This document provides 10 tips PWBI can use to advocate for themselves in everyday life situations.

This article explores the unique issues around brain injury and behavior.

…

This tip card provides information on one of the most unrecognized consequences of domestic violence: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

Education accommodation is any change or adjustment to required tasks or the classroom that allows students with disabilities to have an equal opportunity to experience education just like other students.

The five dimensions of TBI-related irritability: affective, behavioral, cognitive/perceptual, relational, and environmental.

Brain injury is confusing to people who don’t have one. Here are a few things you might find yourself saying that are probably not helpful.

Provides quick facts on what a concussion is, the symptoms, and the recovery.

This fact sheet helps school nurses protect students from concussion or other serious brain injury; know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion; and provide steps to prevent concussion in school.

The potential for a concussion is greatest during activities where collisions can occur, such as during physical education (PE) class, playground time, or school-based sports activities. Teachers and school counselors may be the first to notice changes in their students.

This fact sheet will help teachers, counselors, and school professionals know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; and support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion.

This guide is intended to help criminal defense attorneys understand common characteristics of brain injury, provides strategies for engaging an individual to participate in an appropriate defense, and provides questions that screen for possible brain injury.

Early and continued exposure to TBI, abuse, violence, and/or neglect with continued maladaptive behaviors suggests that the participants may have experienced changes in brain structure and function over their lives that provided the milieu for continued vulnerability to personal and future injury to future generations.

The Manual includes the general principles of assessment, advice on administering each section of the GOSE interview, and guidance on ‘‘borderline’’ and ‘‘difficult’’ cases.

One of the most time-consuming and stressful tasks as a caregiver is managing multiple medications and supplements.

An alphabetical list of tips and action steps for caregivers of someone with a brain injury.

JAN’s Accommodation and Compliance Series is designed to help employers determine effective accommodations and comply with Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years, and involves the use of needles and/or pressure and heat for the treatment and prevention of disease. Acupuncture is often used along with conventional medicine to improve health and promote healing.

Acute inpatient rehabilitation (rehab) is an intensive form of medical rehabilitation in which patients receive core therapies (physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy) overseen by specialized rehabilitation team. This team of physicians, nurses and therapists work together to restore function after traumatic brain injury.

This toolkit explains what self-advocacy is, how to advocate for yourself, and provides tools to help.

Alcohol and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are closely related. This factsheet describes negative effects that may occur from alcohol use after a TBI.

This review provides a general overview of the bidirectional relationship between TBI and AUD and a discussion of potential neuropsychological and neurobiological mechanisms that might underlie the relationship.

This handout explains different Medicaid Waivers, the screening process and how to apply.

Common changes in emotion after a TBI are anger and depression.

The most common signs, triggers, and coping strategies for anger.

Traditional criminal justice reform focuses on efforts to influence an individual’s thinking and attitudes – to help them understand the consequences of their behavior, to make restitution, to learn pro-social behaviors. These approaches may not work for individuals with TBI and this article provides information on how to make traditional methods more effective.

3 in 4 older adults take at least 1 medicine commonly linked to falls or car crashes. Older adults (65 years and older) are at a greater risk if they use any medicine with side effects that can cause problems with how they think and remember, and the way their bodies perform.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health concern that affects millions of people. Physical violence is one type of IPV and has myriad consequences for survivors, including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Ideas, activities, and strategies for improving cognition, including memory, problem-solving, orientation, organization, and reasoning.

People who have sustained a brain injury may not immediately recognize that their ability to concentrate has changed, which can lead to misunderstandings when others perceive an inability to concentrate as a lack of intelligence or motivation.

The nature and frequency of attention lapses following a TBI can regularly disrupt daily activities at home, work, and in the community. This research brief provides an overview of attention challenges following TBI and treatment approaches for managing these challenges.

People with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have problems with balance. About half of people with TBI have dizziness and loss of balance at some point in their recovery.

