Everything is possible.

We've believed that since 1979 — and we've spent nearly 50 years proving it.

OHI is a Maine-based public nonprofit organization dedicated to one conviction: that every person, regardless of their challenges, has the capacity to grow, contribute, and live a meaningful, self-directed life in their community. With the right support—individualized, compassionate, and built around the whole person—everything truly is possible.

Founded in 1979 in the greater Bangor area, OHI began as a small organization with a bold mission: to bring people out of institutions and into the community, where they belong. Today, OHI supports more than 350 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, mental illness, and co-occurring substance use disorders across six Maine counties—in the communities of Bangor, Brewer, Hermon, Eddington, Orrington, Old Town, Orono, Hampden, Holden, Carmel, Levant, Dedham, Howland, Bucksport, Winterport, Ellsworth, and Lincoln.

We are one of the most comprehensive disability and behavioral health service organizations in northern and eastern Maine—and one of the longest-standing.

OHI provides a full continuum of person-centered services designed to help people live as independently, safely, and fully as possible:

Behavioral Health Services

• Behavioral Health Home Services—integrated physical and behavioral health care through coordinated, team-based support
• Community Integration Case Management—helping adults with mental health challenges access services and live independently
• Mental Health Community Residences—licensed residential care for adults with severe and persistent mental illness
• Skills Development Services—teaching-based support to build the practical and social skills needed for independent community living

Our Story

OHI was founded at a pivotal moment in Maine's history—when the state was beginning to reckon with the conditions inside its institutions and the rights of people with disabilities to live free and full lives in their communities. Our founder, Bonnie-Jean Brooks, was among the very first in Maine to make that vision real—opening group homes, building community support infrastructure, and fighting for the rights and dignity of the people no one else was willing to serve.

OHI was the first nonprofit in Maine to support individuals institutionalized with the dual diagnoses of intellectual disability and mental illness—stepping in where no one else would and building a model of care that shaped the field across the state and nation.

Brooks went on to found MACSP—Maine's leading IDD provider association—and to represent Maine and OHI before Congress and on national committees. MACSP's highest advocacy honor, the Bonnie Jean Brooks Leading Light Award, is named after her. Succeeding her in January 2022 was Melinda "Mindy" Ward, who began her own OHI career as a Direct Support Professional just 18 months after OHI's founding in 1979—a powerful symbol of the promote-from-within culture that has defined this organization for five decades.

Today, John McNamara is at the helm, steering OHI into the next phase of its growth—a future where we are once again leading the charge in improving services and securing funding to deliver them effectively to the people we support.

Our Reach

• 50 years serving Maine communities
• 350+ adults supported annually
• Six Maine counties — Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Hancock, Washington, and Waldo
• 250+ staff across residential, community, and behavioral health programs
• 900+ households served monthly through the Brewer Area Food Pantry
• Members of ANCOR and MACSP—advocating at the state and national level for the people we serve