Resource Library

This resource library is a hub of information for those interested in improving the lives of children and adults with I/DD, brain injuries, and other cognitive disabilities who also have mental health conditions. The materials are intended for a broad audience, including individuals with disabilities and their families, advocates and allies, policymakers, direct support professionals, and clinical professionals. We’re continuing to add more, so please check back often.

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Documents,Paperwork,Business,Strategy,Concept

Resources are organized into the categories listed below. You can click on one of the categories to see all resources about that topic, or use the search features below.

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Glossary

An alphabetical list of words and phrases with definitions that may be relevant to the work of The Link Center.

Accessibility

How easily someone can access a structure, service, program, meeting, or any public opportunity, regardless of their disability status.
Accessible

When a facility, service, technology, or other aspect of everyday living is readily usable by someone, regardless of their disability status.
Acquired Brain Injury (ABI)

Brain damage that is caused by something that happens to a person after birth, not by another disorder.
Adaptability

The ability of a space or system to adapt to the needs of people using the space or system.
Adjustment disorder

An excessive or unhealthy emotional or behavioral reaction to a stressful event or change in a person’s life. The reaction is more intense than would generally be expected, with symptoms starting within three months of the stressful event.
Advocacy

When a person, group of people, or organization voices or demonstrates support for something that is important to them.
Alzheimer’s disease

A brain disorder that slowly harms memory and thinking processes over time. This disease usually appears in people’s mid-60s. Some people with I/DD may experience an early onset of this condition.
Anxiety disorders

Several disorders that are expressed as worry, anxiety, or fear. These feelings can interfere with everyday functioning.
Assertive Community Treatment (ACT)

A comprehensive service that consists of a transdisciplinary team that provides services directly to individuals. ACT team members collaborate on assessments, treatment planning, and day-to-day interventions.
Assistive Technology (AT)

Products, equipment, and systems that help people communicate, learn, work, and do daily living activities.
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

A condition that affects a person’s ability to focus, stay still, or think before acting.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)

A term that describes multiple ways to communicate that can supplement or compensate (either temporarily or permanently) for the impairment and disability patterns of individuals with expressive communication disorders. People of all ages can use AAC if they have trouble with speech or language skills. Augmentative means to add to someone’s speech. Alternative means to be used instead of speech.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

A developmental disability that affects how people experience the world, interact with others, communicate, and learn. Autistic people are an important part of the world. Autism is a normal part of life and helps make a person who they are.
Bipolar and related disorders

Disorders that include emotional highs and lows that can impact daily functioning.
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

A disorder where people have difficulty managing their emotions and can experience intense bouts of anger, depression, and anxiety that may last from hours to days or longer. These bouts occur repeatedly, often in response to minor life stressors or just on their own.
Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS)

A professional who works to improve the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of people through therapy services and recreation.
Client-/Person-centered care

A form of treatment planning that is directed by the person receiving services. It focuses on their goals rather than the goals of a mental health professional or caregiver.
Clinical psychologist

A mental health professional with specialized skills to diagnose and treat mental, behavioral, and emotional conditions.
Co-occurring conditions

When a person is experiencing more than one condition at a time. In the work of The Link Center, this means a person experiences a developmental or intellectual disability, brain injury, or other cognitive or communication condition and a mental health condition.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A treatment that can help change thoughts and behaviors to help someone cope with everyday life.
Cognitive Disability

A type of disability that impacts attention, memory, judgment, reasoning/problem-solving, decision-making, comprehension, and language production/processing.
Comorbidity

The occurrence of more than one disorder at the same time.
Competitive Integrated Employment
Work that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis for which an individual is:
- Compensated at or above minimum wage and comparable to the customary rate paid by the employer to employees without disabilities performing similar duties and with similar training and experience.
- Receiving the same level of benefits provided to other employees without disabilities in similar positions.
- At a location where they interact with other individuals without disabilities.
- Presented opportunities for advancement similar to other employees without disabilities in similar positions.
Counseling Psychology

