A Day to REVEL In

I parked my car, shut the door, and looked up at 3501 Blake Street, Denver, hoping to spot the REVEL office. Though I didn't know what to expect entirely, standing in the parking lot, I was excited at the prospect of learning more about a neurodiversity program here in the city. Since meeting the Colorado Neurodiversity Chamber of Commerce (CNDCC) in September 2022, I have jumped headfirst into the world of neurodiversity and learned much more about programs supporting neurodivergent individuals.  I work for a digital marketing agency, and haven’t had much exposure to neurodiversity in my workplace. I was quickly taken aback by the compassion and empathy everyone within this movement shows. A few months into my work with the CNDCC, I decided it would be beneficial to extend my vision and highlight the different companies they work with. There are a litany of programs that specialize in working with people that have ADD, ADHD, autism, intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD’s) in the Denver area that deserve recognition for the great work that they do. I ascended the staircase, eager to discover more about REVEL. I stopped at the front of their suite, hoped I was in the right spot, and walked on in. Immediately, I knew I had chosen the correct door.

As it closed behind me and I stepped inside, some heads turned and looked at me, puzzled. I was an unfamiliar face here. I looked around for someone to ask about my appointment, when I recognized Erin Brauer, coming down the hall. As she made her way towards me, she was cut off by one of the program participants (REVEL'ers, they're called here) as he made his way right up to me.

His name was Senaye. He introduced himself, offered to help me find my way, and started asking questions to get to know me. Senaye told me about his best friend, and what he was doing (he had just finished art class, where they had worked on painting that day). More than anything, I remember his smile as he introduced himself. I secretly wondered if I was smiling back or if my three years of remote work had made me forget how to greet people in public.

After my brief introduction to the common area from Senaye, I was handed over to Erin Brauer, Director of Development for REVEL. We caught up briefly before heading off on a tour of the facility. Erin showed me their common area, some of the classroom facilities they have, and where most of the REVEL'ers spend their day. She showed me their art station, the gaming area, and soon after I was brought into classrooms of two young adults working on job applications.

This caught me by surprise. I knew from the website that REVEL had an employment program that was in the works, but I didn't expect that people would be working on applications. I noted my curiosity and continued to follow Erin on the tour. 

After exploring the facility and being introduced to a few more friendly faces, I sat down with both Erin and Stephanie Engels, Executive Director of REVEL. I had the opportunity to ask them questions about the program, their goals, and how they planned to continue impacting Denver from their suite downtown.

Alec Demitrus: Go ahead and introduce yourselves.

Stephanie Engels: Stephanie Engels, Executive Director, and co-founder of REVEL.

Erin Brauer: Erin Brauer, Director of Development.

Alec: So, in your own words, what is REVEL?

Stephanie: REVEL is a place for teens and adults to find their community, to find their path, to find their interests, and explore who they are as individuals. We really started REVEL as a place to support the teen and young adult population with autism and IDD, recognizing that there are limited resources once individuals turn 21. There's a lot of people in our world that talk about this cliff that happens, and so we really wanted to be the bridge for people once they reach that age.

Alec: When did REVEL begin? When did you get started with this [program]?

Stephanie: We started in 2016, as an after-school program to hang out, meet people, and have fun. We called it the Lounge. The Lounge quickly evolved into, "Well, now they're graduating from high school, what are we going to do during the day? They still have skills to learn, so how are we going to teach them?" We started focusing on that area. Then it turned into employment, and people want jobs, and people love to do outdoor adventure camps. What are we going to do about housing? So all these offshoots of the programs have continued to evolve as we've grown.

Alec: It almost seems like you started by solving one problem, and then as you started solving that first problem, maybe realize isn't the right word, but it became obvious that there was a lot more that could be done. Is that fair to say?

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. And there's a huge emphasis on early intervention, which is very important. And we believe at REVEL that, people continue to learn throughout their lifespan, it doesn't just stop into adulthood. So we've really wanted to let them have fun, and combat that social isolation and depression that happens with adults on the spectrum, and continue to help learning.

Alec: So jumping into the programs at REVEL... I was hoping you could just give me kind of a brief synopsis of each of them, or what you'd like people to know about them? So can you jump into REVEL Lounge? 

Stephanie: Yes. So our REVEL Lounge occurs evenings and weekends. It's our social lounge. It's where people come and hang out, and have fun. It is loosely structured to allow for more social engagement. [We] go bowling, go to the movies, to Top Golf, grab food, visit arcades, and visit social places that they enjoy. We play video games, order pizza, and play virtual reality. Just ways to bring people together to have a good time. We’ve created this community where people can come and meet other people, and have something to do.

We have our Gear Up program, which is a program that happens during the day. It takes place Monday through Friday, 9:00AM-3:00PM. They get to experience different paths, different cooking, adventures, and outdoor components. In the summertime, they get to go boating. They go hiking. People here are getting to experience their passions, their interests, really figure out what their path is going to be. We have some volunteer opportunities, ways to connect with the community.

