New Life after Brain Injury Blog

Archives: Caregivers

Brain Injury Caregiver: November is National Family Caregivers Month

November 1, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregiver: November is National Family Caregivers Month

Did you know that National Family Caregiver Month (NFC Month) is observed every November? The National Family Caregiver Association (NFCA) originated the observance in 1997 to focus attention on the more than 65 million family caregivers who provide 80% of the long-term care services in the US. A study done by AARP showed that family [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregiver: After Brain Injury come Havoc, Hope, and Healing

October 11, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregiver: After Brain Injury come Havoc, Hope, and Healing

After brain injury hits your family, getting reliable information you can relate to is essential. In addition to the information provided by hospital staff, you might find that memoirs written by survivors and family caregivers provide hope, valuable tips, ideas, and inspiring stories when you need them most. On October 24, 2011, I’ll have the [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregiver: The Memories I Treasure Now

September 3, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregiver: The Memories I Treasure Now

Those of you who’ve read Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple’s New Life after Brain Injury know that Alan suffered a massive heart attack and cardiac arrest in 1998. The resulting lack of oxygen led to a severe anoxic brain injury. I’ve written a lot about our journey of rehabilitation, reinvention, and reclamation.  Over [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregiver: Effective Research and Treatment Partnerships

September 2, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregiver: Effective Research and Treatment Partnerships

This week the National Institutes of Health(NIH) released a statement announcing that NIH will partner with the Department of Defense to build a central database on traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The new database will be called the Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) database. The purpose of the database is to speed up research [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregiver- Ambiguous Loss Complicates Hope and Healing

August 25, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregiver- Ambiguous Loss Complicates Hope and Healing

Brain injury can cause many changes.  There may be temporary or permanent losses directly related to injury impairments. These might include changes in mobility, thinking, memory, or communication skills. We grieve those changes early in treatment, then pursue rehabilitation to regain as much as possible. We all know about the primary losses that happen with [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregivers- Post Traumatic Stress Needs Early Treatment

July 28, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregivers- Post Traumatic Stress Needs Early Treatment

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been in the news recently because so many service members come home traumatized by their battle experiences. Brain injury survivors often have a post-traumatic stress reaction. Family caregivers can also experience trauma and its effects, but we don’t hear much about that. I believe this is an extremely import mental [...]

Read more »

Brain injury Caregivers: The Value of Feeling Sorry for Yourself

July 8, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain injury Caregivers: The Value of Feeling Sorry for Yourself

Brain injury caregivers give their injured family member their all. Every day we give full attention to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs of our loved one. The stress of caregiving is undisputed, and the health hazards abound. Yet, so many caregivers feel guilty if they spend a little time feeling sorry for themselves [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregivers- Cultivate Resilience with Life Road Maps- Part Two

June 10, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregivers- Cultivate Resilience with Life Road Maps- Part Two

I recently participated in the Harvard Medical School course “Building Resilience: The Mind Body Revolution in Health and Healing.” Brain injury caregivers can benefit from reducing stress and cultivating resilience in many ways. The focus of the course was on applying new research about resilience and positive psychology to heal the mind/body mechanisms of chronic [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregivers: Cultivate Resilience with Life Road Maps

June 8, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregivers: Cultivate Resilience with Life Road Maps

I recently participated in the wonderful Harvard Medical School course “Building Resilience: The Mind Body Revolution in Health and Healing.” Brain injury caregivers can benefit from reducing stress and cultivating resilience in many ways. The focus of the course was on applying new research about resilience and positive psychology to heal the mind/body mechanisms of [...]

Read more »

Brain Injury Caregivers- Revitalize Resilience through Mind Body Health

May 13, 2011
Thumbnail image for Brain Injury Caregivers- Revitalize Resilience through Mind Body Health

Family caregivers are experts on stress, responsibility, complicated emotions, and the toll that combination can take on body and mind.  Did you know that there’s a specialty called Mind Body Medicine (MBM) that teaches us ways to reduce the harmful effects of stress on health and well-being? I’ve been involved in the specialty of Mind [...]

Read more »

← Previous Entries

  • Newsletter Signup