Excerpts

Introduction

This workbook is intended for use with the book: Understanding Everybody’s Behavior After Brain Injury: Don’t “Don’t!” The 22 sections in the workbook parallel the first 22 chapters in the book and are designed to help you:

1. Assemble a comprehensive history about the individual who is the focus of your support efforts. This includes information about the person up to this time in their life, information about the brain injury, documentation about the course of treatment and services, personal interests, preferences, and other important information. This in turn will help to better distinguish and understand the person as well as more effectively convey this information to others.
2. Improve everybody’s understanding of the person’s current abilities and challenges as they relate to the direct effect of the brain injury; other medical, physical, cognitive and behavioral challenges; changes in personal roles, relationships and resources; and changes in support circles.
3. Identify the specific changes and challenges that other people who are associated with the person may face. As noted throughout the book, while only one person may sustain a brain injury, its consequences can affect many people who are associated with that person.
4. Identify key stakeholders, support circles and resources aligned with the person.
5. Develop effective and supportive communication abilities among the person and key stakeholders. This includes: collaborative group strategies, positive communication techniques, proactive problem solving and avoiding thinking ruts.
6. Learn how to create and implement positive goals and support plans.

As a result of this work you and your group will create a comprehensive and customized resource reference that can be used to promote personal success. Imagine having:

• Comprehensive summaries regarding needs, abilities, resources and other important information to share with professionals, programs and others, to better guide their services and effectiveness to you.
• One place where all past records are coordinated for easy reference – no more rummaging through drawers, file cabinets and who knows what else to see if you can determine if a specific medication was or was not used before.
• Successful communication strategies tailored to your group to help keep everybody on the same page and collaborating, rather than arguing.
• Customized templates to create positive goals and opportunities, and evaluate progress.
• The opportunity to focus on creating opportunity rather than avoiding failure.

Yes, this will take time, but it will be well invested. Enduring change begins by clearly understanding the challenges and opportunities. People often try things blindly, exerting tremendous effort and failing because they did not understand the situation or have consensus among key parties. The time and effort expended through repeated trial and error approaches typically exceeds the time and effort required via the diligent approach of this book, let alone the despair and emotional upset that comes with repeated failure. Like any other human endeavor, proper preparation is essential; it does take time, but often makes the effort much simpler and effective.

Take time when working through each section. You can break longer sections into several pieces and address each one at a time. Don’t worry if some of the information is missing. You can always come back and complete it later, or add new information as you find it. While one purpose of this workbook is to help you collect and organize important information, it is also intended to help people learn how to work together and promote positive and enduring change.