brain injury Archives - Brainstreams

The Road Ahead: Next Exit Hope! For Ages 5 and Up.

Little ones thrive on structure and routine. They also need fun, joy, mud puddles, and life to be carefree. When a parent or sibling, or a loved one sustain a brain injury those carefree days disappear – in an instant.

Children as young as five years of age are aware of significant changes at home. They may not understand or be able to put into words how they feel, what they are afraid of, or even know what to ask, but they too, will be impacted by a brain injury in the family. It impacts everyone.

Fraser Valley Brain Injury Association (FVBIA) intends for the booklet The Road Ahead: Next Exit Hope! For Ages 5 and Up to help families […]

The Road Ahead: Next Exit Hope! For Ages 11 and Up.

Preteens, teens, young adults are navigating a new path for themselves. These tender years are fraught with pressures in school, post secondary education, career options and more. It’s a lot. Add into the mix the sudden changes from a parent, sibling, or loved one sustaining a brain injury and their world is completely turned upside down.

What is a brain injury and how will it impact my loved one? These are prominent questions. What does it mean for me and how do I fit into this new life with them? These are the questions that are asked in silence.

Fraser Valley Brain Injury Association (FVBIA) intends for the booklet The Road Ahead: Next Exit Hope! For Ages 11 and […]

Vulnerable Road-User and ICBC No-Fault Insurance

In British Columbia, we encourage people to enjoy outdoor activities. Whether you bike, skateboard, ride a scooter, or walk, everyone is asked to abide by safety rules and to ‘share the road’.

Did you know that as a participant of these activities you are considered a vulnerable-road user, and if involved in a crash with a motor vehicle, you may be faced with implications from ICBC’s No-Fault Insurance? Neither did Vancouver resident, Ben Bolliger.

Last year, Bolliger, was hit by a car as he traveled in a designated bike lane through a controlled intersection. To his dismay, and to everyone else who has read the Victoria Times Colonist newspaper article, Mr. Bolliger received a bill from ICBC for more than $3700 […]

Virtual Caregivers Support Group

When a person suffers from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), their loved ones are catapulted into the caregiver role to support and look after their injured family member. Relationships, responsibilities, and roles shift suddenly, which can be confusing and overwhelming for the non-injured caregiver.

Chuck Jung Associates and Fraser Valley Brain Injury Association will be launching a Virtual Caregivers Support Group in March of 2022. From March to August of 2022, the group will meet monthly for 90-minutes to engage in discussions to provide important information and teach skills that will help caregivers negotiate and manage a new role in their life. These groups are free of charge.

WHAT? Monthly Caregiver Support Group

WHERE? Virtual

WHEN? 6-Monthly […]

The BC Brain Injury Association (BCBIA) Celebrates 40 Years of Service & Forms a Strategic Alliance with the CGB Centre for Traumatic Life Losses

Brainstreams.ca is the official website of the BC Brain Injury Association (BCBIA). We are excited to announce fourty years of service in British Columbia. BCBIA was founded in 1982 and incorporated in 1983.

Throughout the years, BCBIA has been the voice of the brain injury community, evolving from providing direct services to joining forces with the Pacific Coast Brain Injury Conference Society (PCBICS) in 2012, to becoming the provincial resource for online education and networking through Brainstreams.ca.

BCBIA is evolving again. We have formalized a Strategic Alliance with the Constable Gerald Breese Centre for Traumatic Life Losses (CGB) under the leadership […]

Concerns with ICBC Enhanced Care Model

The Cridge Centre for the Family Brain Injury Program and the BC Brain Injury Association is most concerned in regard to the issues raised in this article. Innocent crash victims must be fully protected and compensated by ICBC and its Enhanced Care Model. The BCBIA will be bringing this story forward to appropriate authorities at ICBC and those others concerned about the Enhanced Care Model.

Should you or those within your network experience similar, perceived unfair treatment or support from the ICBC Enhanced Care Model, please let us know. Send concerns or issues to: Geoff Sing care of – info@nullbrainstreams.ca.

Click here to read the full article on Jess […]

What is this video about?

Cultivating Kindness is the story behind Opportunity Landing, a non-profit society dedicated to developing and maintaining a space for inclusive, accessible community gardens in Langley BC.

Juliet Henderson-Rahbar, is a board member of the BC Brain Injury Association, and the Leader for Connect Communities in Langley—a place where people who’ve survived a life-altering brain injury can begin to redesign their lives in the community. Earlier this year, Juliet came across an article on Opportunity landing in the Langley Advance Times https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/news/new-langley-community-garden-gets-test-run-this-spring-at-twu/.

After seeing the design and the nearby location, Juliet knew this inclusive, outdoor space accessible to the people supported at CONNECT would be a tremendous opportunity. Like everyone else, CONNECT had just completed the first year […]

British Columbia hosts its first annual Concussion Awareness Week.

September 26th to October 2nd is British Columbia’s first annual Concussion Awareness Week. The BC Injury, Research and Prevention Unit (BCIRPU) and Concussion Awareness Training Tool (CATT) have partners to run a campaing aimed at raising awareness about concussion and to encourage British Columbians to learn how to prevent, recognize, respond to, and manage this invisible injury.

Each year in BC, 600 individuals are hospitalized for a a concussion, and an estimated 14,500 visit the emergency departments.

In an article from BCIRPU, Dr. Shelina Babul is quoted, “When well-managed, approximately 70 to 85 per cent of concussions will resolve without complication,” says Dr. Shelina Babul, associate director and sports injury specialist […]

Brain Injury Housing Needs Survey

Family Advocates for Brain Injury Survivors

The Family Advocates for Brain Injury Survivors is a committee of the CGB Centre for Traumatic Life Losses.