Erin: There's a lot of things that we do, but all of it is values driven, by what the client's own personal goals are. So for example, a client's goal might want to work on creating friendships. So, through cooking, we're working on creating friendships. So it’s activities that are really fun for them to explore all these different interests, but all of it is based on what their hopes, dreams, goals are.

Alec: It kind of sounds like there's a lesson plan, or a daily plan. However, it's designed with these goals or themes for what their specific need is, or what their specific want is. So if it is creating friendships, or working on job applications or something along those lines. So every activity is planned with those values in mind?

Stephanie: Exactly. So for example, cooking is different for everybody. For someone, it may just be trying something new. Or it may be wanting to build a friendship, so I'm going to just sit here today and try to connect with someone. It's not necessarily about cooking... And we use the activities as the tool to meet everyone's values, to really make it meaningful for them. At the end, you get to eat some food that you cooked, and that might be really cool too. 

Alec: That's fantastic. What are some other example activities that you do in Gear Up? We've mentioned cooking a couple of times. What are some other ones?

Stephanie: Every day, there's an overarching component of the activity and all the types of things you would do in there. Adulting includes anything from budgeting, menu planning, grocery shopping, transportation. Then we've got our creative side, which can include cooking as well as art classes. We have artists come in and teach classes. We go to RedLine, and go to their art studio. Access Gallery comes in and also teaches. The creative component also includes dance, drama, and other related classes. 

Sweat is our health and wellness component. They'll go to Rec Centers, go to yoga, go fencing, rock climbing and also have instructors come into our building to teach fitness classes. In the summers we get outside to do some paddleboarding, kayaking, hiking, swimming. Then we have the volunteer piece, that really [is] connecting with the community, going to different places, getting an idea of places they might want to experience as a job.

For some people… that leads into, "I really want to go to your employment class, that's what I want to do." For some people, it's, "Now I want to go do your outdoor adventure camp, because I loved doing those activities." So Gear Up really gives people a night to just sample different types of things. For some, that's what they want to continue doing for a while. Some then find a different route that they want to go based on the experiences they've had.

Alec: What about REVEL Supports? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Stephanie: Yes. So REVEL Supports is our clinical side, where our Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) and Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT) come in, and provide assessments on our clients, individual treatment plans with their goals that are related to them specifically. And we'll take data on those goals, make informed decisions on things that need to be changed. Everyone has a specific behavior plan and goals that are related to them. The issue that we have is with the funding. Once you turn 21, your amount of time that you're allotted, there's a cap on services, behavior services. It's very small. You get one BCBA hour a week, and five RBT hours a week. So some people need more than that in order to be here or function in their daily lives. They're not ready to be in a small group. So that's something that we really try to get funding for, get awareness for people to understand the need.

Alec: When does REVEL Supports come into the conversation? Is it as you're interested in any of the programs, if you're interested in coming to REVEL, and then is it followed up throughout? So there's goal markers, and then is there an end to Supports other than funding? How does that work?

Stephanie: So we do have those conversations initially when people are doing our intake, and we talk about the different types of programs. And almost all of our clients also get behavior services through us. And we try to make it more realistic in terms of the goals that we're working on, and have it be something that can be sustainable at their job, in a small group, in a social setting with the goal of fading out of those services to the level appropriate for each person. 

Alec: Shifting gears then from the Supports. How does this connect to [the] REVEL Employment program?

Stephanie: When we do our intakes, when we ask what's important to people, it's having friends, having a job, and living on your own.  [Those are the] big three things that we get. So employment, I mean, it gives people purpose, it gives some people a sense of who they are, and that pride. And so for families, for our REVELers, employment has always been a topic that has come up, and something people are interested in. When we started REVEL, we had this idea that we really were wanting to be in other places. We wanted our individuals to have jobs elsewhere, so we could be inclusive, we could be in other companies. That's really hard to do. So now we're trying to bring it internal, and [see] what we can create internally in terms of starting a business here, or really starting to do some training

Alec: So... how can people get involved with REVEL? What does that process look like from an individual to a company, corporation? What's that process look like?

Stephanie: For individuals, we have partnerships with different universities. So we have a lot of interns that come in to do direct support with our clients, help prep any materials, anything like that. For corporations... some corporations will want to come in for a larger event, or have 20 people volunteer in a single day. So we can partner with them for our events that we have, where we posted meet and greets, and just to get people to come and engage, and get to know a little bit more about REVEL, and help get the community involved that way. For corporations, we're starting to just do more partnerships in general, where we want it to be mutually beneficial. So having people partners who align with our values and are interested in learning more, that way, we're on the same page there.

Erin: [If you are interested,] email [us] at info@revelinlife.org. Through that, then we can direct to whoever's the best person. They could follow us on social media, LinkedIn, we're trying to build all that awareness. 

