Family & Friends
About Brain Injury Support Groups
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Because brain injury can be a frightening as well as isolating experience, a support group can be very beneficial for people with brain injury, their caregivers and family members. Listening to the stories of other people who are coping with traumatic brain injury (TBI) provides a resource, comfort and inspiration for life hard to find in any other setting.
Many times people in crisis can be so overwhelmed by the sheer number of changes confronting them they may not know what questions to ask. This is especially true of brain injury where injury affects multiple areas of a person’s life. A support group is a way to be immersed in an environment where helpful information and support is simply available. Over time, a support group deals with a range of issues like physical and emotional problems, financial difficulties, how to deal with insurance companies, government red tape, significant behavioral changes, and social problems. Support groups also serve as centers that keep members aware of local resources and new developments taking place in the brain injury community.
Various types of support groups exist. Some are only for those with brain injury. They focus on TBI needs from that perspective. But there are also groups for caregivers that provide practical support, information and an emotional outlet to relieve some stress of their role as primary caregivers. Then there are groups that combine the interests of both persons with brain injuries and their families/caregivers. These meetings tend to be larger and often have an outside speaker address a topic specific to brain injury (e.g. how to deal with Social Security).
A professional may lead any of these groups though they may be directed by a layperson, a family member or a person with brain injury. Each group determines it’s own structure.
Due to the invisible nature of TBI, both people with brain injuries and their caregivers encounter people who do not understand there is a problem and think that the injured person is just pretending to be ill. This can be very discouraging. Support groups offer a much needed reality check for both the person with TBI and the family. Sometimes the group helps keep expectations in a reasonable range, other times the example of others may inspire someone to do things he or she might not have thought possible before.
Support groups are often key for helping persons with brain injury transition into an independent life because they offer the opportunity for friendship. Group meetings provide the individual with a chance to socialize and be with others who are experiencing similar challenges. They share encouragement for the path to recovery and recognition and acceptance of individual limitations as well as an understanding of the difficulties faced on a daily basis. Meetings are a safe place to express feelings and concerns without the fear of being labeled or judged. Members share information about what worked and what didn’t work from their own experiences.
Most groups have monthly meetings but many plan other activities such as meals out, movies, picnics, forums for educating the community about brain injury and performing volunteer services. These activities all lead to the individual becoming a part of their community once again.
Groups vary in style and character. It may take visiting several before finding the right fit but the effort is worth it.
Ms. Renfro is Director of Executive Education for the Office of Executive Education at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School where she markets and delivers programming to Corporate Executives. She is actively involved in the community, serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Resource Foundation since 2000 and part of the neuro-design team for the State of Georgia’s Traumatic Brain Injury Steering Committee in 1999. She has been a member of the Long Term Care Advisory Committee in the Department of Community Health since 2001 and on the Traumatic Brain Injury Advisory Board for the state since 2001. She is the mother of a daughter who sustained a traumatic brain injury in 1980 and an active advocate for the disabled.
In January of 1996 Greta Ann Hurst became a caregiver when her older brother suffered a brain injury as a result of a ruptured aneurysm. Greta Ann started a caregiver’s support group (affiliated with the Newton/Rockdale Brain Injury Support Group) two years later. She serves as facilitator of that group. Greta Ann previously was a member of the Board of Directors of the Brain Injury Association of Georgia. She speaks to various groups about the effects of brain injury on survivors and caregivers.