Dizziness and balance problems are common after a brain injury. This can result in problems with movement even when there is no loss of function in the limbs themselves.

This handout explains possible behavior changes after TBI, why they happen, and how to deal with behavior issues.

From budgeting and paying bills to making sure housing is safe and accessible, there is a lot to consider when finding and securing housing. Locating affordable, stable housing is difficult, and wait lists are long across the state; if someone requires supervision or daily assistance with self-care or household tasks, those places can be even harder to come by. There are resources available, and this Quick Guide tells you how to get started and where to find help.

The brain can be hurt in many different ways: falls, sports, car accidents, assaults, strokes, and brain tumors are some of the most common types of injuries. Brain injuries can be either traumatic or non-traumatic, but can cause similar problems in a person’s life.

This manual includes an educational identification process for special education eligibility through establishing a significant history of TBI.

Provides information about brain injuries (BI) in young children and how to decrease the risk, and protect children from BI.

This guide walks educators through the basics of a brain injury, its effects on students and families, and how they impact education, transitions, and special education.

The symptoms caused by a brain injury can increase the likelihood of abusing substances like opioids to temporarily relieve physical pain. Opioid addiction is on the rise, which is why it’s important to understand how it affects the brain injury community.

Preclinical research utilizes an innovative combination of models of early-life TBI and SUD to recapitulate clinical features and to determine how TBI promotes a risk for the development of SUD.

Brain maps show the inner workings of the brain and how it is able to transmit information. They can be used to study neurological disorders and inform better diagnostic and treatment procedures.

Everyone knows that breathing is an essential part of life, but did you know that breathing plays an essential role in anxiety? This information sheet will briefly discuss the role of breathing in anxiety and guide you through a simple breathing retraining technique that uses breathing patterns to help deal with anxiety.

…

A structured couples intervention designed to improve relationship quality following acquired brain injury has the added benefit of reducing burden and unmet needs unique to the uninjured partner. Guidance and an empirically validated tool is provided to therapists working with couples following acquired brain injury, such as traumatic brain injury, stroke, and other non-progressive neurological disorders.

Fact sheet for parents to understand how to best care for and monitor their child’s concussion.

The CDC guideline includes 19 sets of recommendations on the diagnosis, prognosis, and management/treatment of pediatric mTBI that were assigned a level of obligation (ie, must, should, or may) based on confidence in the evidence. Recommendations address imaging, symptom scales, cognitive testing, and standardized assessment for diagnosis; history and risk factor assessment, monitoring, and counseling for prognosis; and patient/family education, rest, support, return to school, and symptom management for treatment.

Rocket Blades is a mobile game app developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that teaches concussion safety and brain safety to children ages 6 to 8.

This checklist is a tool to help people with brain injuries prepare for a visit with their doctor to help them better understand the problems that can occur after an injury.

Systematic review of the evidence that childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with risk behavior in adolescence and young adulthood.

This fact sheet explains what chronic traumatic encephalopathy is (CTE) and compares it to post concussion syndrome (PCS).

Clinical trials are research studies in which people may volunteer to participate. The following information offers suggestions for searching for clinical trials and a listing of a sample of clinical trials currently recruiting volunteers.

Describes brain volume changes and related cognitive/motor deficits in homeless persons with or without TBI versus controls.

After a TBI it is common for people to have problems with attention, concentration, speech and language, learning and memory, reasoning, planning and problem-solving.

Vestibular disorders can affect your ability to think, specifically to pay attention and concentrate, to remember, to reason, and to problem solve. Often times, you may find you are easily distracted, both by external stimuli (others talking, TV) and by internal stimuli (your thoughts and feelings).

Following a concussion, there is often an interruption in communication between the eyes and the brain. Visual problems, however, are often overlooked during initial evaluation as symptoms may not be present until days, weeks or even longer following the incident.

A brain injury can affect a person’s ability to communicate by impairing their hearing, speech and cognitive processing. Regardless of the type of injury, problems can affect both the ability to receive and express thoughts and ideas.