Alec: So getting into those specifics of volunteering, who is an ideal person for volunteering? Or what skills could they have or should they have? What does REVEL need volunteers for?

Erin: Someone who's able to engage and be in a group, and jump in and help support in different ways. If people are not interested in that, we also have materials that can be prepped, closets to be organized, materials to be purchased. We're looking for a social media intern. I think there are a variety of different ways that we could look at people volunteering here.

Erin: We want to work on expanding our Lounge offerings and programming. So having people that want to come in, and just hang out by watching a movie, or going to Top Golf, and providing those natural opportunities for engagement and friendships. We have talked to several autistic adults who are very independent in many ways, but still struggle with friendships or making connections with people. So we would really like to build that. We're talking to Regis in the coming weeks about some of their programs for adults, and how we can create this hub for adults who are neurodivergent or interested in volunteering and being a part of our community. I think that's a place that I see as natural growth for us. Similar to the CNDCC networking events, there would also be people who might want to just come to a Lounge event, or meet us at Top Golf. It would be great to advertise some of the places that we're going, and have volunteers from the community come in. The more natural opportunities for friendships and connections, the better.

Alec: So I noticed that this site as well, we have a gala coming up, a REVEL gala. Do you want to give me some information about that, and what that's going to be?

Erin: Yeah. REVEL in ART is April 22nd. It’s an event where we partner with the community that we're in, which is RiNo Arts. We partner with local artists, and they donate a portion of their sales back to REVEL. It's a really cool event. We're hosting it at RedLine Contemporary Art Center this year. It's our first year in-person. It was virtual in the past because of the pandemic. So we're going to be in-person with 25 local artists, live music by Ashanti Floyd, The Mad Violinist, and delicious food and drinks. It’s going to be a fun event supporting a great cause!

Erin: In addition, on April 7th, we are also doing something for the broader community [at Improper City]. So even if someone isn't able to attend the gala at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, we're the nonprofit of the month [at Improper City] all through April for Autism Acceptance Month.

Alec: Congratulations. That's Fantastic.

Erin: [We’re asking people to rally and to go]... Go have a drink, and donate to REVEL in April. On April 7th, we're partnering [more formally] with Access Gallery who provide opportunities, a path to art for all abilities, [and Improper City to host First Friday]. We're going to have a live demo by an artist who is neurodivergent, and collaborative art with stickers, so that anyone in the community that's there for happy hour that Friday can... focus on art and autism, and autism acceptance. Stephanie has a great line about art and autism, and the connection.

Stephanie: Art is unique, every person with autism is unique. And it's been really cool to see the artists and their connections to autism, and why they want to be part of this event. For some of them, it is, they have a personal connection as part of their story, or just really finding their own way to express themselves. So I think that this whole art connection and expressing yourself, when we know that people with autism can have challenges with communication and finding a way to have that outlet, and to get your communication and your voice heard, is pretty special. 

Alec: Both of you can give your own answer for this. But what's one thing you want people to know about individuals on the neurodivergent spectrum? What is something you wish more people knew, or what's one thing that you think people should know?

Stephanie: I think something for me that, as I've been talking to several of our individuals here is that, a lot of them are just saying, "Well, I'm just me. I just am who I am." And so having that acceptance of people [who] are different, and people are who they are. And just a little more tolerance and understanding, I think is what I would want people to know.

Erin: I want everyone to see the opportunity that every single one of these people have. Our vision is life without limits. And society puts so many limitations on people with a disability, including neurodivergence. I think that by spending time with our clients, you see the potential there, and they deserve to have the same opportunities to create friendships, to be a part of their community in an authentic way.

Having finished my questions, I stopped recording our dialogue in Stephanie's office. Quickly, our senses returned and we heard the program participants outside. We opened up the door to see what the commotion was about. 

A cooking class had just ended and they were all working together to clean up before they went to their next activity. The group cheered each other on and helped in their own way as they got ready to move on to the afternoon activities. Some still munched on the flautas they had made (and I had smelled) during our interview.  Without missing a beat, Senaye came up to me and introduced me to his best friend. I asked him about the cooking class and he beamed at me, telling me what they had done just an hour earlier. 

Though only being at REVEL for a little over an hour, the warmth I received at their facility made me feel as though I had been working there my whole career. There's a palpable kindness in the air, and as I exited, I couldn't wait to see what opportunities would bring us together again. 

The REVEL Gala, REVEL in Art, will be held on April 22nd. It's going to be a fantastic event at the RedLine Contemporary Art Center. I highly suggest buying a ticket and attending. There will be music, art, culture, and the opportunity to learn more about a fantastic organization that is doing amazing work here in Denver. You can find tickets for purchase at the following link revelinlife.org/revelinart.

Improper City will be hosting REVEL and Access Gallery on April 7th, for a community event. It will include art, culture, and a fantastic community presence. This event is free to the public, so feel please stop by!

For more information about the events above, please visit their website or reach out to Erin Brauer at erin@revelinlife.org.