Gray Matters

March 3, 2010

Gray Matters Brain Injury Mentoring Program

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 4:44 pm

Mentoring provides very effective, personalized healing work for survivors of brain injury.  I am proud that we are putting  this program into action!!! The San Diego Brain Injury Foundation is interested in having this program be a part of their organization.

I have been developing a mentoring program for survivors of brain injury.  In the program, we will match up survivors who have walked the path of having sustained a brain injury for some time (mentors) with people who have more newly acquired a brain injury (mentees).

As a team, the mentor, mentee and program director will develop goals and objectives (Individualized Mentoring Plan) that the mentee wants to pursue in his or her personal rehab.  The mentor will use this plan as a map to work with the mentee.  They will reposrt in on their progress at least once a month.  In this way, we will measure our progress.

I will report back when we have more details on our progress.  Please be in touch with Heidi at braininjuryadvocacy@roadrunner.com if you are interested in participating either as a mentee or a mentor.  We’d love to have you on board!

Gray Matters to be presented at Walk for Thought

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 3:51 pm

The San Diego Brain Injury Foundation presents the 3rd Annual Walk for Thought on Saturday, March 20th.  Heidi will be presenting and selling her book at this event.

December 1, 2009

Brain Injury - Surviving Jail

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 12:21 am

Being arrested and held in custody can be a nerve-wracking experience for anyone; it can be dangerous for a survivor of a brain injury. In this article, Albert Finklestein will be used as an example. He was recently mistakenly arrested, was fired up and had much to say regarding the topic at the Gray Matters Brain Injury Support Group.

Finkelstein says “You are arrested and are being punished as you are guilty. You are confined in an uncomfortable setting (i.e. no food or water, uncomfortable temperature in the room). They take away medications (this is a scary risk factor and can even be life-threatening!). There is no communication and you are perceived as dangerous. Interactions can lead to confrontation, even violence. This can lead to further mistaken incarceration, even further strokes!” Risks for any person brought in custody become magnified for a person with a brain injury; it is disorienting for anyone, it is extremely disorienting for a brain injury survivor.

“Brain injury survivors are more sensitized to perceived threats to themselves. This can affect their behavior and then police see their behavior and see them as a threat. This can somersault and create more and more chaos. This is due to a lack of understanding in the police department about a brain injury survivor’s experience. They have no reference points in order to understand a person with brain injury’s personal experience.

There are said to be psychological resources within the police department or in the jails. Though according to Albert, they are lacking and not available when the need arises. Because the psychological resources are not available, police officers should have a minimal level of understanding of brain injury survivors sensitivities and needs. They should recognize the dynamics of a person’s situation in jail, for a person with brain injury. There should be a sensitivity training or additional psychological resources available.

Albert said that he didn’t see any accommodations in the jail for people with disabilities. He thinks that there is a need for jail settings to be inspected to assure they are keeping up with ADA standards.
A bare minimal raising of awareness needs to occur, so procedures can be modified. People with brain injuries and all people with disabilities need a standard of care. Under the present conditions, a person can die. We are trying to avoid that.

October 23, 2009

Brain injury survivors and the police

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 6:35 pm

At the October Gray Matters Support Group, we had a very interesting meeting that touched on some hot topics. One of our members (who shall remain nameless) had a terrible experience as he was wrongly arrested. He told his story and it led a lively conversation regarding some very important topics.

Some of these issues are:

* The need for an ID for Brain Injury Survivors (many are mistakenly interpreted as DUI - off gait, slurred speech, memory problems…).

* Congressmen should be asked to make a law for police officers to consider the impact of a person’s disability, before assuming them drunk.

* Police take pharmaceutical drugs away from people placed in jail. Nurses should discern if the drugs are needed.  This can be a potential disaster!
* Officers were noted by several people at the meeting to treat people horrendously (& they are paid by our tax dollars).

* There is a need to educate the local police about brain injury.

* We need for an attorney that acts as a brain injury advocate.

I encourage feedback on this.

September 10, 2009

The Unpaved Road

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 11:52 am

It’s been quite some time
I’ve been traveling on this route,
No one ever told me
What it was all about,
I’ve been probed to my core,
Sometimes I wonder
What it’s all for,

I’m affected on the inside
Morning, noon and night,
My friends and family
Say it will be all right.
But what do they know?
They’ve never been down this road,
All they know
Are the impressions that I’ve showed.

Oh Lord,
Help me.
No one ever told me
How complex all of these difficulties would be.
There are no signs pointing the way,
How can people say it’ll be Ok?

They may know of my problems with memory,
But they couldn’t possibly know
How widespread it affects me!
What about my sense of disorientation
And the disappearance of my dreams?
How come no one ever told me about these things?