Tips for improving communication between family caregivers and healthcare professionals.

This handout provides tips for improving communication between family, caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Are you drained, tapped out, have little energy to give others? We have all been there.

This article explains what compassion fatigue is, and ways that caregivers/family can manage it.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) are those medical practices not usually a part of conventional Western medicine (the scientifically based medicine practiced by licensed medical doctors in the US), but have been widely used for thousands of years in other cultures. This brochure is designed to provide an overview of CAM and very briefly describe some of the many alternative practices and systems available and gaining popularity in the US.

Patients with concussion demonstrated an increased risk of development of medical and behavioral health comorbidities. The risks for post-concussion comorbidities were also higher in patients under 40 years old compared with controls.

Concussions are often described as “mild,” but their affects can still be serious and impact an individual’s life long after the injury. This is why knowing the signs, symptoms and recovery options for a concussion is important for everyone to know.

Concussion recovery is a complex process and can be influenced by individual actions. Knowing what to do and not to do in the first few days of recovery can have considerable long term benefits.

This Concussion Booklet was created to give you the information you need to know to get better after a concussion. It can be helpful in the first few days and during recovery.

Summarizes symptoms of a concussion, special considerations for the elderly, and information on recovery.

Recognizing concussions in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities requires a different approach. Current concussion baseline and post-injury tests are unlikely to be as reliable or accurate for those with intellectual disabilities or developmental disabilities.

Checklists for school nurses and other school professionals to assess whether a student may have a concussion.

Following a life-changing event like a brain injury, it’s normal to feel intense stress which can build up and lead to anxiety. Anxiety becomes a significant concern when these feelings intensify to a point where they interfere with the tasks of life.

This fact sheet will help couples understand some of the common changes they may notice in their relationship after TBI. Also, suggestions are given on how couples can address some of the more difficult changes they are experiencing.

This interview form provides guiding questions about the history of a person with a brain injury. It can be used by family to collect information for a healthcare visit, or used by professionals to record important medical history of a person with BI.

This handout provides general tips that individuals, families and caregivers can use when dealing with COVID-related anxiety and a brain injury.

Feeling sad is a normal response to the losses and changes a person faces after TBI. There is cause for concern when feeling depressed or losing interest in usual activities occurs at least several days per week and lasts for more than two weeks.

Dizziness may be used to describe a swaying sensation, or a feeling of weakness, faintness, light-headedness or unsteadiness. Dizziness is a very common complaint after acquiring a brain injury for a number of reasons.

A brain injury can affect the skills needed to drive safely. If and when an injured person may safely return to driving should be addressed early in recovery.

This handout provides information for parents/caregivers about the early stages of a child’s brain injury, things to do during the recovery process, and what to be aware of in the months ahead.

Using video conferencing can be tricky, but this cheat sheet is designed to provide hints and reminders about how to make the most out of your meetings.

This comic strip explains common emotional changes following a TBI and how to seek help.

A brain injury can change the way people feel or express emotions, including anxiety, anger, and irritability. This articles covers several types of emotional problems and provides potential strategies for dealing with them.

This guide is a resource for individuals with brain injury to be fully participating members on a board.

Epilepsy is a chronic condition produced by temporary changes in the electrical function of the brain, causing seizures which affect awareness, movement, or sensation. Epilepsy has a close relationship with traumatic brain injury and other brain disorders.

Alignment of perspectives and priorities, as well as responsibilities for ongoing treatment, education, community outreach, and research are important ethical considerations for clinicians and researchers.

Evidence that a curriculum-based education, skill-building, and supportive intervention can benefit couples for up to 3 months after treatment.

Life after a brain injury can be overwhelming for both the survivor and family members. Counseling is simply another form of therapy that helps people recover and adjust emotionally after their accident.

