TBI Conference 2021 Session Descriptions

Keynote Speaker: Eric Washington

Shares his story and how he overcame adversity, as well as why life isn’t fair and how to accept that.

PINK Concussions Session Description:

Sex and Gender Differences in Brain Injury - What are they and why should we care?

Communication Strategies for people with TBI

TBI can result in cognitive problems that affect how a person communicates. These communication challenges can affect interactions with all communication partners, including family members, friends, co-workers, and others in the person’s social network. In this session, we will talk about common communication challenges reported by people with TBI, and practice strategies for successful communication.

Evidence-Based Concussion Management

The purpose of this session will be to describe some of the current clinical tools used to evaluate concussion/mTBI in a clinical setting, review recent literature with regard to evidence-based approach to management of acute, subacute, and chronic concussions. We will discuss the current concussion profile-based approach to targeted, specific intervention, and use case examples of subacute and chronic concussions to illustrate this approach.

Brain Injury Clubhouses: An innovative service model for persons with brain injury

Session description:

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Clubhouses are supportive community centers modeled after mental health clubhouses that offer people living with brain injury opportunities to resume productive lives through partnership, work, and social connections. This presentation will discuss how clubhouses help members to take ownership of their own recovery so they can lead satisfying, productive lives. Current Clubhouse members will provide their perspective on how attending an ABI Clubhouse has helped them in their recovery process.

Presentation Objectives:

Participants will gain an understanding of the history of the ABI Clubhouse model, how these programs function and the unique and comprehensive services offered through these programs.

Participants will gain an understanding of how ABI Clubhouse models help survivors of brain injury regain skills and reconnect with their community. The latest research will be shared on the neurobehavioral impacts on persons with brain injury functioning and participation levels from derived from attending these programs.

Current members of an ABI Clubhouse will share their experiences with ABI Clubhouses and how these services have positively impacted their lives.

TBI and Memory Loss

Memory loss is a common symptom and occurrence when one obtains a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Often individuals with TBI’s are uncertain why they have difficulty recalling information or remembering things which impacts their lives and relationships. In this workshop, we will learn about the available treatment options, strategies available to help improve memory, and explore what Assistive Technology is available to help make everyday life easier.

Real life after rehab

Regardless of specific type of injury, after hospital stays, rehabilitation, and appointment after appointment, when the dust finally settles the purpose of all of these should become more evident to all team members including the individual with the new disability: to get back to “real life”. Really living could and should include travel, recreation, and any other activities that encourage return to personal, family, and community life with new strategies for success. This session will provide scenarios experienced by the presenters in their own real lives and as rehabilitation professionals, tips and tricks, and resources for professionals, individuals living with disabilities, and caregivers to return to real life after rehab.

Optimizing Rehabilitation Outcomes following TBI through Contextualized Treatment

Rehabilitation providers utilize evidence-based treatment approaches to maximize functional outcomes when working with individuals with TBI. This presentation will discuss the results of a research study investigating the use of contextualized treatment during inpatient rehabilitation and community participation. Interdisciplinary assessment and intervention strategies and activities will be provided.

After taking part in this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the research exploring inpatient contextualized treatment and community participation for persons with traumatic brain injury.
2. Apply assessment and intervention approaches/activities consistent with a contextualized treatment.

Strategies to Improve Executive Cognitive Functions following Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults in the United States. This presentation will address assessment and intervention strategies to facilitate optimal functional recovery following traumatic brain injury. Emphasis will be placed on executive cognitive functions and the use of client-centered assessment and contextualized interventions to promote long-term functional progress.

After taking part in this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Define executive cognitive functions and discuss how they impact participation in adult roles and relationships
2. Illustrate assessment and treatment strategies to promote client engagement and functional progress during rehabilitation.

Caregiver Guide and Resources

Overview of the Department of Defense Center of Excellence, mission and goals. Review of current clinical tools and revision process. Highlight several new tools (updated MACE 2, Progressive return to Activity and Caregiver Guide.

Bring the Beat In: Evidence-Based Music Therapy Practices for Traumatic Brain Injury

Have you ever wondered what makes you tap your toe when you hear a catchy song? How music helps you pass the time during a mundane task? How a piece of music can either make your day 10 times better, or 10 times worse?

Music therapy, an allied-healthcare profession, is the evidence-based application of music interventions to address non-musical goals. Learn how board-certified music therapists utilize musical properties, neurologic responses to musical stimuli, and clients’ unique relationships with music to motivate change for TBI survivors. Additional topics covered will include common goal domains address through music therapy interventions, examples of standardized and non-standardized interventions, and contraindications to music therapy.

REAP - It Takes a Village

REAP is a community-based concussion management protocol that has been customized as a resource in West Virginia. Any level of brain injury in a child can impact the entire family and caretakers. A medical-home-school approach is most effective in supporting a child and family going through the difficulties of brain injury. This session will cover resources ranging from mild to moderate to severe brain injury.

Objectives:

• Participants in this session will learn about the community-based concussion management protocol called REAP Remove/Reduce*Educate*Adjust/Accommodate*Pace
• Participants in this session will explore additional resources for children and their families who are navigating the world of moderate to severe brain injury
• Participants in this session will learn how seamless communication between medical-home-school teams can provide the widest safety net for students following a brain injury

REAP - A Community-Based Based Concussion Management Protocol Customized for West Virginia

After the tragic loss of a Colorado high school football player in 2004, REAP was developed to help place all teams on the same page with regard to awareness about concussion in children and adolescents. Color-coded for 4 teams - medical, family, school physical team and school academic team - and providing guidance over 4 weeks, REAP - which stands for Remove/Reduce*Educate*Adjust/Accommodate*Pace - provides a roadmap for a community to come together to make sure children and adolescents are safely progressing through recovery from concussion. In 2018, REAP was customized as a West Virginia specific resource.

Objectives:

• Participants in this session will learn how each team in REAP is essential, yet each team has different roles in concussion management
• Participants in this session will learn how to utilize REAP as a West Virginia resource to increase awareness and education across the state
• Participants in this session will learn what role each team plays, and what data each team collects, in the consensus decision to safely return a student with concussion back to play

Creative Forces®: Art, Music, and Dance/Movement Therapy for Military Service Members and Veterans with TBI

Creative Forces is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs and state and local arts agencies with administrative support provided by Americans for the Arts and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. that seeks to improve the health, wellness, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma including the sustainment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), as well as their families and caregivers. The initiative places creative arts therapists at the core of patient-centered care at clinical sites throughout the U.S., including a telehealth program, and community arts opportunities.

This presentation will focus on Creative Forces’ efforts to build network-wide organizational capacity to standardize clinical operations, which have assisted in driving research across the areas of intervention, assessment, documentation, and program evaluation for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). This will be accomplished through didactic and experiential methods of information dissemination across Creative Forces programmatic pillars of clinical, community engagement, and capacity building.

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