The Power of Membership
At the Clubhouse, survivors of brain injury
are considered members, not clients or
patients and, as such, claim responsibility
for making program decisions
and directing the daily operations
of the Clubhouse.

The Work-Ordered Day
The Clubhouse day is structured around meaningful work
in a work unit. Members choose to complete tasks
that directly support the operations of the Clubhouse-
from hiring staff, to advocating for brain
injury services, to writing a newsletter article
or preparing lunch.

Peer Relationships
Members work side by side with staff at the Clubhouse and interact with staff as peers. Through this relationship, members receive necessary supports while still maintaining ownership over their service planning at the Clubhouse and the course of their rehabilitation.

Lifelong, Voluntary, Membership
Clubhouse membership offers survivors of brain injury consistent, long term support that is available for as long as the member needs or desires.

IBICA Alliance Partners- Have you just submitted your 2026 Clubhouse Profile Questionnaire? If so, THANKS!

LAST STEP: Once you receive the PDF of your responses (should happen quickly!) do TWO things:

  1. SAVE THE PDF in an accessible location for reference next year.
  2. EMAIL A COPY OF THE PDF TO cindi@braininjuryclubhouses.net    Cindi will safely store it in case yours is misplaced and be able to reconcile discrepancies. This step is a requirment for Alliance Partner status.

What's Going On With IBICA?

Well, that’s a wrap! 🎊
We have successfully concluded our conference! We spent the last 3 days learning, connecting, and growing.
This year’s theme was “Members making meaningful work”.. and every session/content really drove that message home. We hope everyone who joined felt inspired to continue to make meaningful, engaging work!
A special thank you, again, to our sponsors, those who donated, our presenters, and the clubhouses who let us in with open arms to learn and connect.
Another special shout out to the conference planning committee! It was a small but might crew that made this whole thing possible (along with our sponsors and donors of course!)
 
Genesis Clubhouse – an accredited clubhouse with Clubhouse International, and a training base for new clubhouses, allowed us the unique opportunity to tour and learn from them; which we are so grateful for!
 
New Start Clubhouse, one of our Alliance Partner Clubhouses – really outdid themselves! Thank you all again for hosting. ❤️

What else is going on? Changes are coming to IBICA

Our beloved executive director, Cindi Johnson, will be retiring at the end of September. We want to give her a HUGE thank you for all the sweat, tears, and dedication she’s provided to IBICA over the last 20+ years. Without her, IBICA wouldn’t be the wonderful organization it is today!

 

 

We will be welcoming new incoming executive director, Katiey Surrett, in October. Katiey has been with IBICA in multiple capacities for the past 5+ years, and most recently served as our Board President and Conference Planning Committee Co-Chair.

We are also welcoming a new incoming board president, Dr. Drew Nagele! 

Dr. Drew Nagele is a Board Certified Rehabilitation Psychologist trained in NeuroRehabilitation with a 40+ year career in creating and running brain injury rehabilitation programs for children, adolescents, and adults with acquired brain injury. He chairs the Advanced Practice WorkGroup for the Brain Injury Association of America’s Academy for Certification of Brain Injury Specialists (ACBIS). Dr. Nagele is Co-Principal Investigator on 3 federal grants working with brain injury in schools, prisons, and NeuroResource Facilitation. He is Clinical Professor at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) teaching Neuropsychology, Neuropathology, and Cognitive Rehabilitation. His experience with Brain Injury Clubhouses started about 30 years ago, when he was working at MossRehab in Philadelphia, where he met Harvey Jacobs, who ran one of the first Brain Injury Clubhouses in California. Once Harvey established the MossRehab Clubhouse using a Pew Charitable Trust Grant, Harvey left and Drew’s boss said to him – this is a great program, figure out how to get it funded once the grant runs out. So he did that, and went on to start 2 more Brain Injury Clubhouses, and then served on the Board of IBICA and became Treasurer. Now semi-retired, he is working to get Brain Injury Clubhouses started in Florida, and has agreed to serve as IBICA Board Chair with the goal of building the Board and generating more interest in other states. 
IBICA Standards

The Challenge

Click to read BIAUSA's "The Challenge" article highlighting IBICA and the BI Clubhouse model.

Our Mission

The mission of IBICA is to support and advance an international collaborative network of standards-based Brain Injury Clubhouses for people impacted by brain injury. The vision of IBICA is that people impacted by brain injury worldwide will have access to life-long support and highest quality of life through Brain Injury Clubhouses.