This systematic review has highlighted the complexities of caring for patients with a prolonged disorder of consciousness (i.e., lasting 28 days or longer) at every stage. Accurate diagnosis is important to educate families about patients’ level of consciousness and function, to inform prognostic counseling, and to guide treatment decisions.

This guideline looked at the evidence mainly for people with a disorder of consciousness lasting 28 days or longer after a brain injury. For these people, health outcomes differ greatly.

A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head. Concussions can also occur from a fall or a blow to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth.

This factsheet defines and explains the different types of changes in consciousness that can occur after severe brain injury.

Falls are a leading cause of traumatic brain injury. This resource has tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and keeping your home safe to help prevent falls.

A nearly universal complaint that people have with head injury is fatigue. This article details the two types of fatigue: physical fatigue and mental fatigue.

Fatigue is a very common outcome after acquiring a brain injury due to the many tiny sites of damage throughout the brain. It is different to the yawning and sleepy feeling of normal fatigue.

Fatigue is a very common problem among all people with TBI. Studies of people with TBI found that between 37% and 98% of them said they had some kind of fatigue.

Fatigue following TBI has also been found to significantly impact well-being and quality of life, and is strongly associated with somatic symptoms and perceived situational stress.

Searching for scholarships for a student with a brain injury may feel overwhelming. The Brain Injury Association developed this resource to assist students and parents in their search.

This article outlines the different financial resources, benefits and entitlements that may be available for individuals with brain injury and their family.

After an injury or illness that affects the brain, people are commonly referred for neuropsychological evaluation. The purpose of this booklet is to provide answers to the most common questions people have about neuropsychological evaluation.

Presents the epidemiology of geriatric TBI, the impact of comorbidities and pre-injury function on TBI risk and outcomes, diagnostic testing, management issues, and critical directions for future research.

Telehealth is not perfect but, with a little bit of preparation, telehealth visits can be successful. This information will help you prepare for a telehealth appointment.

Feel like you can’t get organized after your brain injury? Here are some simple but effective strategies that can help you get on track

List of commonly used terms to help individuals and family members better understand brain-injury related terms.

This guideline can be used by patients when speaking with healthcare providers about their care. It covers getting a diagnosis, managing symptoms in the early phase (acute) and management in the longer recovery phase (persistent symptoms).

Revised evidence-based recommendations for the treatment of severe traumatic brain injury in pediatric patients. This update includes 22 recommendations. New recommendations on neuroimaging, hyperosmolar therapy, analgesics and sedatives, seizure prophylaxis, temperature control/hypothermia, and nutrition are provided.

Did you know that there are different kinds of headaches and migraines? This article explains what the different types mean for you and your health.

Headaches are a common and often persistent problem after acquiring a brain injury. Headaches can arise after damage to different structures both inside and outside the head.

A brain injury can damage both mechanical and neurological processes and result in a variety of hearing difficulties. Accurate diagnosis and treatment are essential.

Parents and families play a crucial role in helping children return to school and activities after a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The more you know about TBI, the more you can help make sure your child is feeling well, and is successful at school.

This article provides tips for dealing with the family changes and guilt that can occur when a child gets a brain injury.

Teachers play an important role in helping students recover from a concussion as they return to school. Making short-term changes to students’ school workload and schedule—and giving them the time to help their brain heal—can help them get back to their regular school routine.

Herbal medicine involves the use of natural and biologically based practices, interventions, and products to treat a variety of physical or emotional conditions. If you are interested in using herbal preparations, you should be as informed as possible about the risks and benefits.

This article provides ways for how to assess if in-home help is needed, the types of in-home services available, and how to access the help.

Smart ways to make a home comfortable, safe and a great fit for older adults — and people of all ages.

Housing options for people with brain injury vary greatly in the amount of assistance offered. Public funding for these services are limited.

Most children with a concussion, a type of traumatic brain injury, feel better within a couple of weeks. It is important to remember that each concussion and each child is unique, so your child’s recovery should be customized based on his or her symptoms.