A type of psychology that focuses on a person’s functioning across the lifespan and many areas of their life.
Dementia

A diagnosis where a person experiences a decline in memory and other thinking skills.
Depression

A mood disorder that negatively affects how a person feels, the way they think, and the way they act. It is not the same as being unhappy or in a blue mood. Depression affects how people sleep, eat, work, study, and interact with others.
Developmental Disability (DD) 

A disability – as defined by the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act – that starts before a person turns 22 years old and impacts how the person conducts daily life activities (things like walking or standing, getting to appointments, dressing), in at least three ways such that the person will need some support in their daily life.
Diagnosis

When a person has been identified as experiencing certain symptoms that fit criteria defined by professionals based on research and experience.
Diagnostic overshadowing

Phenomenon that occurs when a health care professional assumes that a patient’s complaint is due to their disability or coexisting mental health condition rather than fully exploring the cause of the patient’s symptoms.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

A treatment that helps people regulate their emotions.
Dissociative disorders

A group of disorders that cause disruptions or breakdowns of memory, consciousness, identity, and perception. These disturbances can range in severity from brief to chronic. Often, people with dissociative disorders experienced trauma — such as physical or sexual abuse — early in life.
Down syndrome

Also called trisomy 21, this is a condition in which a person is born with an extra chromosome. It may cause delays in the way a person develops mentally and physically.
Dual diagnosis

When a person is experiencing more than one diagnosis at a time. In the work of The Link Center, this means a person experiences a developmental or intellectual disability, brain injury, or other cognitive or communication diagnosis and a mental health condition.
Dysthymic disorder

A mood disorder characterized by persistent low mood for two or more years (or one year for children) but with fewer depressive symptoms than major depressive disorder. 
Epilepsy

A brain disorder that causes recurring, unprovoked seizures.
Evidence-based practice

An intervention or treatment for which researchers have provided an acceptable level of research that shows the practice produces positive outcomes for people.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms of emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences.
Family therapy

A type of therapy that intends to help families communicate and resolve conflicts.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD or FAEs)

A group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects can include physical problems and problems with behavior and learning.
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)

Thorough and objective assessments where gathering information through record reviews, interviews, and observations assists in identifying patterns in behavior. 
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

A diagnosis where someone may excessively worry about a number of different aspects of life.
Group therapy

A type of therapy where people experiencing similar life circumstances get together and discuss their problems together with a therapist as a moderator.
Habilitation

Services designed to assist participants in acquiring, retaining, and improving the self-help, socialization, and adaptive skills necessary to reside successfully in home and community-based settings.
Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)

An array of supports and services that enable people with physical and cognitive disabilities to live in their own home and participate in community life.
Identity-first language

A way of referring to a person that emphasizes their disability or mental health as an identity (i.e., disabled or autistic person).
Individual therapy

A type of therapy designed to help one person explore and develop themselves to achieve their goals in life.
Inpatient treatment

When a person receives medical or mental health treatment and requires at least one overnight stay in a facility, like a hospital, to help them regain or maintain stability.
International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

The global standard for the diagnosis, treatment, research, and statistical reporting of health conditions, including mental and behavioral disorders.
Intervention

Action taken or designed to help prevent a negative outcome or to improve a situation.
Involuntary commitment

A legal process by which individuals are admitted into a treatment facility against their wishes. A common standard for commitment is posing a danger to self or others or because the person cannot provide for their own basic needs.
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

A diagnosis where a person has a long-lasting depressed mood, long-term loss of pleasure and interest, disturbed sleep, and other feelings of guilt or inadequacy.
Mania

A characteristic of bipolar disorder that is marked by overexcitement, overactivity, and delusions.
Medicaid

A state-federal partnership that provides health care, behavioral health care, and long-term supports and services (including HCBS) to eligible individuals.
Mental health

