Main House from gardens

Mission & History

Spring Lake Ranch supports and empowers people with mental health and substance abuse issues by providing opportunities to grow and thrive.

Through shared experience, meaningful work, and active participation in an accepting, diverse community, we help each person develop the confidence and skills to recover.

Founded in 1932, Spring Lake Ranch is the creation of Wayne Sarcka, an immigrant from Finland, and his wife, Elizabeth Man, from Long Island. Wayne had worked in youth camps during World War I with shell-shocked British soldiers in Mesopotamia. Elizabeth, whose brother suffered from schizophrenia, had worked as a social worker in New York settlement houses – both for the Girl Scouts, and for the League of Nations Association.

 

While hiking to Killington Mountain on their honeymoon, Wayne and Elizabeth came upon Spring Lake and were taken with its pristine beauty. A year later they purchased land that included Spring Lake and an old farmhouse. They went to work restoring the building and several summers later, with hopes of starting a summer camp, they took in several boys from New York City. These boys were put to work on the farm tending the facilities, taking care of animals, and enjoying the outdoors.

Wayne knew the role of outdoor group work and play in helping young people develop their strengths and combat the trauma of war or a turbulent upbringing.

Elizabeth’s strong faith in the value of shared family life was, she believed, exemplified in the centuries-old experience of the Gheel community in Belgium where, to this day, people with mental illness are taken into the homes of townspeople to share their lives.

Their passion and obvious talents led their friend, Dr. Bernard Glueck, a prominent New York psychiatrist, to urge them to work with people with mental illness on their beautiful farm in Vermont. He had long believed in the need for alternative approaches to care for people with mental illness, who need time and space to come to terms with the effect of their illness and find new strengths to call upon. The Sarckas boldly accepted the challenge and Dr. Glueck and his colleagues began referring selected patients to them.

Soon others with mental and emotional struggles came, and Spring Lake Ranch Therapeutic Community had begun.

Dish washing

"We had our critics aplenty who found fault with us for sharing our lives with guests like that on equal terms…but I clung to wartime insights, and put tools in everybody's hands.”

Wayne Sarcka Founder

Are you ready to take the next step?

Call Us Today

CARF Accredited: Spring Lake Ranch programs are CARF accredited. The CARF accreditation signals our commitment to continually improving services, encouraging feedback, and serving the community.

Spring Lake Ranch is a member of the American Residential Treatment Association (ARTA). ARTA members are dedicated to providing extraordinary care to adults with mental illness.