Depending on the situation, it can be difficult to obtain medical documentation that a brain injury has occurred. When there are no medical records related to the injury that can be obtained, a structured in-depth interview can be utilized to establish a significant and credible history of TBI and document the impact most probably related to a TBI.

Finding the right home care worker for your loved one is an important step.

Describes common problems for families after a loved one experiences a brain injury. Also provides ways to manage those problems.

Lack of self-awareness is a common outcome for people who sustain brain injuries with frontal lobe damage, which can lead to unrealistic goals such as returning to work despite a severe brain injury.

Cognitive Pragmatic Treatment is shown to improve communication abilities after TBI, thus enabling better management of communication activities in daily living.

Injury to the frontal lobes after a TBI can affect the area of the brain that normally controls our impulses, which can lead to impulsive and inappropriate social behavior.

Outlines several ways a person with a brain injury can improve or maintain their ability to perform IADLs.

Understanding the intersection between criminality, mental illness, substance use, and traumatic brain injury has important implications for improving individual functioning, reducing recidivism, and promoting safer behavior management in criminal justice settings.

The medical issues associated with traumatic brain injury are often mistakenly diagnosed as psychiatric disorders. A few simple questions and tests can elucidate the real culprit and lead to appropriate treatment.

This brief video lets family caregivers know it’s okay not to be okay and offers positive affirmations.

You and your family may need an attorney’s help navigating life after a brain injury. For most of the issues listed here, it is very important to act early. If you wait too long to take action, evidence can be harder to find and you may lose out on compensation, benefits, and appropriate care.

For students with traumatic brain injury (TBI), the basic transition challenges are the same as for any young person, yet they are usually more complex. Good planning greatly improves the chances that the move from high school to young adulthood will be a successful one.

Research on the cellular mechanisms underlying mental fatigue suggest a dysfunction in the astroglial support of the glutamate transmission. Glutamate signaling is essential for information processing, including learning and memory.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause problems with smell and taste. Loss of smell is often the cause of loss of taste after TBI.

Anger and irritability are common side effects of a brain injury. Here are some strategies to help reduce anger, irritation, and aggression with an acronym to help remember.

This article discusses potential behavioral problems that can present a challenge for rehabilitation staff during acute rehabilitation following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

This article provides information about controlling your anger after an injury, the dangers of anger, recognizing early warning signs for anger, and ideas about how to better control anger.

Some mechanisms of TBI, particularly violence related TBIs such as assault have been associated with poor outcomes compared to other TBIs, such as greater cognitive impairment, higher rates of alcohol use, poorer vocational outcomes, and poorer community reintegration.

Medicaid waivers help people with disabilities and the elderly access medical, rehabilitative, and other services in their homes and communities. Medicaid waivers allow the state to waive certain requirements, such as an individual needing to live in an institution to receive some Medicaid benefits.

This fact sheet explains memory problems that may affect people with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). By understanding the new limits on their memory and ways to help overcome those limits, people with TBI can still get things done every day.

Short-term memory loss is very common after a brain injury – thankfully there are plenty of coping strategies available. Typical situations include forgetting people’s names, losing a train of thought, getting lost at the shops, repeating or forgetting past conversations, misplacing objects and difficulty learning new skills.

The effects of brain injury and mental illness can look very similar, which is why understanding the relationship between the two is important for individuals to advocate for themselves and for medical professionals to make accurate diagnoses.

The effects of brain injury and mental illness can look very similar, which is why understanding the relationship between the two is important for individuals to advocate for themselves and for medical professionals to make accurate diagnoses.

This study describes the development of the model of cognitive-communication competence, a new model that summarizes a complex array of influences on communication to provide a holistic view of communication competence after TBI.

Rehabilitation options for brain injury are expanding and there are more options than ever before, including hospital- and community-based rehabilitation models.

This handout provides strategies that other parents have used in coping with guilt from a child’s brain injury.