A person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being.
Mental illness

When a person’s mental health is out of balance due to their experiences with mood, thinking, and/or behavior.
Mood disorder

A group of conditions characterized by a disruption of normal mood, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or seasonal affective disorder.
Multiple disability

A term used to describe a person who experiences two or more disabilities simultaneously.
Non-traumatic brain injury

A form of acquired brain injury that is not caused by an external physical force to the head. A non-traumatic brain injury can result from an illness, oxygen deprivation, metabolic disorders, aneurysms, cardiac arrest, a near-drowning experience, etc.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A diagnosis where someone has unwanted thoughts, feelings, ideas (obsessions), and behaviors that drive them to do something over and over (compulsions). Not doing these obsessive and compulsive rituals causes distress.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

A diagnosis in children under age 18 in which there is a pattern of hostile and defiant behaviors directed at authority figures.
Outpatient treatment

When a person visits a facility for treatment of some kind but isn’t required to stay overnight.
Panic disorder

A diagnosis where someone has debilitating anxiety and fear that arises frequently without a reasonable cause.
Person-Centered Practices (PCP)

A process for selecting and organizing the services and supports that a person may need. Most importantly, it is a process that is directed by the person who receives the support, with an understanding of what is important to that individual.
Person-first language

Referring to a person before their diagnosis to demonstrate that their diagnosis is only one part of their whole identity (i.e., a person with cerebral palsy, a person with depression, etc.).
Personality disorders

A group of disorders where someone has long-lasting disruptive patterns of thought. Examples include schizoaffective, antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and others.
Positive Behavior Support (PBS)

A person-centered approach to supporting a person’s quality of life that incorporates values about the rights and dignity of people who have disabilities and self-determination, science about how learning and behavior change occur, biomedical and lifestyle concerns, changes in systems of support, and team-based approaches.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A diagnosis where someone has persistent stress experiences following a physically or emotionally distressing event.
Psychiatry

The study and treatment of mental health conditions, emotional struggles, and behavior.
Psychoanalysis

A type of therapy that investigates the interactions between what is conscious and unconscious in a person’s mind.
Psychodynamic therapy

A type of therapy that helps people gain insight into their lives and experiences to help them overcome struggles.
Psychology

The scientific study of the human mind.
Psychotherapy

The treatment of mental health conditions through talk therapy instead of medical means.
Recovery

A process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential.
Rehabilitation

Process by which professionals and clients collaborate to create goals, timeframes, and means for achieving the best possible functioning of the client and promoting independence. Under Medicaid, rehabilitation services are often the main source of mental health treatment in many states.
Residential treatment

When a person seeks inpatient help and stays at a facility as their new place of residence for a time.
Resilience

How well a person recovers after difficulties.
Respite care (aka “respite”)

Short-term care for people to help them get stabilized during particularly challenging times. Respite also allows any primary caregiver(s) to have temporary time for self-care or other tasks.
Schizoaffective disorder

A condition where someone has symptoms of both schizophrenia and a major mood disorder.
Schizophrenia

A diagnosis where someone has incoherent thoughts, delusions or hallucinations, or other experiences. This usually presents itself in early adulthood.
Self-abuse/Self-harm/Self-injury

Also referred to as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), NSSI refers to the intentional destruction of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intent and for purposes not socially sanctioned. Common examples include cutting, burning, scratching, and banging or hitting. NSSI is typically associated with emotional and psychiatric distress.
Social anxiety disorder

A diagnosis where someone has anxiety or fear of being judged, negatively evaluated, or rejected in a social or performance situation.
TIC and related disorders

A group of diagnoses where someone experiences involuntary muscle movements, including vocalization.
Trauma

Experience that results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. In short, trauma is the sum of the event, the experience, and the effect.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

An injury to the brain that is caused by an external force that results in possible impairments to cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem-solving, speech, etc.
Treatment

Care given to a person with medical or mental health needs.