All Brains Belong VT 2024 Impact Report “Did you know this could be healthcare?” Reimagining Healthcare & Community All Brains Belong VT® is built on a simple but powerful belief: that everyone deserves to belong, exactly as they are. We exist because the world isn’t always built to support the ways all our brains work. For many of us, navigating the “one size fits all” of healthcare, employment, education, and even finding community, can feel isolating or overwhelming -- at best. At ABB, we’re working to change that. We offer healthcare that meets people where they are, programs that connect people in meaningful ways, and resources to help workplaces and healthcare practices and schools become places where everyone can get their needs met and thrive. And along the way, we continue to build a community. We remind ourselves and each other: we’re not alone. We don’t have to navigate these challenges in isolation. That’s the foundation of our innovative model for healthcare delivery that we have been evolving over the past 3 years. In 2024, we solidified our model. Patients don’t just join a medical practice - they join a community. And it works! In 2024, not only did we arrive at deeper clarity on the work that is uniquely ours to do, but we built a “culture of impact” -- that is, we began to measure the “so what?” of our work. I look forward to sharing this with you in this report. As we head into a year where many of the systems we rely on are in jeopardy, we believe deeply that community is the path forward. We are always stronger together. Thank you for being part of this movement to reimagine healthcare delivery through community connection, giving people a place to belong and to become. Because when the world isn’t built for us, we build something better—together. * Mel "What ABB is doing here is utterly ground breaking and so badly needed. I'm impressed with anyone that has the ambition and courage to change the world" - ABB Community member OUR PROGRAMS HEALTHCARE IS MORE THAN MEDICAL CARE ABB’s innovative model for healthcare combines medical care with social connection, employment support, and community education. Learn about our programs through the stories of our community. ABB serves people whose needs went unmet by the traditional healthcare system. In the ABB Village, Community members connect with other people navigating similar health challenges, make friends, and get support for their lives outside the exam room. 87% of patients in the ABB medical practice suffer from chronic neuroimmune health conditions. In 2024, 92% of ABB patients say their health is better because of joining the ABB community. Did you know this could be healthcare? “We’re not alone, we’re not in isolation, and there is so much more we learn with each other from each other that I carry it in my head, in my heart each day. We’re in this community together, and we’re raising the most amazing children together.” - Debra Ann Pinsof-DePillis “(ABB is) accepting me as me, believing me, and trusting that the process is really more than about me - but about all of us finding ways of feeling better. If we can be curious about all of us together, then all of us can get better.” -Rhy Wepaloki, ABB Community Advisory Board HEALTHCARE IS UNDERSTANDING Every week, Brain Club® provides neurodiversity education and support at no cost to participants. Through Brain Club®, community members acquire a new narrative to understand their daily life experiences, and new language to talk about it. In 2024, Brain Club® served 552 people. “At Brain Club®, I don’t feel like I’m too much. I’m just enough. I thought I was alone. Honestly knowing there are others who experience the world similarly to me has been life-giving.” - Brain Club participant 21% of ABB’s adult patients are unemployed or underemployed. Economic health is part of a person’s holistic well-being. In 2024, 69 people participated in ABB’s employment support programs, including Building Occupational Opportunities through Support & Training (BOOST), which combines employment support with peer connection. 92% of BOOST participants had improved employment satisfaction. 83.3% had improved understanding of their needs. "ABB has helped me uncover what is standing in my way of offering my gifts to others, gifts that I have longed to offer my entire professional career. Learning about my access needs, and having a space of discovery...has helped me gain the confidence I needed to start a new business." - Amy Noyes, ABB Community Advisory Board ABB also addresses employment health from both sides, by training employers to create workplace environments where people with all types of brains can do their best work. In 2024, ABB provided neurodiversity training to 1354 employers, clinicians, educators, and community leaders plus presented at 7 regional and national conferences. “The training [gave] us an understanding of how different individuals’ minds work differently. An awareness of this give(s) everyone an opportunity to excel and contribute in the most impactful way to the team.” - Blake Sturcke, ABB Board of Directors, Co-CEO, Encore Renewable Energy In 2024, 13,613 people from around the world accessed ABB’s free educational resources. Since its launch in Aug 2023, the “Everything’s Connected to Everything: Improving the Healthcare of Autistic & ADHD Adults” project has been accessed by more than 20,000 people, both patients and clinicians learning about the common medical problems experienced by our community. HEALTHCARE IS COMMUNITY The 3rd Annual Community Health Education Fair was our best yet! 52 community organizations provided resources on the Vermont State House Lawn for housing, advocacy, employment support, and more. Community members shared their stories of reimagining healthcare, employment, and a world that works for everyone. 