The University of Alabama officially launched the COMPASS Brain Health Initiative (Comprehensive Post-Acute Specialty Services) on March 4, 2026, becoming the first clinic of its kind in Alabama. The program provides free, same-day interdisciplinary evaluations for individuals living with the persistent effects of traumatic brain injury.

COMPASS is entirely funded by the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS), making every evaluation free of charge. The state’s involvement runs deep: planning began in October 2025, funding was secured in December 2025, and collaboration spans the Governor’s Office, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Mental Health, and the justice system. The clinic serves an estimated 102,000 Alabamians living with TBIs, with patients split roughly equally between civilians and veterans.

ADRS TBI Director April B. Turner underscored the program’s significance: “There’s nothing like this that exists. Having a clinic where our veterans or the guard or folks in long-term recovery can come into our centers, and… have specialists that we can refer them to for free…is just pivotal.”

(ADRS also announced five satellite TBI centers across the state, in Birmingham, Mobile, Decatur, Opelika, and Enterprise, extending COMPASS’s reach statewide.)