There are potholes along the road,
My abilities have seemed to corrode,
No one ever paved this road for me,
I trip over obstacles I can’t even see,

Sometimes,
I feel the doctors are only guessing,
I think
Some may need
More knowledge and skill
To be assessing!

I don’t want the doctor
To paint the picture
What my outcome will be…
He may be having a bad day,
I believe much more in me!

I may be making it up as I go,
But I best accommodate for myself,
This I know.
I trust in my instincts,
Get a little help along the way,

Trauma to the brain,
Neurological traffic,
…Blocks do let up
Along the unpaved road.

Symptoms abounding:
Behavioral,
Emotional,
Sense of self,
Psychosocial,
Cognitive,

Untying knots,
Braiding myself back together,
Rehabilitation.

Therapy -
Knowledge rebounds in the aftermath,
Recognizing new parts of myself,
Healing is in flow,
Internalizing,
Developing,
I’m traveling down that road.

September 7, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 11:08 am

A little known fact….

The first testicular guard “Cup” was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974.

It took 100 years for men to realize that the brain is also important.

September 6, 2009

Current info about the Gray Matters Support Group

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 11:11 am

GRAY MATTERS

BRAIN INJURY SUPPORT GROUP
Circle with others
Take stressers off yourself
Your needs can be understood
You are not in on this alone
Get to know each other
Even have some fun!
redo notification graphic.jpg
Third Thursday of each month
September 24
October 15
November 19
5:30 - 7 PMDel Mar Library – Community Room
1309 Camino del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014Any questions, please contact Heidi:Heidi Lerner - Peer Support Specialist (760) 579-3895

braininjuryadvocacy@roadrunner.com

Look forward to seeing you there!

Article: Gray Matters - Brain Injury, The Inside Perspective

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 10:37 am

Gray Matters - Brain Injury: The Inside Perspective
Heidi Lerner

Purple small cover.jpg
Imagine this: the sun’s shining and you’re crossing at the light. Out of nowhere, a car comes racing through the red light and…WHACK! You go flying through the air and land on the sidewalk. Your head hits the concrete. Immediately, you go into a comatose state… When you come to, what are things like? What are YOU like? Have you ever thought of such things?

Silent Epidemic

What would it be like to have a brain injury? It is a dilemma for brain injury survivors that others simply don’t have a clue what they are going through. People don’t comprehend the devastation or how comprehensive the affects are in a survivor’s every day world. This lack of awareness is often a strong factor that drives survivors further and further into isolation. This hovering vacancy of knowledge is the “silence” in which brain injury spreads, hence the “Silent Epidemic”.

Gray Matters remedies the Silent Epidemic

Heidi Lerner introduces an intriguing book of poetry, Gray Matters, Brain Injury: The Inside Perspective, in which she offers an introspective, resourceful and sometimes humorous view of what it is like to suffer a near-fatal blow to the head and live with its complications. Ms. Lerner was in a car wreck twenty years ago, where she sustained a severe Traumatic Brain Injury. Ten years after her injury, she earned her Masters degree in Special Education specifically for survivors of brain injury. Gray Matters gives its readers a non-clinical, but professionally based sense of what a brain injury entails. Readers walk away with a personal sense of what it’s like to walk in the shoes of a brain injury survivor.

The author brings a smile to her readers’ faces; she touches on serious issues, but not in a distressing tone. She believes that laughter can be “emotional medicine”. The aim is to help survivors see objectively the problems they’re going through and glimpse the lighter side of these otherwise troublesome issues. Such insight and humor can cause attitudes to adjust, leading to acceptance and a better coping with problems brought about by brain injury.

The chapters of the book consist of Brain Injury, Sequelae, Rehabilitation and The Brain. Sequelae (i.e. meaning symptoms) is a particularly educational chapter where poems masterfully articulate many of the symptoms of brain injury. The last chapters are Academia, Nature’s Touch and Circle of Support. Academia is regarding Cognitive Rehab through schooling, Nature’s Touch is about how the ocean serves in recreational therapy. Lastly, Circle of Support illustrates the therapy of support groups.

Audience of Gray Matters

The target audience is multi-faceted. The primary aim is to educate those personally affected by injury to the brain. This includes survivors, their friends and family members as well as caregivers and other therapeutic professionals. The aim is to be an intellectual, psychological and emotional support. The secondary purpose is to educate the general community about what it’s like to have an insult and compromise to our master organ, for those who have been spared the drama of brain injury.

Ms. Lerner has been most distressed to see how professionals in the field of rehab have such an un-personalized, book-knowledge of brain injury. They should know that they are not treating information, they are treating people!!! In a review in the Journal of Neurosciences Nursing, Marie Lasater states “Gray Matters will give survivors of TBI hope and reassurance that they are not alone in their rehabilitation process. It will help family members understand the thought process of the brain injured patient. It will also guide the health care provider in giving optimal rehabilitative care.”

