Brain Behavior Clinic and Boulder County Homelessness

Program Contact

Emily Richardson

erichard@colorado.edu

The Brain Behavior Clinic (BBC) in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience at CU Boulder partners with several agencies that provide services to at-risk individuals.  The BBC began working with the Boulder County Shelter for the Homeless in 2012 to identify and document cognitively disabled persons as part of the County’s 10-Year Plan to Address Homelessness.  The BBC program has  expanded to provide evaluations to individuals referred by multiple Boulder County agencies, including Mental Health Partners, Imagine, Clinica and Focus Reentry.

One of the specific goals of the Boulder County 10-year Plan is to identify and provide effective outreach to chronically homeless individuals and connect them with needed services and viable permanent housing solutions. With support from an Outreach Award from CU Boulder’s Office for Outreach & Engagement, the BBC provides free neuropsychological evaluations of clients in the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless who may have acquired or developmentally based cognitive deficits. These evaluations have been used to support applications for disability benefits and medical coverage for those individuals who qualify. Over the past several years, the program has expanded to offer these assessments to individuals referred by other agencies that serve clients who are at risk for homelessness or who have little to no income.

The BBC is part of the Clinical Psychology graduate training program in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder.

The BBC has two purposes:

  • To provide training experience in neuropsychological diagnostic assessments for clinical graduate students who are simultaneously receiving neuroscience coursework and research training.
  • To respond to university and broader community needs for affordable cognitive assessment services for adolescents and adults. The BBC provides assessments for adolescents and adults referred for acquired injury or disease (e.g., traumatic brain injury, dementia, M.S.), ADHD, and learning disabilities.

The BBC assessments have resulted in beneficial outcomes to clients, including identification of disorders or disabilities, adjustments to treatment plans, successful procurement of disability benefits, access to community resources, and qualification for academic or job-related accommodations.

The Brain Behavior Clinic is located on campus in Muenzinger D232, 1905 Colorado Avenue, Boulder, CO 80309. The BBC Intake line is 303-492-5679.

  • Brain Behavior Clinic

    Additional Info

    Pro bono neuropsychological evaluations are provided for individuals who are underinsured, at-risk for homelessness or homeless and who need documentation of cognitive impairment due to injury, disease or multiple conditions. The BBC also provides low cost evaluations for individuals who are concerned about learning disability and/or ADHD.


    Location

    on campus

    Dates

    Ongoing

    Public or Private

    Public Program (open to the public)

    Program Fee

    Not Applicable

Sponsoring Units

  • College of Arts & Sciences

  • Department of Psychology & Neuroscience

Program Partners

  • Boulder Shelter for the Homeless
  • People's Clinic / Clinica Family Health
  • Mental Health Partners
  • Association for Community Living (ACL)

Audiences Served

  • General Public
  • People With Disabilities
  • Socioeconomically Disadvantaged
  • Youth Placed At Risk