Heading into the Future: 2023 Interprofessional Virtual Summit on Brain Injury

Family caregivers of people with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) are the ‘invisible’ links in interdisciplinary collaboration: the role of a spousal caregiver is not one that people usually expect or train for, but rather a role that one steps into right after an accident happens – a journey with an open-ended ticket for an undetermined period of time and destination.

The presenter will share excerpts from her “Canadian lived experience as a caregiver” perspective and professional life to illustrate the importance of building a relationship with family members. Caregivers are vital ‘secret agents’ in helping to develop person-centred therapeutic goals. Creating this relationship is invaluable for developing practical and all-encompassing interventions. It becomes a “win-win-win” situation for the TBI Health/Allied Health Professionals, the client, and the client’s family.

The goal of the presentation is to educate attendees about community and in-home recreational and vocational therapy programs for individuals with brain injuries. The presentation will include an overview of the therapy services, case studies, and example admittance criteria and evaluation process for individuals who have specifically experienced a brain injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident.

Returning home following an inpatient rehabilitation stay for individuals with a brain injury can invoke a mix of different feelings for both the patient and caregivers: stress, worry, anxiety, fear, depression, anger, apprehension, excitement, joy, happiness, elation, etc. All of these words typically go hand in hand with one other thought: what is it going to be like? In this presentation, a Recreational Therapist will share their point of view about what patients and caregivers need to know prior to discharge and reentry into the community. This includes safe vs. unsafe leisure activities, continuing therapy, what to bring into the community, how to plan going out into the community, and special considerations. The focus will be on people living with brain injury, stroke, DOC, and dual diagnosis (ABI + Spinal Cord Injury).

Neurological deficits may be experienced by individuals who have experienced a stroke, brain injury, tumor, and developmental disabilities. The rehabilitation interdisciplinary treatment team works alongside the client to achieve set goals. Through the Hierarchy of Cognitive Functions, the client will work through various symptoms of neurological deficits. In this presentation, we will introduce and become familiar with the Hierarchy of Cognitive Functions, dive deeply into attention deficits, treatment, and strategies, and interdisciplinary approaches for best practice.

Explore the neurology and biology of health and vitality as you delve into foundational breathing (pranayama) and movement (asana) practices that support the mind-body connection, optimize resilience against adversity, and stimulate neural restoration. All practices are inclusive by nature and can be adapted for any ability and for the self-care/self-maintenance for people who have survived a traumatic brain injury, caretakers, and health care professionals.

For many suffering a brain injury, the road to recovery involves weeks to months of hospital care, time away from home, traumatic experiences, lack of independence, and pain. This extensive journey can lead to feelings of depression, anxiety, and loss of identity.

Our presentation will explore what self-care looks like from different rehabilitation disciplines and the importance of incorporating it into the care of post-brain injury patients in order to combat the negative emotional side effects of a brain injury. Specifically, our presentation will discuss a case review of a stroke survivor in an acute inpatient rehabilitation center and how an interdisciplinary self-care approach lead to an increase in participation and positive outcomes. Approaches used by the unit’s Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, Nursing Staff and Occupational Therapist will be discussed.

This presentation will focus on a Veteran with a history of TBI and multiple chronic diagnoses who has been receiving services through music therapy and recreational therapy at the VA Medical Center. We will be highlighting elements of both practices, from an individual and co-treatment persepctive, that have been used to support this Veteran in reaching functional mobility, cognition, and emotional goals. Considerations for in person and telehealth treatment will be discussed to educate audience regarding best practices and potential for future study.

The LoveYourBrain (LYB) Foundation developed a research-based yoga program for the TBI community to help improve emotional, physical, and cognitive wellbeing. Origami Rehabilitation partnered with LYB, the first clinical partnership in the country, to bring this program to survivors and caregivers in the mid-Michigan area. This presentation discusses the benefits of yoga/meditation/mindfulness, explores a breathing exercise and guided meditation, and outlines suggestions for incorporating yoga and meditation activities at home or within therapy sessions. 

This session explores the uniqueness and benefits of interdisciplinary intervention for the brain injury population. The brain injury population faces certain barriers that can be overcome by collaboration between different disciplines; this session focuses on Recreational Therapy and Speech Therapy. This session will look at different options for co-treatments that address various characteristics of brain injury. 

This session will focus on using virtual imaging software as a tool to address community reintegration goals. With the onset of the global pandemic, many were limited in their abilities to access the community in a manner in which they felt safe. Partnering with AETOS Imaging allowed our facility to bring the community to our patients and their caregivers to address community reintegration goals. We will discuss how we are utilizing virtual training platforms to simulate community access to potential accessibility issues and barriers and problem solving scenarios. Join us on a virtual adventure while we explore the benefits of virtual community training.

Handling Life’s Wild Moments is a humorous and inspirational speech about developing resilience after adversity. It includes a funny, true story that explains the title.

This session will present information on a virtual group intervention for brain injury clients, created and implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This group is designed within a virtual format to promote socialization and continued brain injury education during a pandemic, while also minimizing social isolation imposed by quarantines. Group format, topics, implementation, safety considerations, and goals will be reviewed. Modifications and considerations to apply group format for other programs and client populations will also be shared.

Have you ever wondered if you could make recovering from a brain injury fun? Attendees will gain an understanding of the importance of utilizing play within pediatric brain injury rehabilitation. Explore past and current research supporting play as a modality and hear multidisciplinary anecdotal evidence from two therapists working at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital's National Center for Children's Rehabilitation in Washington, D.C.

This presentation will review brain injury and mental health statistics and disparities. We will discuss considerations for people with pre-existing mental health conditions as well as how a brain injury can worsen or cause new mental health concerns. We will break down evidence-based interdisciplinary interventions to address the mental health needs of people recovering from brain injuries, considering factors such as motivation, grief, depression, and relationship management. 

An international panel of cognitive rehabilitation researchers and clinicians (or INCOG) have updated their guidelines and recommendations for treatment for people with brain injury who are experiencing cognitive issues. These 2022 guidelines are based on a review and evaluation of current research studies for each domain.  There are five domains covered which include: post-traumatic amnesia, attention and information processing speed, executive functioning, cognitive-communication and social cognition, and memory. Since recreational therapists focus on cognition as one of the four domain areas, it is in our best interest as a profession to understand these guidelines and begin to incorporate them in to practice and to have knowledge of them as a member of an interdisciplinary team. 

During this session, we will review the guidelines for each area and determine their impact as recreational therapy practitioners.