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Welcome to our clubhouse

Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse was founded using a “clubhouse model” which has been successfully applied within the mental health community since the 1940’s. Side by Side is a proud member of the International Brain Injury Clubhouse Alliance which describes the clubhouse model using four of these guiding principles:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Joining Side by Side

Side by Side provides its members with a place to work toward active community participation where they are respected and valued for their strengths. Paired with other members and staff, they will achieve goals of increased independence and happiness. To join Side by Side clubhouse as a member, the following criteria must be met and maintained:

  • Have an acquired brain injury.

  • Be 18 or older.

  • Be independent with assisted devices or accompanied by a personal assistant.

  • Control behavior such that no threat to self or community exists.

  • Desire to participate in productive activity and work with peers toward a common goal.

  • Having funding resources to pay membership fees

Along with our clubhouse admission criteria, members and caretakers must understand and adhere to the following conditions of membership.

Side by Side Clubhouse Fees - Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse charges a per-day fee to cover the cost of providing services. Worker’s compensation carriers, state Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Independent Care Waiver Program of Medicaid may sponsor members who qualify for their services. Members without an external payer source receive discounts based on financial need and availability of scholarship funds. Members with a traumatic brain injury may apply to the Brain and Spinal Injury Trust Fund for scholarship assistance.

Please note: we depend on donor contributions to help members who lack outside payer sources and to subsidies the costs of Clubhouse programing for ALL of our members.

Application process - We’d love to hear from you. After reading through the conditions of membership, if you think Clubhouse may be the right match for you please call 770-469-9355 or email  Judy Wissing, Intake Coordinator, at judy@sidebysideclubhouse.org and put the word “Membership” in the subject line.   She will be happy to help explore with you whether it is time to set up a tour and complete an application packet. If Side by Side Clubhouse doesn’t appear to be the best match, we’re happy to provide other resources in your community.

Our History

Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse, is day program that addresses the powerful need for people with brain injuries to have a community that provides a place to gather, work, support one another and belong.

This need became painfully obvious to Side by Side Founder Cindi Johnson when she directed a weekend camp for the Brain Injury Association of Georgia in the 1990s. Cindi, then a program director at Shepherd Center, was already an expert in the field and understood a brain injury is treated but never really “cured.”

People living with brain injuries have a myriad of issues that can be episodic, recurring and/or permanent but the brain injury always remains. Shepherd Center and Emory Healthcare are experts at treating the brain injury but the support continuum all but stop with a discharge. With their extraordinary partnership, Cindi founded Side by Side in July 1999 and opened the doors to participants in March 2000. 25 years later, Side by Side operates in Stone Mountain Village and has served over 800 individuals. Click here for an overview of our services.

Study Shows Effectiveness of a Brain Injury Clubhouse

In April of 2021, Implementation Science & Practice Advance Research Center released an issue brief that highlighted the history, development and impact of brain injury clubhouses in our community. The findings confirmed what the team at Side by Side Brain Injury Clubhouse has known all along:

“ABI clubhouses can provide an option to address the rising impact of brain injuries and the lack of community-based services to address them. The ABI clubhouses in this study reported offering a wide array of services and supports to assist members. The ABI Clubhouses provides services and supports to those with severe disability and initial evidence shows reduced emergency medical utilization and risk factors, and improved safety, community independence and health-related life quality.”

Interested in learning more about the history and methodology of the Brain Injury Clubhouse? Click here to read the full research paper.