In the sickness of silence, we are called to a new frontier of awareness regarding brain injury:

In the field of rehabilitation,
Brain injury is often termed the “Silent Epidemic”
Silence hovers around the lack of awareness,
Allows for infectious growth.

But for a brain injury survivor,
The epidemic is far from quiet.
It is PERVASIVE / COMPREHENSIVE / UNDENIABLE,
Life gets off skew,
GOT TO GET A BALANCE!
Organic dysfunction,
24-7… dealing!
Rehabilitation is a full time job.

Lets break the curse of silence!
You need to know on the inside
What it’s like to walk in my shoes.
Pick up my book,
Listen to my rhyme,
I’ll have you captivated in no time!

This is a call to awareness…
Pass on the word of what you hear,
We are breaking the silence
Thanks to your receptive ear.

We’re opening the gates,
Enter and you can feel.
IT’S OK TO CARE,
Because empathy heals!
Melt those stones in there,
Love rebounds,
When it’s found.

We’re paving the way for knowledge,
We are the pioneers…

Gray Matters!

Contact info:

Heidi Lerner
Brain Injury Advocate, Peer Support Specialist, Published Author
www.graymatters4u.com
braininjuryadvocacy@roadrunner.com

May 29, 2009

A Taste of Gray Matters - PAVED PARADISE

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 4:38 pm

I want you to picture this - One summer day, the sun is shining.  You’re walking  along the road and you come to a traffic light.  It flashes walk and you cross the road.  A car comes speeding through the red light and sends you flying onto the sidewalk.  Your head hits the concrete and you immediately go into a comatose state, where you remain for days, even weeks…  What will it be like when when you open your eyes?  What will you be like?  …Have you ever thought about these things?

Yes, there is truth to that we don’t realize what we’ve got until it’s gone, but I aim at giving my readers a sense of what it’s like to walk in the shoes of a brain injury survivor.   Have you ever felt your brain was all tied up in knots?  We all have rocks in the road that we stumble upon.  My point is to come to use those challenges to make us strong!  Gray Matters is not a heavy book, it is provocative, light hearted, inspirational, and even fun.

You can purchase my book by pressing on the leaf on my home page.  Pass a link to me onto someone who has  been through more trying experiences or knows somebody that has. For some, it may be a saving grace.

Paved Paradise

I guess Joni Mitchell
was pretty right on,
When she said
that we’ll never know
what we’ve got
until it’s gone.

Does that mean
we don’t usually appreciate our A, B or C
until they’re taken from us?
I ask - does this have to be true?
Can you possibly imagine
that this has happened to you…?

In the flash of a moment,
the picture perfect sky
cracks into millions of tiny pixels.
The sun boils, blisters,
Pops and oozes dry.

The sedatory crash of the ocean waves
Turns to high-pitched wails.
Shock sets in,
Melody siphons into monotone,
Life’s intimacies are dulled,
Processing slows,
Everything changes

In a blink of circumstance.
Pains cringe out of unknown places,
Emotions turn up their volume,
How you are now is not the same
as how you once were.
Now deal with it!

Smoke comes out of the tractor’s exhaust…
Your paradise has been paved
and they’re installing a parking lot.

In time,
You’ll be looking for a parking space,
and you’ll never know
what was once there in that place.
Worse yet and what’s a scare,
You will not know what could have been there!

At first,
You probably don’t realize
what you cannot do.
Just try to not let it get to you!

Brain injury flattens out our many capabilities,
Even ones that beforehand, we were not aware.
I guess some of us must learn these things the hard way -
The question remains…
Must we go through loss
To appreciate what was once there?

I’m calling to attention -
In you, I’m trying to cause a rustle,
So that you can exercise your empathy muscle!

To the unimpaired,
This is aimed,
So ignorance of this loss
will cease.
Knowledge births tolerance,
Acceptance…
For survivors deserve
To be granted their peace.

A clear portrait is being painted
of what we’ve got…
So don’t belittle others,
Because what you can do,
they cannot.
Please…
Don’t pave paradise and put up a parking lot!
(Joni Mitchell, 1970)

Treasure hunt goes on…

Filed under: Uncategorized — Heidi @ 4:22 pm

I continue on my journey of the treasure hunt.  Seeking the jewel in the response to my cover letter and resume.  I’m joining in with the others on their treasure hunts.  It’s getting crowded on this path!

Some good news…  I sent my resume to the man in charge of the grant with the Department of Defense, Dr. Murray Stein.  They are researching interventions for soldiers with mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Though there are no paying positions for someone “with my skill set”, he did refer me to be a member of the Consumer Advisory Board.  What I would have to offer them is a sensitivity and understanding to what a brain injury survivor goes through.  I will be applying to the board to see if they want me to be a member.  I will report what happens when it happens.
Meanwhile, I will stay positive and optimistic.  All does work together for good, for those that love G-d.

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