Potential outcomes of brain injury including behaviour, cognitive, social, emotional.
“Finding your voice.” Writers do it. Actors do it. Singers do it. Bloggers do it. Brain injury supporters do it. Wait… do they - why would they? What has finding your voice got to do with supporting a person with brain injury? I had not really thought about it in this way before. I got to thinking about "our voice" being the way we communicate: our words, expression, body language, tone, the way in which we present ourselves. This thinking all began when I decided I wanted to establish a blog, well this blog actually! Knowing very little about online communication I began to learn all I could. In my reading I discovered there was a lot about “finding your voice”; one that can be heard amongst the 156million+ other voices out there. One that is authentic and your own. That might sound simple, and maybe for some lucky writers it is. I have spent (and continue to spend) many thoughtful hours,…
Neuroplasticity, “Use it or lose it”, "Train the brain" ,“Train it to regain it”. These days we hear more and more about retraining the brain. Fantastic! Exciting! How do you do it? Where do you start? Before we start if you are interested in a basic introduction to what neuroplasticity is, spend a couple of minutes HERE Now I want to share two inspiring stories (of the many millions we would find around the world) that help explain why persisting with training the brain can pay off. There are some tips on how to go about it, AND I hope it fires up your enthusiasm. This builds on some of the key messages you will hear over and over here – Can Do, “Use it or Lose it”, Build on Strengths, and the importance of lifelong learning for all of us, with or without brain injury. Last week I talked about learning about brain injury from movies, now I want to show…
Some time ago I watched the movie 'The Vow'. It got me thinking about the portrayal of brain injury in movies; thinking about what movies have been made about brain injury; and whether we can learn about brain injury in movies that are primarily made to entertain. 'The Vow' Well, The Vow might be a bit schmaltzy, and it may gloss over the tough bits of living with a brain injury, but it does look at the impact on family and family relationships, it looks at the impact of memory loss, and it looks at developing strategies that work for the person. I discovered that the movie is based on the lives of a real couple Krickitt and Kim(called Paige and Leo in the movie) Carpenter, interviewed in the video clip here. There are moments that make you think about what it would be like. At one point Leo(Kim) (the husband) says “Life’s all about moments of impact and how they changes…
Damage to the brain, causes egocentricity. It is a common cognitive outcome after brain injury, and one that can be very difficult for family and others to cope with. If you are supporting people with brain injury it is more than likely you will come across egocentricity. In a Family Studies Project asking families about what kind of problems they had (conducted by the Research and Training Center on Brain Injury, at the State University of New York, Buffalo) , they found 61% of people with brain injury were reported as “... occasionally self centred”1 Egocentricity, is often described as “it’s all about me” because a person seems focussed on themselves when it's the brain injury talking. What does egocentricity look like? Egocentricity affects a person’s ability to notice things, to put themselves in another person’s position, which means they may not see the needs of others. This may cause a person to seem more self centred, selfish, not able to care…
Cognitive impairment is common following brain injury. A person may have minimal, or no physical effects, yet be significantly changed by cognitive damage. This makes it important to understand what 'cognitive' really means. For some reason the idea of spelling bees came to mind. Do you remember them? The teacher says “Spell Cognitive” and an earnest voice says "COGNITIVE, C-o-g-n-i-t-i-v-e spells COGNITIVE". Well spelling 'cognitive' might be a whole lot simpler than trying to understand its meaning. Still let's have a go, how hard can it be!! Well I do know when I started out I found the meaning of "COGNITIVE" difficult to grasp: How did it differ from intellect? What did it do for us in everyday life? What kinds of functions would be damaged when someone had 'cognitive impairment'? At a conference on brain injury, during my early working life, I bought a cassette tape (that dates me a bit!) that described cognitive and executive functions. I listened to it…
FINALLY, a momentus year for the brain. Yes the BRAIN is to be recognized and studied for the amazing organ it is. This week Barak Obama announced a project appropriately called BRAIN aimed at discovering, not the mysteries of outer space, but our very own brain. Earlier in the year the European Union announced an even larger project, the Human Brain Project. As a part of this project they aim to create a realistic simulation of the brain to assist study the brain and find treatments for brain disorders. What's this got to do with brain injury? Think about how we all stand to benefit from these projects: through our own increased knowledge of all things brain related, through the ability of scientists and people involved to collaborate and build shared knowledge and hopefully new treatments and prevention of brain injury and brain disorders. A short video here explains more about the Human Brain Project, an exciting initiative. It reinforces the complexity…
This week I was reading reports about brain injury (often undiagnosed) in young people, particularly young men and felt I just had to share some thoughts. Yes, I know I promised not to shower you with too many statistics about brain injury. Yes, I did say that we would talk about all types of brain injury not just Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). We will. Really, we will. But first: Why keep on about the incidence of brain injury? It seems we are still not as aware as we should be of the risks inherent in many activities. This includes sports such as cycling, football, skiing, boxing, vehicles both on and off road, and war related injuries whether direct or indirect. We are also still learning about responsibilities for prevention and ongoing support. As the numbers increase, (as they continue to do), we are all very likely to meet people in all kinds of situations who have a brain injury and this should…
Build on the CAN DO instead of focussing on the CAN’T DO. Great idea. Work from the strengths and abilities rather than problems a person has. Wonderful. What about when a person has a brain injury? Yup, seems a great way to work. What does it look like in action? How do I do it? If you are having these kinds of thoughts and questions, about supporting a person from a strengths approach, join me in the learning. If you already have an understanding – please share some of your insights with us. For most of us focusing on strengths, rather than solving problems, is not our natural way, yet we know it is a great way to enable people to achieve their best. Think about your own life. Who amongst us says “Well these are all my faults, I am going to make those really obvious and concentrate on them”? No! We usually work to hide our faults and shine up…
Lazy, manipulative, attention-seeking! Have you heard people using those, or similar terms when describing the behavior of someone living with brain injury. Not very helpful is it? It kind of suggests a deliberate tone to the behavior. Maybe at times you have thought what you are seeing is personally directed at you. I will tell you upfront I get a bit steamed up on this topic. So I really want to talk about this and try and give you some alternative strategies. At some point we all have moments where we think whatever is happening, is personal - it's designed to get at me. Think about the impact this has. Taking behaviours as intentional and personal, seeing behavior as deliberate, believing a person with brain injury is personally getting at you, it can be exhausting for you. It is not helpful for you, (the supporter),it is not helpful for the person with brain injury, and it is not at all beneficial to…
I was watching a news clip of Gabrielle Giffords presenting simply and powerfully to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Gun Violence on January 30th 2013. Her courage, determination and bravery are absolutely evident, and inspirational. I watch, and among many thoughts I think, this is why I do what I do, how amazing, how privileged to be even a small part of the life and support of people who teach so much about courage, resilience, perseverance and so much more. MUCH more. I think about the incredible support, particularly from her husband, that would have been with Gabrielle, get to this point. And of the many other stories I have shared from family, partners and friends supporting their family members through the many challenges and changes. So what can we, as supporters, learn from Gabrielle and her family to help us support people? Here are just a few thoughts that sprang to mind as I watched that news clip: Build on the…