The University announced the launch of the COMPASS Brain Health Initiative in partnership with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services on Tuesday. The initiative aims to help serve veterans and those with traumatic brain injuries.
COMPASS, housed in the University’s Institute for Social Science Research, will serve as a resource for Alabamians facing the long term effects of concussions and TBIs.
A TBI is an injury that affects how the brain works. It can be caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head, as well as a penetrating blow to the head like a gunshot.
April Turner, director of the traumatic brain injury program at ADRS, announced there will be five new TBI centers across the state supported by COMPASS and located near veteran-heavy communities.
“Along with these five TBI centers, COMPASS Brain Health Initiative is an integral part of this expanded capacity,” Turner said. “COMPASS will support these five TBI centers across the state of Alabama, who will serve veterans, guard and those in long term TBI recovery.”
The initiative comes after a statewide effort spearheaded by Turner and the Veterans Mental Health Steering Committee to address TBIs among veterans. In 2024, Turner told state officials that TBI was a “silent epidemic,” with an estimated 102,000 Alabamians living with TBIs.
A 2019-2020 study found that around 25% of veterans screened positive for TBI.
The clinic will be sponsored and fully funded by ADRS. Services at COMPASS will be free and will operate through a referral system from ADRS.
David White, director of COMPASS, said the clinic was the first of its kind.
“Programs like ADRS are very strong at supporting individuals with long term disability, but the individuals between those two extremes, those with complex cases, navigating multiple appointments over months and sometimes years, are the ones that often fall through the cracks,” White said.
White said that before the clinic visit, COMPASS creates a “road map,” or structured, evidence-based assessments of both the individuals and caregivers. The end goal of the care is to “reduce fragmentation and move people with brain injury forward in their lives.”
“Brain injury doesn’t just affect the individual. It affects entire families, entire ecosystems. It affects jobs, it affects education,” he said. “This is for complicated cases that are not moving forward without an interdisciplinary team. Integration in brain injury care is not optional, it is essential.”
COMPASS will include a team of two psychologists, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and a social worker to assist patients in their care. White said the program would also partner with University Medical Center Neurology and Sleep Medicine Clinic.
“Its impact is often immediate, but its effects can last for a lifetime, shaping how a person learns, how they work and how they connect with the people around them,” said University President Peter Mohler, calling brain injuries a challenge that impacts the health and well-being of Alabama’s communities.
“Long after the initial medical care has ended, many individuals and families are left navigating questions about what comes next and how to move forward,” Mohler said. “Initiatives like what we’re discussing today exist to help answer those questions and to ensure that recovery is not something people have to face alone.”
Hence then, the article about university of alabama launches compass brain health initiative was published today ( ) and is available on The Crimson White ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( University of Alabama launches COMPASS Brain Health Initiative )
Also on site :
- This Popular Soda Shop Just Launched a Tear-Jerking Collab That Fans Say They ‘Gotta Try’
- Blake Shelton Reveals How Him and Gwen Stefani Are 'Stepping it Up' Months After Divorce Rumors Swirled
- GOP Sen. Tim Sheehy joins police to physically remove protester from hearing