, especially during this time of significant and exciting transformation within the disability sector.

Following the merger, McKenzie Centre has retained its focus on early intervention for children from birth to school age who have a disability or developmental delays, and their families. Enrich+ has continued to cater for children with autism from five years of age up, and to support youth and adults with disabilities from age 17 onwards. A key focus of the merger has been to grow each organisation, to better meet the demand for services which we know exists.

We are currently developing some joint projects to expand the range of services we provide. Eventually, we hope to be able to offer families a continuum of services throughout the lifespan of their children – a wrap-around service to support children who have disabilities before they start school, during their schooling years, and throughout their adulthood.