This September, members of the Propel Physiotherapy clinical team had the privilege in attending the Back to School Conference presented by the Personal Injury Alliance (PIA) and Ontario Brain Injury Association (OBIA). The conference was titled “Practical Strategies in Brain Injury Rehabilitation: Pediatrics to Geriatrics and Everything in Between.”
New learning experiences and networking opportunities is an import part of being a clinician. At Propel, we are supportive of our team regularly attending events, courses and conferences to enhance knowledge and new connections with community partners that offer support for our clients.
At this conference, the attendees ranged from clinicians and clinical teams in the private and public sectors, to legal representatives across Ontario, and academics and researchers from established institutions. The presenters and speakers at this conference were equally diverse, with backgrounds from education, medicine, psychology, government, artists, law enforcement, brain injury survivors, managing partners in respective businesses, and more.
In this blog, I provide highlights of this educational day. The perspectives and presentations help to address the continuum of care required for someone who has sustained a brain injury from pediatrics to geriatrics.
Table of Contents:
- Communicating plans of care with schools and teachers
- Short-film: a survivor’s perspective
- Psychedelics in brain injury treatment
- Distinguishing between capable and competent
- Practical strategies in brain injury treatment
Communicating Plans of Care with Schools and Teachers
The conference started off with Director and educational consultant from the Goode Educational Services, Susan Goode’s perspective on how treatment teams for children who have sustained a brain injury can better communicate and integrate their plans of care with the student’s teacher at the school.
Some take-home clinical tips are to only have one person as a point of contact with the main teacher and principal of the student’s school. This will limit inundation and overlap of communication to the education team.
Having been part of many treatment teams with clients that are of school-age, I can attest that the knowledge translation to the classroom from therapist to teacher and to parent is a difficult communication task. To effectively make a therapeutic change in the child’s life, the messages and instructions need to be clear, practical, and within the abilities of the teachers and the staff at the school.
One clear, concise, and informed message to the school and teacher encourages more participation with the rehabilitation treatment team and helps limit redundancies or miscommunication. We must remind ourselves that teachers may have over 25 children in a classroom. To make accommodations or modifications without clarity for a specific student that is struggling with a brain injury may not always be practical, if there are no steps in place to follow through with the recommendations.
Short Film: A Survivors Perspective
Shortly after, the conference’s focus on pediatrics and school-aged children with brain injuries, writer, director, editor and actor Jewels Kraus made her directorial debut by sharing a short video on her experience with a mild traumatic brain injury while cycling.
In the video, she presents an artistic interpretation of what she was feeling at the time of the incident and the many months after. She was able to convey the message that other traumas in the past may be brought to the surface of consciousness after having a brain injury.
The film, titled Impact – An Accidental Meditation: A Survivors Perspective, brings us through the journey of a brain injury survivor, and, subsequently uncovering and healing from other traumas from the past as well.
Personally, I found this presentation to be a nice change in pace in terms of the artistic appeal it brought to a conference that had a lot of research driven information. Our clients often do reflect on the injury that brought them to the clinic, and, as we get to know them more, they can sometimes let us in on how this injury has changed their lives and the relationships with friends and family members they once had. More times than not, they also end up sharing past medical histories that also play a part in their current healing journey after brain injury.
Psychedelics in Brain Injury Treatment
Dr. Dawn DeCunha, clinical psychologist, provided an in-depth look at how psychedelics, like psilocybin, are being used in the treatment of brain injuries. The research indicates some psychedelics may be able to access expanded states of consciousness, may assist in changing one’s behaviour, and encourages neural connections or neuroplasticity.
The mechanisms of action, through the powerful neurotransmitter modulation of serotonin, can help people access other areas of their brain they otherwise would not be able to access. Simply put, the speaker explained that psychedelics help the brain break out of its usual communication patterns, allowing different areas to connect in ways they normally wouldn’t.
Many of our colleagues and peers found this topic fascinating for a variety of reasons. The idea that it was possible to profoundly impact the brain’s ability to communicate with itself and with the person’s experience was a point of discussion amongst many groups after her presentation.
Distinguishing Between Capable and Competent
After a short intermission, the conference continued with Understanding Levels of Capacity and Distinguishing Between Being Capable and Competent. Registered Social Worker Louise Silverston and Occupational Therapist Suni Rocci provided great, anecdotal examples of how determining someone’s decision-making ability is not a simple task.
A few take-homes from this presentation were that just because a person is capable of making a decision and can read the fine print, doesn’t necessarily mean they are competent in understanding the consequences to their decisions. Nor does it mean they are able to take a perspective beyond the immediate decision they’ve made.
This presentation re-iterated how important it is as clinicians to understand the complexities involved in appointing powers of attorney or substitute decision makers, and why clients who have difficulties making the decisions for themselves require extra attention and diligence.
Practical Strategies in Brain Injury Rehabilitation
The conference captured many facets regarding the complexity we face when we are addressing the challenges in brain injury rehabilitation and reintegration in the community. Brain injury not only impacts the individual who suffered the brain injury but also the wider social network involved regardless of the age of the person.
Service providers – from hospital to community – play a fundamental role in the success of the brain injury rehabilitation. The communication between service providers, family and client is fundamental to guarantee best outcomes.
The Propel team will continue to learn and share our experiences in other educational industry conferences. Our goal is to help shape the future of brain injury rehabilitation and provide the best quality care for our clients. We are encouraged to attend next year’s Back to School Conference to learn about the latest in evidence-based brain injury rehabilitation, recovery, and innovations.
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