Beyond psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and drug withdrawal.

Welcome to
Inner Compass Exchange.

Who we are

We are a community of people who once turned to the mental health industry for answers. Now, we are building vibrant, purposeful lives beyond psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and drug withdrawal – and we’re helping each other get there.

Inner Compass Exchange is a private social network based on the principles of mutual aid – the voluntary exchange of support, resources, and information between people who’ve experienced similar struggles and triumphs. Our community is wholly comprised of members who currently are or previously have been psychiatrically diagnosed and/or medicated, along with their supportive family members. Any medical or mental health practitioner among us is here because of personal experiences with taking or coming off psychiatric drugs.

What we do

Members from all over the world come together to share their experiences and insights, support one another, participate in member-led discussions and calls, and access resources related to leaving the mental health industry and its medicalized paradigm behind.

What we offer

  • Demographic- and topic-based discussion spaces devoted to the most relevant issues and challenges we face as we leave behind the mental health industry

  • Regular member-led video support calls and conversations

  • Private chatting with other members

  • Search functionality to find members based on filters such as geographical proximity

  • Access to a large archive of recorded talks, conversations, and events led by the Inner Compass team on topics related to life beyond psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and drug withdrawal

  • Our 20-step, self-directed psych drug taper manual, the ICI Taper Companion

  • Free access to any paid virtual public panels or talks hosted outside of ICE by Inner Compass Initiative (our parent non-profit organization)


"I founded Inner Compass Initiative to help play a part in filling the massive void of reliable information, resources, and support available to those who wish to leave behind their relationship to the mental health industry. In many ways, Inner Compass Exchange is the ultimate expression of the commitment we have to this broader organizational mission, because it’s the first space we’ve built that brings people together every day for authentic, real-time conversation, connection, and community."

-Laura Delano
ICI Founder



Why we exist

The mainstream mental health industry has professionalized care, conditioning us to outsource help to experts and lose touch with our own capacity to support one another within our own communities. In the past, mutual aid efforts in the context of mental health have been limited by temporal, geographical, and practical constraints. Mutual aid efforts amongst people wanting to leave the mental health industry have been further constrained by the challenge of finding others nearby hoping to do the same.

Now, with the advent of mass digital connectivity, this is changing.

This is mutual aid for the digital age. Join us today.

Who we are not 

We are not a community for people who are still holding onto some faith in, or otherwise find benefit from, the medicalized, professionalized ideology of the mental health industry. We built ICE specifically for people who have had unhelpful or harmful experiences with psychiatric drugs, diagnoses, and other treatments, deciding instead that they no longer want or need them.

We are not “anti-psychiatry” or “anti-psychiatric drug.” We have zero affiliation with any institution, organization, religion, or other authority.

Supporting Inner Compass Initiative (ICI)

Inner Compass Exchange is an initiative of ICI, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the U.S. and serving people worldwide. You can learn more about ICI here. Our mission is to unite people with firsthand experience engaging the mental health industry to chart a new path forward beyond its current limits. ICI receives no grants or institutional support of any kind; all of our revenue comes from ICE membership fees or from donations made by individuals and families who believe in our mission. To make a tax-deductible donation to ICI, click here.

Please note: We offer scholarships for those who wish to join our community but are not currently in a financial position to do so. To request one, click here.