As basic a question as possible

I cannot find the option under any options menus to add the mods, there is nothing in any part of the game that I have that mentions mods or allows them to be activated. Of note is that i have not patched my game yet. is this something that was added with a patch? or am I not looking in the right spot. any help is appreciated, please be nice, i know it's a stupid question but i want to play with a mod and it doesn't seem to give me the option.