September 29, 2025 Montpelier, VT — As Vermont faces looming health insurance cuts and the end of Medicare telehealth coverage, All Brains Belong VT has been awarded a grant from the Melissa Andrews Trust to expand care for neurodivergent Vermonters with…
Category: News
Vermont Medicine: Health Care for the Neurodivergent Community
(Janet Essman Franz, 4/18/2025) “If we can do one thing to improve health care experiences and relationships, it’s to explicitly tell patients that we believe them,” says Melissa Houser, M.D.’12, clinical assistant professor of family medicine at UVM, in a…
Vermont Public: Neurodivergent Vermonters launch fund for medicine, groceries as Medicaid cuts loom
(Elodie Reed, 2/28/2025) Neurodivergent Vermonters are organizing a new mutual aid effort to supply each other with medicines, groceries and ways to take action during an uncertain time. The effort, led by the Montpelier-based community health organization All Brains Belong, began…
Seven Days: An Autistic Doctor Is Redefining Neurodivergent Health Care
(Ken Picard, 1/15/2025) “People don’t just join a medical practice. They are joining a community,” said Dr. Melissa “Mel” Houser, 41, who founded All Brains Belong in November 2021. The Long Island native moved to Vermont in 2008 to attend…
All Brains Belong Announces its 2nd Annual “Improving Autistic & ADHD Healthcare” Webinar
Autistic & ADHD adults often have multiple intertwined health conditions. The healthcare system often gets in the way of clinicians addressing multiple medical problems at a time. Yet by treating these intertwined medical conditions as separate, this may result in…
Montpelier Bridge: ‘One Size Fits All’ Does Not Work for All
(Mel Houser, Guest Columnist, 8/21/2024) At least one in five people thinks, learns, or communicates differently than a person with a so-called “typical” brain. Some have been identified with specific diagnoses (i.e., autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], dyslexia, bipolar disorder, traumatic…
Vermont Edition: School stories: Why students act out and how to support them
(Mikaela Lefrak, Andrea Laurion, 9/10/2024) This week on Vermont Edition focused on behavioral issues in Vermont classrooms. Dr. Mel Houser, Executive Director of All Brains Belong, participated on a panel discussing how schools can better strengthen neuroinclusion, and how to…
Medscape: See the Medical World Through Neurodivergent Doctors’ Eyes
(Cassie Shortsleeve, 6/20/2024) Although autism can sometimes be diagnosed as early as 18 months, it’s not uncommon to receive a diagnosis well into adulthood. “Like many late-identified autistic adults, I got my autism diagnosis in the context of autistic burnout,”…
VT Digger: ‘A real sense of community’: All Brains Belong hosts virtual New Year’s Eve celebration
(Babette Stolk, 12/27/23) The organization, which provides support to neurodivergent individuals, is hosting the event for people who do not feel comfortable in crowded spaces. As 2023 comes to a close and Covid-19 indicators rise, New Year’s Eve parties may lead…
VT Digger: Coalition launches campaign to document harassment and bullying in Vermont schools
Hate incidents, racism and other forms of harassment in Vermont’s pre-K-12 school system have prompted a coalition of 13 organizations to launch a website to collect and document those experiences among students.
Vermont Narratives of Change is “a storytelling campaign against harassment and bullying” that “seeks to raise awareness about the impact of these negative behaviors and advocate for positive change within schools statewide