Support for Families of Children with Brain Injury
Tip cards on emotional support for families of children with brain injury
Products
Life after Brain Injury: A guide for families
Helping Brothers and Sisters
Helping brothers and sisters when a sibling has a TBI is important. The needs of siblings for information and emotional support are often overlooked during the crisis of a child’s brain injury. This tip card has practical suggestions for families, therapists and educators on preparing brothers and sisters for hospital visits, understanding their emotional reactions and needs for information, and thinking about the future.
Caregiving after Brain Injury: A survival guide
Caregiving by a family member when a spouse, parent or child has an acquired brain injury can be rewarding and stressful. Few family members are prepared to become caregivers when a parent, spouse, sibling or child has a brain injury. Providing cognitive supervision, emotional support and physical help places caregivers at risk for stress, exhaustion and burnout. This tip card has practical tips for caregivers to prevent feeling overloaded, to develop coping strategies, find support and take care of themselves.
Emotions: Hope after brain injury
Depression after brain injury
Depression is a common consequence and reaction to traumatic brain injury. Depression can affect both survivors of brain injury and family members. This tip card describes the signs of depression with tips on when and how to ask for help. Checklists for family members and survivors have practical advice on what to do and what not to do when dealing with depression.
Loss, Grief and Mourning after brain injury
Relief that the person has survived the brain injury is often followed by feelings of grief and loss as the meaning of survival becomes evident. This tip card helps families and caregivers understand the grief process and their reactions and shows clinicians how to support survivors and families as they mourn the losses and changes in their lives.
Talking with Families after Brain Injury
Families as Managers of Care and Services
The family also is the case manager for the person with a TBI. As professionals and programs change over time, families find that they are responsible for managing the care and services of the survivor of a brain injury. By adapting the case management skills used by professionals, this tip card shows families 6 steps for how to communicate effectively, negotiate for services and become effective managers and advocates to address the needs of the survivor.
