Our Mission

Compos Mentis (Latin for “in control of your mind”) is a day program that offers adults who have been diagnosed with a mental illness a place to work with others, enjoy the outdoors, and engage in productive activities under the supervision of staff members and trained volunteers.

Even if we are too ill for the pressures of paid work or the demands of schoolwork or the responsibility of caring for others, we still need someplace to go and something to do. Compos Mentis is a place that promotes recovery. We use the quiet, orderly discipline of farm work to help people develop the patience, self-confidence and hope that they need to take possession of their lives. Every aspect of Compos Mentis is designed to ease return to school or work.

Compos Mentis is not a psychiatric treatment program, it is a response to a short-coming of our health care system, which does not acknowledge how long it takes to adjust to a mental illness. When a someone becomes ill, life often stalls for what become lost years. Some people stall for the rest of their lives. They do not finish school, make careers, enter significant relationships, or start families. With the help of Compos Mentis they can begin to restore themselves and regain control of their lives.