S2 E59: Be All the You Can Be Post Injury! Heal the Brain with Jane Connely
Are you looking for community post brain injury? Are you trying to develop and become the new you? Do you need support? Look no further than Heal the Brain. Heal the Brain is a non profit offering active, virtual experiences that empower survivors with practical resources and social support. Through their workshops, Heal the Brain connects brain injury survivors and their caregivers with skilled clinicians and survivor mentors.
In this episode, founder Jane Connely explains all this amazing community has to offer to help you connect, grow, develop, and live life fully post injury. This is a resource that you won’t want to miss out on. Listen today to learn more!
In this episode:
Jane Connely, Founder of Heal the Brain
Jane is an occupational therapist with a neuro specialty
In her practice she saw many gaps in care and out of that grew Heal the Brain
Heal the Brain is a nonprofit organization.
Offers 20-25 workshops a month
Workshops are low cost. Weekly free chats. Monthly membership option
All virtual
There’s something for everyone
Workshops are run by trained therapists and are evidence based. Some types of people that run the groups are OTs, PTs, speech therapists, music therapists, neuropsychologists, social workers
Many different subjects and groups. Topics really run the gamut. Some examples are parenting, dating, healing relationships, how to navigate insurance, how to advocate, organizational skills, neuro yoga, meditation, mindfulness, gratitude without toxic positivity
Open to everyone with any level of ability
It's an environment you can join to help you develop your skills post injury. For example if you have trouble with language, this is a welcoming environment that is evidence based that allows you to practice socializing and progressing you language skills even if you can’t speak yet
Workshop topics are based on the needs of survivors, input from clients on what they need, or needs recognized by clinicians running the groups
They offer survivor mentors
The groups provide community
They help you develop your abilities
Access to a library of past workshops
It is trauma informed and evidence based so that it is safe
Heal the Brain helps with:
Social isolation
Mental health
Provides a safe place to be able to become who you are.
Developing your life and what you want it to be
Personal growth
They address your social, emotional, physical, and mental needs through clinical and community support
Workshops are available to anyone at any stage of recovery. Workshops have people at many different stages of recovery. They value the shared experience which helps everyone learn from each other.
Heal the Brain gets that once you have a brain injury you will always have a brain injury and that there is no quick fix. They understand how hard that is.
Heal means wholeness and becoming whole.
You can be whole with your deficits, your abilities, and your disabilities.
Heal the Brain is a way of integrating all the work of therapy into your life, into building a community, making friends and holding your own dignity as a human being.
Self Image after brain injury
Initially after having a brain injury it is like having a newborn. You have to learn how to work with this new being. You go through different phases with this child
As you grow and develop you go through different stages and have different roles
Your image changes as you grow and how you define yourself changes as you mature through recovery.
It’s all about integrating all the different parts of yourself
When you’re struggling you don't want to hear that you will always have a brain injury. As a community, the more we can move away from quick fixes and move towards integration, acceptance, and dreaming big the better we will all be–as survivors, clinicians, caregivers
Links to Resources mentioned:
Heal the Brain Workshops: https://healthebrain.org/workshops
No Brainer Podcast: https://healthebrain.org/nobrainerpodcast
Reach out to:
Visit Heal the Brain at https://healthebrain.org/. We encourage everyone to sign up and be a part of their mission.
Stroke Recovery with Motus Nova: https://motusnova.com/makingheadway/
NeuMind is looking to build a platform to support brain injury survivors and caregivers through rehabilitation. They are looking for survivors and caregivers to give feedback. Help them help others: neumind.co.uk/makingheadway
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Go to our website www.makingheadwaypodcast.com for full show notes and resources
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