Director of Clinical Services | Connecticut Neuropsychologist & Brain Injury Specialist

Dr. Michelle Brisman, Ph.D., serves as Director of Clinical Services at The Supported Living Group (SLG), bringing extensive clinical neuropsychology and rehabilitation experience to the organization's community-based services for individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), neurological conditions, and complex cognitive and behavioral support needs.

Dr. Brisman has developed her career around understanding how neurological conditions affect cognition, behavior, emotional functioning, independence, and quality of life. Her clinical background includes extensive work with individuals recovering from neurological injury and illness in both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation settings.

At SLG, she provides clinical leadership and works directly with individuals and support teams to translate neuropsychological understanding into practical strategies that can be used in everyday community settings.

A Career Built Around Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation

Dr. Brisman earned her undergraduate degree from Binghamton University and her Doctorate of Philosophy from Yeshiva University. She began her formal clinical career as a neuropsychologist with the United Cerebral Palsy Association in New York before completing her internship at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey, where she specialized in cognitive rehabilitation involving medically and neurologically compromised populations.

Her subsequent career included leadership in medical rehabilitation services at Easter Seals in Eastern Connecticut, where she worked with individuals experiencing a range of neurological conditions, including:

  • Traumatic and acquired brain injury

  • Stroke

  • Multiple sclerosis

  • Seizure disorders

  • Brain tumors

She later worked in acute rehabilitation at Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital and St. Francis Behavioral Health Group, providing services across inpatient and outpatient settings while also helping expand neuropsychological services.

This extensive rehabilitation background gives Dr. Brisman a particularly strong understanding of the transition from medical rehabilitation to long-term community living.

Specialized Expertise in Acquired Brain Injury

Dr. Brisman has worked extensively with individuals living with acquired brain injury (ABI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Brain injury can affect much more than memory. Individuals may experience changes in:

  • Executive functioning

  • Attention

  • Processing speed

  • Judgment

  • Decision-making

  • Emotional regulation

  • Behavioral control

  • Self-awareness

  • Relationships

  • Independent living

These challenges are often invisible to people outside the individual's immediate support network.

Dr. Brisman’s neuropsychological perspective helps families and support professionals understand the connection between cognitive changes and everyday functioning.

Neuropsychology and the Connecticut ABI Waiver

Dr. Brisman has particular experience with individuals served through the Connecticut Acquired Brain Injury Waiver. Her private clinical practice has included ABI Waiver clients, and she joined The Supported Living Group in 2022 as Director of Clinical Services.

This experience provides an important bridge between clinical neuropsychology and community-based ABI Waiver services.

The transition from rehabilitation or institutional care back into the community often requires individuals to apply cognitive strategies in real-world environments.

A person may understand a strategy during a clinical appointment but struggle to apply it when:

  • Managing a household

  • Navigating relationships

  • Returning to work

  • Managing appointments

  • Making decisions

  • Handling unexpected situations

SLG's community-based model allows clinical expertise to be translated into practical support strategies.

Understanding Executive Dysfunction After Brain Injury

One of Dr. Brisman’s most relevant areas of expertise for ABI rehabilitation is understanding the relationship between cognition and functional behavior.

Executive functioning can affect an individual's ability to:

  • Plan

  • Organize

  • Initiate tasks

  • Prioritize

  • Manage time

  • Solve problems

  • Control impulses

  • Adapt to changing circumstances

These challenges can significantly affect independence even when physical recovery is relatively strong.

A neuropsychological approach helps support teams understand why a person may struggle with a task, rather than simply describing that the task was not completed.

This distinction is fundamental to effective brain injury rehabilitation.

Emotional and Behavioral Changes After Brain Injury

Brain injury can also affect emotional regulation and behavior.

Individuals may experience:

  • Increased frustration

  • Irritability

  • Anxiety

  • Emotional outbursts

  • Impulsivity

  • Reduced tolerance for stress

  • Difficulty adjusting to change

Dr. Brisman works with individuals and families to help them understand these changes within the context of neurological injury.

