Brain Injury Changes Lives in an Instant
What if you awoke from a coma into a chaotic world where nothing made sense? What if the anxious people circling your bed and imploring you to speak couldn't understand your desperate gibberish? What...
View ArticleSix Emotional Survival Skills When Brain Injury Strikes
There's just no way to prepare for a brain injury. One night you grab for the phone in time to hear an emergency department doctor say, "Your son's car went off the road and hit a tree." Or, while...
View ArticleEight Strategies to Get a Grip on Brain Injury Caregiver Responsibilities
Are you a new caregiver for a family member who recently suffered a brain injury? The crisis period of early brain injury treatment includes the time when your family member receives treatment in the...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: A Moral Compass through Hope and Uncertainty
My husband Alan and I thought we had covered all the bases. We'd had hours of discussions about how much of what kind of care we would each want if we had a terrible disease, or at the end of life....
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Who Am I If I Am No Longer Myself?
You've spent years becoming the one-of-a-kind person you are today. But what if a severe brain injury wiped away all traces of that person? Years of fine tuning your identity, personality, memories,...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Who Am I If I Am Not Myself? Part 2
Have you ever been responsible for restoring a loved one's memory? I'm not talking about helping an aunt who has Alzheimer's disease reminisce about her dog. I mean planting the seeds of identity and...
View ArticleHow Can We Learn if We Can't Remember?
After brain injury, how can a survivor learn to think, read, write, and function through the day if his memory is impaired? When brain injury impacts any form of memory, the person can have serious...
View ArticleTen Tips for National Family Caregivers Month
November is National Family Caregivers Month (NFC Month). President Obama issued a proclamation honoring the service and sacrifice of family caregivers. We can all contribute to raising awareness and...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Five Ways to Give the Gift of Gratitude
After brain injury, the losses, changes, and adjustments can overshadow any sense of gratitude for survival. Both survivors and family caregivers can benefit from cultivating gratitude as a tool for...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Learning to Love a Stranger
Remember the part of your marriage vows that covers loving each other in sickness and in health? Would the vows still be relevant if your partner awakened from a coma as a very changed person? The...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: New Vows Reflect a Changed Marriage
Family Caregivers often flinch at gaudy window displays of Valentine's Day cards and chocolates. Walking past those drug store windows is like sneaking a glimpse in a window best avoided. The window...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: The Dark Side of Personality Change Part I
In the brain injury world, there are taboo subjects that family caregivers can't wait to talk about among ourselves. The dark side of personality change is at the top of the list. read more
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: The Dark Side of Personality Change Part 2
When anger and agitation are ongoing problems after brain injury, life can get dangerous. Dangerous for the survivor, and for the family caregiver. read more
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: The Power of Pets in Rehabilitation
Want a rehabilitation partner who offers unconditional love, acceptance, and motivation? Get a dog!read more
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Five Tips to Befriend A Caregiver
When brain injury blows a family’s life inside out, friends may not know how to help. While the family is most directly impacted, a ripple effect of shock and concern spreads through their circle of...
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Five Tips to Befriend a Long-Term Caregiver
How to have a mutually beneficial friendship with a long-term caregiver.read more
View ArticleAfter Brain Injury: Post-traumatic Stress Grips Caregivers
November is National Family Caregivers Month. Even more than the accolades and recognition extended by communities during November, most caregivers want national attention to the mental health issues...
View Article
