Alabama interim committee hears presentations on PTSD and traumatic brain injury, directs resources be added to Connect app

A joint interim committee of the Alabama Legislature on first responder mental health on Monday heard presentations from the Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) and the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS) about post‑traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), and asked staff to add first‑responder resources to the state’s Connect mobile app ahead of the committee’s report to legislative leaders.

The ADMH presenter, identified in remarks as the state mental health commissioner, framed PTSD as a treatable reaction to traumatic events and reviewed risk factors for first responders, noting veterans and women have higher lifetime prevalence. “PTSD is not a personal failure or a weakness,” the commissioner said, and urged early intervention to reduce downstream risks such as depression, substance use and suicide.

ADMH demonstrated the Connect app — a free mobile tool with a services locator and mental‑health and substance‑use resources — and said a scheduled refresh will begin in roughly four to six weeks. Committee members were asked to identify additional first‑responder resources to include in the update so the revised app could be described in the committee’s upcoming report. The presenter also said the state’s in‑state 988 answer rate is 90.6 percent (the committee’s stated goal was 90 percent) and listed six 24/7 crisis centers in Huntsville, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, Dothan and Mobile.

ADMH also described veterans‑focused pilot projects funded through an opioid settlement appropriation: AltaPoint (a veterans crisis care and treatment linkage), Centerstone (which will provide 3,000 free therapy sessions in person or by telehealth), a telehealth service targeting veterans ages 18–34, and Sojourn Counseling (offering EMDR, cognitive behavioral therapy and microcurrent neurofeedback via a Birmingham site and a mobile van). ADMH said it will add those projects to the Connect app.

April Turner, state brain‑injury coordinator for ADRS, outlined TBI definitions, causes and statewide prevalence from the ADRS registry. Turner said that in fiscal year 2025 the registry recorded 9,188 Alabamians with a brain or spinal‑cord injury in one year, including 3,611 classified as mild and 5,577 as moderate or severe, and that an estimated 102,000 Alabamians are currently living with a brain injury. Turner also described comorbidities: TBI increases risk for PTSD, substance use and suicide, and many symptoms — such as light and noise sensitivity, headaches and cognitive slowing — can overlap with PTSD.

Turner said the state operates an Alabama TBI navigation system and helpline that provides screening, resource referrals and care coordination, and that ADRS has expanded free TBI services to veterans, National Guard members and those in long‑term recovery. She said ADRS is implementing its TBI screener in the Alabama National Guard and that TBI counts are tracked through hospital registries; by contrast, she said a PTSD registry does not currently exist in Alabama.

During questions, Representative Riggs, who joined by phone, warned that first responders will avoid reporting symptoms if they fear job loss or disciplinary consequences. “We don’t wanna do anything that’s pointed to somebody’s job at risk per se,” Riggs said, and urged confidentiality and safe reporting pathways. Turner and other presenters said ADRS TBI services are confidential, that new TBI centers will open in Huntsville, Birmingham, Opelika, Dothan and Mobile and that employees need not disclose a disability in order to seek services; they also noted that workplace absences raise separate employer‑side issues under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Committee members recommended training for supervisors so leaders can recognize trauma, understand how to accommodate employees and direct them to confidential resources.

Pete Grogan of the Legislative Services Agency recommended including mental‑health leadership training at professional associations’ annual meetings (police chiefs, fire chiefs, the fire college) to build buy‑in among supervisors. Other members suggested using the local government health insurance plan and municipal onboarding or annual review packets to distribute resource information to employees across counties and municipalities that participate in the plan.

The committee agreed the Connect app refresh presents an immediate opportunity to include first‑responder resources and asked staff to prepare an app layout and a draft letter for the committee’s report. The chair reiterated the committee’s charge to produce a report to the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate by the third legislative day and said staff are aiming to have the app updates and the report aligned with a mid‑January reporting window.

Before adjourning members voted by voice to send the flyer with faces included as part of the planned outreach. The committee scheduled a follow‑up meeting in December to finalize recommendations and the report.

What’s next: staff will assemble the Connect app layout and a draft report for committee review; the committee expects to finalize recommendations in December and file the report to legislative leaders by the committee’s statutory reporting deadline.