9 year old Autistic poet and rapper Hasan Ahmed was presented the Key to the City by Montpelier City Council representatives Sal Alfano & Adrienne Gil In 2024, 266 Sweet Little Loves participated in Kid Connections, ABB’s free friend matching program for kids and teens age 4-17. Kid Connections this year served participants in 26 states and 5 countries! "This is one of the very first truly safe places I have ever been in. ABB brings me hope." - Paul McAleer, ABB Professional Advisory Board "Being held in the safety of community, I am beginning to unfurl and love my brain, and the gifts it offers me and my community." - Olivia Tyler, ABB staff "My child is so excited because this is his very first friend!" - Parent of Kid Connections participant SUSTAINING OUR IMPACT 2024 FINANCIAL REPORT Revenue: Total: $780,677.42 Sources of revenue Education programs 7.8% Interest 0.82% Donations and Grants 25.24% Medical Programs 66.14% Expenses: Total: $746,271.03 Sources of expenses Employment programs 9.99% Community programs 16.33% Medical programs 54.93% Education programs 10.3% Fundraising 1.87% Overhead 7.24% Alternative Funding for Medical Care To address the needs of uninsured or underinsured patients in our community, ABB provided $14,985.75 in subsidized medical care in 2024, in the form of discount programs and alternative payment methods. Neurodiversity education 100% of ABB’s fee-for-service trainings are the funding source for employment support programs for patients with disabilities. In 2024, ABB also provided monthly pro bono trainings and 48 free community education sessions. ABB Community Fund Started by our Community Advisory Board in 2022, the ABB Community Fund is a mutual aid initiative to support fellow community members struggling with medical expenses. In 2024, our community provided $4,304.95 in mutual aid. In 2024, 100% of ABB’s community social connection programs were provided at no cost to participants. “This is the sincerest attempt I have ever seen in a medical practice to meet everyone where they’re at, serve everybody well, and leave nobody behind.” -Sarah Knutson, ABB Community Advisory Board 2025 Funding Priorities Together with our community of supporters, these are our goals for the coming 1. Address community demand for services: Hire an additional clinician to be able to reopen new patients. Also train primary care clinicians to better support neurodivergent people. 2. Innovate a model for alternative healthcare payment: Subsidize medical care for uninsured and underinsured patients, also supporting those at risk of losing insurance coverage. 3. Address barriers to healthcare access: Complete comprehensive assessment of patients’ social determinants of health, and fill in the gaps where basic needs have gone unmet. 4. Mass impact: Provide no-cost neurodiversity education to the public through Brain Club® and create a searchable, accessible Digital Resource Library OUR WHY WHY THIS WORK MATTERS The status quo of healthcare is failing neurodivergent people, who have high rates of chronic illness and premature death -- with cardiovascular disease and suicide as leading causes. "I get to see people come in who haven't been able to get care anywhere else. What we see is that when people feel safe, then they're able to connect with community -- and that's when we start to see health [improve] for people." - Sierra Miller, DNP, APRN “My life will forever be changed. I have confidence and I can advocate for myself, my son and my community now. Mel and staff saved my life. I found hope. This is what I've been searching for my whole life.” -Summer Stelter, ABB Professional Advisory Board, Owner, LimeLite Restoration Services "This is really helping me learn more about my brain. I love my brain." - Spencer, age 10, ABB Junior Advisory Council Social isolation harms health as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Of ABB patients identifying as socially isolated at the start of 2024, 77% were connected with community by the end of the year. Connection is the path to health. Thank you for believing that what we do matters On behalf of our whole ABB team, we are so grateful for everyone who supported us this year. Staff: Lizzy Pieratt (she/her), Education Programs Coordinator Olivia Tyler (she/her), Patient Care Coordinator Sierra Miller, DPN, APRN, FNP-C (she/her), Family Nurse Practitioner Reagan Dufresne (she/her), Kid Connections Project Coordinator Mel Houser, MD (she/her), Executive Director, Family Physician Board of Directors: Connie Beal, Chair Winnie Looby, PhD Gwen Pokalo Hart Blake Sturcke, Treasurer Rachel Lovins, MD, Secretary Jayson Capbianco Melissa Farr Peter Anderson, PhD Community Advisory Board: Matthew LeFluer Megan Thomas Clem Noone Sarah Knutson Liam Riddle Linda Riddle Alicia Banach Rhy Wepaloki Margot Lasher Olliver Colwell Sara Wilkins Nita Hanson David Brasure Charlie Hohn Janelle Starr Zeph Teo Rodas Simone Arnold Peggy Watson Amy Noyes Joy Redington Stephanie Peabody Jose Rivera Gray Costin David French Steve Owens Aniel Parker Emily Seifert Professional Advisory Board: Hannah Bloom MOTR/L Dr. Kerry Boyle Nadine Budbill Lauren Glickman Danielle Kent, M.S., CC-SLP Jordan Posner Linda Reid Katie Miller Becky Walsh, CFP Hannah Zajac PT, DPT, NCS, CBIS Summer Stelter Sarah Lipton Paul McAleer Matt Mulligan Whether you made a donation, attended an event, or shared our posts on social media, THANK YOU. YOU are what makes All Brains Belong possible.