Vinland National Center

We are dedicated to building full lives for people with disabilities. We provide substance use disorder treatment along with mental health, & supportive housing.

Vinland National Center provides much-needed services to adults with cognitive disabilities, including brain injuries and learning disabilities. On average every year, 70% of Vinland's clients are individuals living with disabilities due to brain injury. Vinland helps these individuals build full and rewarding lives through a whole-person approach to services. Those services aide in recovery from substance abuse as well as utilize mental health services, therapeutic exercise, and supportive housing. Vinland helps its clients adjust to the "new normal" of a life with cognitive disabilities. Vinland is nationally recognized for being the premier center of its kind.

How Your Donation Makes a Difference

Every $1 spent on substance abuse treatment generates $17 in monetary benefit for society. Our programs enable people to become active members in their community. Graduates of our programs have reduced medical and legal expenses and increased employment earnings.

Vinland provides a variety of complementary care services to all of its participants. The therapeutic exercise program is the largest and provides each participant with a personalized fitness program designed under the supervision of Vinland's exercise physiologist certified staff. Vinland also offers family programming, traumatic brain injury groups, adapted mindfulness-based meditation classes, recreation activities, & basic computer training. These services are not billable and we rely on donations to help cover the expense of running them.

Here is just one of our client success stories:

Johnnie's Story “In recovery, you get to make yourself a better person than you were before. Being at Vinland really helped me.”One of 13 children, Johnnie grew up in Mississippi. Childhood was not easy for him. When he was 12 years old, he sustained a traumatic brain injury after being accidentally hit in the head with an ax. The injury left him with permanent short-term memory issues. Johnnie was placed in a special education program, but he only completed the sixth grade.

Johnnie started drinking at a very young age. When he was six years old, he used to steal his father’s liquor. He drank from then on.

When he was 18, Johnnie moved to Chicago, and then later Detroit, where he lived for several years. He drank heavily during this time but never considered that he had a problem.

Johnnie moved to Minneapolis 16 years ago. He found work in construction, and he fell in love with a woman who already had children, whom Johnnie helped raise.

Four years ago, Johnnie was approached by an undercover police officer and asked to sell him drugs. Johnnie did not have any, but he arranged for the police officer to buy drugs from someone else. Johnnie was arrested and charged with drug possession. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years probation.

For the first time ever, Johnnie learned that alcoholism is a disease. As part of his conviction, he was court-ordered to enter a substance abuse treatment program. He was referred to Vinland Center because of his traumatic brain injury.
Unfortunately, Johnnie did not stay sober the first time he attended Vinland.

“The first time, I was not serious. The second time, I did anything I was asked to do,” Johnnie said. “Vinland is a good program, but it’s up to you to accept the tools.”

Johnnie completed his second round of treatment at Vinland two years ago, and he has remained sober since then. After treatment, he moved into an assisted living house owned by Sojourn in a suburb of Minneapolis.

Now that he’s sober, Johnnie describes his life as “a whole big turnaround.” He gets along better with other people, including his mother and girlfriend. He enjoys living in the assisted living house, where he volunteers to help the less-mobile residents.

Due to his success in recovery, Johnnie was granted early discharge from his probation earlier this year.

“In recovery, you get to make yourself a better person than you were before. Being at Vinland really helped me.”

   In 2020, 89¢ of every $1 Vinland received went directly to providing services for our clients.