The purpose of the committee is to determine affordable and accessible housing and support solutions for individuals living with a brain injury. Specifically, the members are comprised of parents, survivors, family representatives, and research students with a vested interest in the development of “Forever Homes” with supports for survivors of brain injury.

Roles and Responsibilities

Identify ways to raise awareness and come up with strategies to achieve better housing support.
Research the current housing and living supports available for individuals with disabilities.
Collaborate with survivors and families to […]

Intimate partner violence and brain injury: the invisible disability meets the silent pandemic.

1 in 4 women in Canada will experience intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime. In Canada, it is estimated that more than 200,000 women a year receive brain injuries inflicted by their intimate partners, with up to 92% of IPV incidents involving hits or punches to the head or face, banging of the head against a hard object, or strangulation. It is reported that for every one NHL player who sustains a concussion in sport, 5,500 Canadian women sustain the same injury from IPV. Survivors of IPV are at an increased risk of experiencing adverse medical health outcomes such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety […]

A National Hidden Disability Symbol: It is time. It is right. It is needed.

Consider becoming an ally and join the movement for a national Hidden Disability Symbol in Canada.

Co-founders of the Hidden Disability Symbol (HSDC) movement are: Maeri Perra, Communications Manager, Brain Injury Society of Toronto, Michelle McDonald, Executive Director, Brain Injury Canada, and Laura Brydges, Member of the hidden disability community, and Administrator, facebook.com/HiddenDisability.

This team has prepared a communication kit for individuals or organizations to release before August 24, 2021.

The kit includes:

Media release for local media outlets.
Letter to […]

Shining a Light on Brain Injury

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 1, 2021

Shining a light on brain injury in Canada

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – June is Brain Injury Awareness Month in Canada. 452 Canadians suffer a serious traumatic brain injury every day. This amounts to nearly one person every 3 minutes, equaling almost 165,000 serious brain injuries per year. This does not include concussions, non-traumatic brain injuries, military injuries, or unreported cases.

The results of a recent survey conducted by Canadian brain injury associations revealed that approximately 61% of respondents found general lack of awareness about brain injury a key issue. These results demonstrate that we need to work harder to shine a light on the prevalence and intersectionality of brain injury.

Through multiple digital platforms and events, Canadian brain injury associations are working […]

Research Study: The Experiences of Self-Identity, Self-Awareness, and Occupational Engagement in Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

Dr. Julia Schmidt, PhD, BSC (OT) is the Principal Investigator of a new research study on the experiences of self-identity, self-awareness, and occupational engagement in individuals with traumatic brain injury.

Are you interested in sharing your experiences of life after traumatic brain injury? If so, your involvement includes completing five questionnaires and an intereview. Click here to view a larger image.

The questionnaires will take approximately 45 minutes and will ask you about:

demographic data (example: age)
issues related to your injury
how you perceive yourself
your abilities
your daily activities

The interview will take approximately 40 to 60 minutes and will ask you about:

your injury
how you perceive yourself
your […]

The Compassionate Voice

A little compassion and kindness go a long way in life. This is especially true with brain injury. The aftermath of brain injury impacts everyone. It affects the individual in significant ways. It brings change to a family on many levels, and it has extraordinary consequences for the spouse or partner.

Brain injury shrouds the entire family with a cloak of uncertainty and aloneness. Everyone is met with the challenge of rebuilding life, often from ground zero. This is incredibly difficult when the outside world’s perception is “you look like the same family, so behave like the same family.” It takes courage, resiliency, stick-to-itiveness, and most of all, self-compassion to keep putting one […]

Update on the BC Recovery Benefit and people receiving Ministry assistance

FEBRUARY 18, 2021 by DABC

DABC has been informed that clients currently receiving Ministry assistance (PWD, Income Assistance, Hardship Assistance), will automatically receive the BC Recovery Benefit – there is now no need to apply for the BC Recovery Benefit separately.

The following information comes directly from the Ministry:

“As of February 2021, the BC Recovery Benefit will be automatically paid to people on income, disability or hardship assistance and people receiving the senior’s supplement who were receiving assistance by the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction (SDPR) in December 2020 or January 2021.

• SDPR clients will receive the full BC Recovery Benefit amounts of $500 for single people an $1,000 for single-parent families and two-parent families.

• SDPR clients will […]

Jeff’s Journey: How a family survives a stroke

Jeff Palmer was affected by a stroke at age 37. As a husband, father of two boys, working a job he loved and coaching baseball for his kids, the impacts the stroke had on his life were numerous. Three years after the stroke, Jeff is still adjusting to physical mobility challenges, working on regaining verbal communication, nourishing his personal relationships and trying to keep his spirits up. The Palmers have experienced a challenging road with all the changes but they are committed to working through Jeff’s stroke recovery together. Thanks to programs like Hope After Stroke offered by Langley Community Support Groups Society, Jeff continues to improve his mobility with group physical exercise and activities. He […]

Brain injury recovery resource list: new services have been added

Searching for services to support recovery from a brain injury can be overwhelming. We’ve created an online list of resources to help people recovering from brain injury access the supports they need. You can find this list of 300+ services (we call it a “Repository” for short) by clicking on the Resources menu item. You can search for information on a wide variety of helpful services ranging from support groups to rehab services, to housing options and financial assistance. We have also included services that help individuals return to life, such as […]

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