Visual deficits related to traumatic brain injury and other neurological disorders should be evaluated by a Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Optometrist, a doctor who has special expertise in the assessment and treatment of visual disturbances associated with damage to the central nervous system.

Systematic review addressing how anomalies of executive function after traumatic brain injury (TBI) can translate into altered social behavior that has an impact on a person’s capacity to live safely and independently in the community.

Diagnosing a brain injury is not always as simple as getting a scan or picture of the brain. This is why something like a neuropsychological evaluation can help pinpoint the issues someone is having, what it causing it, and how to treat it effectively.

A multi-study of individuals with TBI and chronic pain to improve individual health and function to promote community participation and employment.

Checklist for providers treating children 18 years of age and younger.

This handout for healthcare providers describes diagnosis-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

This handout for healthcare providers provides an overview of the management and treatment-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

This handout for healthcare providers describes prognosis-related recommendations contained in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline.

This checklist can be used to understand the extent of an individual’s post concussion symptoms.

Post-concussion syndrome is a complex disorder in which various symptoms — such as headaches and dizziness — last for weeks and sometimes months after the injury that caused the concussion. In most people, symptoms occur within the first seven to 10 days and go away within three months.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common after a traumatic event that leads to a brain injury (e.g. an assault, a near drowning or a motor vehicle accident). Not all people who sustain a brain injury will experience post-traumatic stress and not all people who develop post-traumatic stress will experience the same severity of symptoms.

TBI is a risk factor for suicidal ideation and behavior. People with TBI can experience persistent cognitive, somatic, or psychological symptoms that can lead to poorer mental health, physical function, and quality of life. Veterans with a history of TBI were found to be at higher risk for suicide.

After a traumatic brain injury, patients can experience a variety of problems, such as the perception of time. There are steps that can be followed to help with time perception by establishing basic routines, breaking down tasks, and establishing prompts to promote accuracy with time.

Muscle relaxation can be particularly helpful in cases where anxiety is especially associated to muscle tension. This information sheet will guide you through a common form of relaxation designed to reduce muscle tension.

This guide will give you and your family helpful information about brain injury recovery. It explains how people with a brain injury recover from a cognitive and behavioral point of view.

The REAP Project which stands for Reduce – Educate – Accommodate – Pace is a community-based model for Concussion Management. It is a model that empowers schools, families, students and medical professionals to come together — to coordinate, collaborate and to help young people achieve the safest recovery from concussion.

Provides information about recognizing concussions in the elderly, steps to take, and considerations.

Provides information for providers on models of intervention and treatment and a guide to the intervention process.

Respite is an important tool to assure the primary caregiver is getting a break.

This document provides information about several respite options available in Virginia.

This fact sheet helps school professionals know how to recognize a concussion and what to do if one occurs; and support students who return to school while recovering from a concussion.

Parental involvement is often critical when a young person is returning to school after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Parents have the most knowledge about their child and are deeply invested in their daughter’s or son’s well-being and future.

Identifies potential challenges in returning to studies after a TBI and strategies to deal with these new challenges as they arise.

Letter to school staff template to be used after a child is diagnosed with a concussion to inform of symptoms and potential short-term accommodations that may be needed.

Brain injury screening tools that can be implemented by clinicians and professionals to better understand a patient’s situation.

Although most people with a TBI will never have a seizure, 1 out of 10 people who were hospitalized after a TBI will have seizures. It’s good to know what a seizure is and what to do if you have one.

This resource provides many examples of how to communicate a brain injury to others.

This quick guide provides ways in which caregivers can promote resiliency and self-care in their own lives.

This fact sheet explains how a severe TBI affects the injured person, what to expect from a team of doctors and other health care professionals providing care, and how you can support this team and your loved one on his or her road to recovery.

Changes in sexual functioning are common after TBI. If you are experiencing sexual problems, there are things you can do to help resolve these problems.