Her work emphasizes helping individuals recognize their strengths, address barriers created by injury, and develop strategies that improve quality of life. The current SLG profile specifically describes her work in behavioral management, goal achievement, self-esteem, and overcoming physical and cognitive obstacles associated with brain injury.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Brain Injury Support

At SLG, Dr. Brisman serves as a lead Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) resource for many individuals supported by the organization.

Her role includes helping individuals address challenges related to:

  • Adjustment after brain injury

  • Self-esteem

  • Emotional regulation

  • Goal achievement

  • Behavioral patterns

  • Quality of life

For individuals with ABI, traditional therapeutic approaches sometimes require adaptation because cognitive changes may affect memory, processing speed, insight, or the ability to apply abstract concepts.

Integrating neuropsychological understanding with therapeutic strategies can make interventions more practical and individualized.

Supporting Families After Brain Injury

Brain injury affects the entire family system.

Family members may struggle to understand why someone:

  • Behaves differently after injury

  • Becomes frustrated more easily

  • Has difficulty recognizing limitations

  • Appears physically recovered but remains functionally impaired

Dr. Brisman provides education and support designed to help families better understand the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects of ABI.

This educational component is particularly important because greater understanding can reduce misunderstanding and help families develop more effective strategies for supporting recovery.

Translating Clinical Expertise Into Community-Based Support

One of the distinguishing features of SLG's clinical model is the connection between clinical expertise and day-to-day community services.

Dr. Brisman provides education and clinical support to SLG staff, helping teams better understand the individuals they support and develop strategies that can be implemented outside a traditional clinical environment.

This can include helping staff understand:

  • Cognitive limitations

  • Behavioral triggers

  • Emotional regulation needs

  • Effective communication

  • Environmental modifications

  • Skill-building strategies

The objective is not simply to understand the diagnosis.

It is to understand how the diagnosis affects this particular person's life.

A Multidisciplinary Clinical Model

Dr. Brisman is part of SLG's broader multidisciplinary approach to community-based disability services.

The organization's clinical and professional resources include expertise in:

  • Neuropsychology

  • Occupational therapy

  • Behavioral support

  • Counseling

  • Brain injury rehabilitation

  • Autism and developmental disability supports

This collaborative model recognizes that complex neurological and developmental conditions rarely fit neatly within one discipline.

Clinical information can help guide functional support, while observations from community-based staff can provide valuable information about how an individual functions in real-world settings.

Professional Memberships and Brain Injury Expertise

Dr. Brisman maintains professional memberships with organizations including:

  • National Academy of Neuropsychology

  • American Psychological Association

  • Connecticut Psychological Association

  • Connecticut Neuropsychological Society

  • Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut

These professional affiliations further connect her work to the broader fields of neuropsychology, psychological practice, and brain injury rehabilitation.

Why Neuropsychology Matters in Connecticut ABI Services

For individuals with acquired brain injury, clinical expertise can be particularly important when functional challenges are difficult to understand from observation alone.

Neuropsychological expertise can help connect:

Brain function → behavior → functional ability → rehabilitation strategy

This is especially important when an individual experiences difficulties involving:

  • Executive dysfunction

  • Judgment

  • Emotional regulation

  • Memory

  • Self-awareness

  • Community safety

  • Independent living

At SLG, this clinical perspective supports a broader philosophy: effective community-based ABI services should be informed by an understanding of how brain injury actually affects the individual in everyday life.

Dr. Brisman and the Connecticut ABI Knowledge Center

Dr. Brisman's clinical expertise also provides an important foundation for SLG's Connecticut ABI Knowledge Center, which provides educational resources addressing the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and functional effects of brain injury.

The Knowledge Center addresses topics including:

  • Executive dysfunction after brain injury

  • Emotional regulation after ABI

  • Brain injury and relationships

  • Community reintegration

  • Returning to employment

  • Returning to college

  • Housing after brain injury

  • Driving after brain injury

  • Selecting an ABI provider

These resources reflect SLG's broader commitment to helping individuals and families understand life after acquired brain injury.

A woman with dark, curly hair smiling and wearing a black, white, and red checkered top against a plain wall background.

Michelle Brisman, Ph.D.