Our Philosophy

The goal of this center is to provide a dedicated space and resource for all individuals impacted by aphasia, offering interaction and participation in meaningful groups, activities, and events. This is in keeping with our Life Participation Approach to Aphasia Care. We use a person-centered model of care and are dedicated to helping people with their communication, quality of life, and wellness across all aspects of the recovery continuum, regardless of time since aphasia diagnosis. Our work is based upon the principles of neural plasticity and the continued changes that the brain can make.

In This Section

The Aphasia Community Explained

Dive into this quick snapshot of aphasia awareness with Julie Hart, MS, CCP‑SLP, Director of The Aphasia Center at Russell Sage College. Learn what aphasia is, how it affects communication, and what you can do to support those living with it.

Save the Date: The Moving Message

Join us Saturday, September 13, 2025, from 11am – 2pm on the Albany Campus Quad at Russell Sage.

A 1-mile walk and festival geared toward raising awareness about neurogenic communication disorders and raising money for the Moving Message Fund. There will be motivating speeches, suggestions for how to support communication, stories of those who have had a stroke or brain injury, vendors, artists, raffles, music, food, kids activities, and much more.

Donate to the Fund
The Moving Message
The Moving Message Group Photo Outside at the event

What We Do

This center will provide training of conversation partners to allow for increased socialization in home and in the community.

In addition, collaboration with the varied health-related majors at the college trains future healthcare practitioners on supported communication. 

Isolation, depression, and poor access to healthcare are very common in people with chronic aphasia, and we hope to avoid this by engaging people in everyday activities with others. We also aspire to provide truly beneficial caregiver/care partner support to families, friends, and others impacted by aphasia.

Who We Serve

The Aphasia Center works with those with difficulty communicating after strokes, brain injuries, or other neurological conditions.

A person must be medically stable to attend. Clients are served by the New York State Department of Health TBI-Medicaid Waiver program or are private-paying clients seeking longer-term support after discharge from outpatient services.

In the News

CBS6 Albany: Woman Battling Aphasia explains how she navigates post-stroke life

A woman who had a stroke here in the Capital Region about ten years ago has been battling aphasia ever since, a language disorder that affects a person’s ability to find the right word, understand what others are saying, read, write or put a full sentence together.

Q&A with Speech Pathologist Julie Hart, Director of The Aphasia Center at Russell Sage College.

In the following Q&A, Julie Hart talks about her career inspiration, the difference The Aphasia Center makes, and how you can help raise awareness about this condition, which affects 2 million Americans but is not well-known except by those directly impacted. 

A group of people in a meeting room seated around a blue table, with one person speaking and others listening.
Julie Hart, speech language pathologist and director of The Aphasia Center at Russell Sage College (left), speaks to health sciences students.

Services Provided

A structured day program that runs Monday through Friday

  • Small Group therapy sessions aimed at improving an individual’s ability to communicate and connect with others who are experiencing similar challenges
  • People can be engaged in one group a week or several groups per week, dependent upon need and goals.

Group offerings

  • Communication support groups:
    Designed to increase the ability for a person with aphasia to communicate with others. Communication will be supported, and use of all modalities of communication will be utilized and encouraged. 
  • Current events groups:
    Designed to allow a person with aphasia to participate in meaningful conversation about what is happening in the world around them.
  • Writing groups:
    Designed to support people in improving their functional writing.
  • Reading group:
    Designed to support people to return to reading and sharing common interests with others.
  • Counseling groups:
    Designed to address the mental health needs of those with aphasia, focusing on identity, resilience, and positive growth mindset. 
  • Healthy living groups:
    Designed to address the needs for living a healthy life with aphasia post stroke or traumatic brain injury.
  • Adaptive yoga:
    Designed to help all people, regardless of ability, to participate in a guided, adapted, yoga practice.
  • Gardening:
    Designed to improve the wellness and quality of life of those living with aphasia. They are supported regardless of physical ability to participate.
  • Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) guidance:
    Designed to work with people and the families of those who have been diagnosed with a progressive form of aphasia.

Intake Process

If you, or someone you know is interested in the program, please contact:

Julie Hart, MS, CCC-SLP
Director of The Aphasia Center
[email protected]
518-292-1800

We will get back in touch with you to set up an individual meeting and a tour to determine if this program is right for you.