This handout provides facts about shaken baby syndrome, risk factors, prevention tips, and resources to connect with.

Sleep disturbances and disorders occur more often for persons with brain injury but there are ways to manage these symptoms to promote better sleep and overall health.

Because sleep is a complex process that involves many parts of the brain, a variety of sleep disturbances are seen after brain injury, depending on the site and extent of injury. Surveys of the population suggest that insomnia is more often found in people who have experienced a TBI than in the general population.

Did you know your phone can actually be a tool in your brain injury recovery? There are so many low cost and free apps for just about anything, including helping to keep you relaxed, organized, or to keep track of health information.

Staying socially connected and finding activities that are rewarding and fun can be difficult to do, but is a critical part of brain injury recovery and returning to a new normal.

After a traumatic brain injury (TBI), people may have problems with social skills. These problems can differ from person to person and can be harder to manage when feeling strong emotions, such as anger or excitement.

Spasticity is the uncontrolled tightening (increased muscle tone) caused by disrupted signals from the brain. It is common in persons with severe brain injuries (TBI).

This quick guide provides information about eligibility for special education services, services available, and how to apply for services.

Understanding what puts an individual at risk for a stroke, how to spot a stroke in the moment, and what recovery looks like are the three main concepts covered in this document.

The following 10 rules are designed to promote successful aging in TBI survivors. They build upon the Alzheimer Association’s effort to potentially avoid Alzheimer’s disease.

Provides guidance and strategies for substance abuse treatment providers working with persons with brain injury or cognitive impairments.

Practical Tips for Caregivers to Help Build Independence

This article provides practical tips for caregivers to release control and promote independence for their loved ones who sustained a brain injury.

There are many ways our child’s head can get hurt. Knowing the signs, symptoms, and appropriate recovery options is important for all parents to understand to keep their children safe and healthy.

A fall, a car accident, or any sort of blow or jolt to the head can cause a concussion, which is a mild brain injury. This sort of injury might affect the way you function, although the changes might not be noticed for several weeks or months after the injury.

This article provides information about discussing a family member’s brain injury with a child, as well as tips to help them cope.

This comic details what chronic pain can look life after TBI and some pain management and coping strategies for PWBI.

This comic explains what spasticity is and potential spasticity management strategies.

This comic explains the relationship that can develop between chronic pain and anxiety and finding ways to deal with it.

This comic details the experience of dealing with multiple injuries including TBI and some potential strategies to help adjust.

Toolkit for providers to understand the effect of TBI on substance abuse, effective screening measures, and how best to deliver treatment.

Children 0-3 years old, present with a total distinctive pathology than adults. Children with head injury must be addressed to a pediatric department of neurosurgery and pediatric intensive care unit. Prophylaxis plays the most important role in improving the outcome.

Provides reasons why alcohol and other drug use after traumatic brain injury is not recommended. Demonstrates the effects of substance use on the brain following TBI.

Information about substance use before and after TBI and during treatment.

This factsheet explains the recovery process after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Often, the fastest improvement happens in the first six months after injury.

This infographic provides therapeutic interventions to help support concussion management and improve recovery. Includes info on exercise therapy, manual therapy, diet and nutrition, and more.

A partnership approach can be an effective way to negotiate solutions to thinking and behavior problems. This means acting as partners in the decision-making process by working together to determine how to solve a problem.

Are you considering relocating an out-of-state older relative to Virginia? There are many things to consider and prepare for prior to a move, with added special considerations with older adults.

This handout provides information about transition services and transitioning to college.

This factsheet will help you understand the common causes and symptoms of chronic pain for people with traumatic brain injury.

This factsheet will explain some of the more common ways people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) manage chronic pain without the use of medication.

The connection between domestic violence and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is strong, but often overlooked. Service providers play a key role in screening for and addressing the signs and behaviors associated with TBI and domestic violence, as this fact sheet will explain.

Domestic violence (or, intimate partner violence) is a pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain power and control over the other. The connection between the two is strong: nearly 75% of domestic violence survivors have a traumatic brain injury as a result of the abuse.

Older adults are at a higher risk for TBI and have the highest rates of hospitalization after brain injury. It is important to know the facts about TBI to help protect yourself and loved ones.

This comic strip explains the prevalence of headaches within the TBI population, the types of headaches, and how to manage headaches triggers using a headache diary.

This is a quick guide for parents/caregivers that provides info on what symptoms to look for, returning to school, and recovery take-aways for children who sustained a TBI.

Provides information about TBI in infants and children, and considerations for returning to school.

This comic strip explains the effects of TBI on sleep, common sleep disorders, how to get help and what that may look like, and sleep management strategies.

This summary describes findings from a systematic review conducted to evaluate the evidence supporting pharmacologic, other biological (e.g., electroconvulsive therapy), and psychotherapeutic or rehabilitation treatments for depression after TBI

This Advisory briefly summarizes key elements of TBI and describe its relevance to behavioral health, including recommendations for how behavioral health professionals can better meet the needs of patients who have a history of TBI.

Effective new and modified approaches to treating substance abuse in individuals with TBI.

There are many types of health care professionals who specialize in different things that can be helpful for people with brain injuries so it’s important to know who and what to look for when needing treatment.

Employers are required to provide reasonable accommodation to help any employee with a disability achieve vocational success. This publication supports the intent of the law and provides employers with a guide for successful integration of employees who have brain injuries into the workplace.

This comic strip explains what a concussion looks like, how it affects the brain, the recovery process, and returning to school/play. It also includes a symptom checklist at the bottom.

A brain injury may cause different problems, depending upon which parts of the brain were damaged most. There are three general types of problems that can happen after TBI: physical, cognitive and emotional/ behavioral problems.

This fact sheet details what a brain injury is and what the first few days and weeks can be like after a TBI, depending on the severity of the injury.

This comic strip explains what a brain injury is and its effects, the rehab process, therapy, and strategies that people with a brain injury can use.

This Guideline is based on the 2008 Mild TBI Clinical Policy for adults. To help improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for patients with mild TBI, it is critical that you become familiar with this guideline. The guideline is especially important for clinicians working in hospital-based emergency care.

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are seeking adults with traumatic brain injuries to be part of a research study. We are evaluating the helpfulness of an outpatient rehabilitation program to help people adjust to having a brain injury.

Depending on its location and severity, a TBI can affect your vision by damaging parts of the brain involved in visual processing and/or perception (e.g., cranial nerves, optic nerve tract or other circuitry involved in vision, occipital lobe).

This fact sheet explains why it is important to vote. It includes tips for people with TBI on when, where, and how to vote.

Coping skills and strategies to help improve memory following concussion.

Biofeedback is a technique where you are connected to electrical sensors that help you receive information about your body. This feedback helps you make subtle changes in your body, such as relaxing certain muscles, to achieve the results you want, such as reducing pain.

Many Americans use health care approaches that may have started outside of usual Western practice. The use of integrative approaches to health and wellness has grown within care settings across the United States.

Vestibular rehabilitation is a specialized form of physical/occupational therapy to address dizziness, imbalance, difficulty maintaining clear vision, and functional decline as a result of vestibular disorders. A vestibular disorder can cause permanent deficits, so therapy is often designed to allow compensation.

This fact sheet is intended to help Navigators identify what issues are unique to consumers with TBI.

This handout provides common problems and solutions that some families use to help them feel supported and strong.

A tip card for physicians treating individuals living with chronic brain injury sequelae.

Brain injury can be difficult to diagnose, but knowing how to identify and work with an individual who has sustained a brain injury can lead to a more productive relationship with them. This tip sheet is intended to offer information on screening for possible brain injury and provide strategies for engaging an individual in an appropriate plan of care.

This handout explains the developmental changes that may occur in a child following a brain injury.