CBIS Spotlight: Sara Truse

Sara graduated from Edgewood College in Madison, WI, in 2003 with a BA in Psychology with a Concentration in Human Services. Her career focus is in the human services field, focusing on services to individuals with disabilities and their families/natural supports. She began at an adult day program, working her way into the Special Services Program, managing adult day and vocational programming for survivors of brain injuries. In 2009, she transitioned from daily direct service to the Washington County Aging and Disability Resource Center, and currently serves as the Disability Benefit Specialist, assisting individuals with disabilities of many forms, including brain injuries, to access public benefits to help meet their basic needs.

Sara and her husband, Josh, have been married for just over 8 years, and they have two beautiful daughters. The family enjoys spending time outdoors as a family – swimming, biking, hiking and participating in sports. Sarah is also a Girl Scout Leader for both her daughters’ troops.

Why have you chosen a career in brain injury?

The human brain has always been amazing to me – how it operates, the control center of the body, how it can adapt and rebuild after injury. When I gained the opportunity to work specifically with brain injury survivors and their families, I knew that I had found a niche. I could use my knowledge and skills to assist them to make life manageable, and I could also be an advocate for brain injury survivors when their condition appears invisible and is less understood by the community.

Why is having your CBIS important to you?

In my current position as a Disability Benefit Specialist, having my CBIS isn’t a job requirement and I don’t work with brain injury survivors on a daily basis, so it would be easy to let it lapse and there’d be no professional consequence for that. But maintaining my CBIS is important to me because it encourages me to continue to educate myself on brain injury and how to best help survivors and their families, at whatever point post-injury they are at. It also provides an extra layer of understanding when I do have the opportunity to assist a survivor to pursue public benefits, that I can help them to share their challenges as a result of their brain injury with Social Security to help access disability benefits. Because of my credentialing, both my peers and survivors/their families can know that I am resource for brain injury specific needs.

How has having your CBIS benefited your work as a Disability Benefit Specialist or made an impact in your community?

Because of the knowledge that I have gained through brain injury specific training since becoming certified in 2011, I know that I am able to better empathize with survivors and their families/natural supports, I’ve become a passionate advocate and can help survivors share their experiences and struggles, and that has helped me be more successful in assisting them to access public benefits that they are entitled to and need to meet their basic health and financial needs. It also has helped other agencies and providers that I collaborate with to understand that I do have a knowledge base about brain injury that exceeds general knowledge, so there is a greater level of respect and appreciation for the information and direction that I can provide and my input is a valued part of the collaborations.

What are some of the latest trends or biggest recent “wins” in your work in supporting survivors of brain injury or their caregivers at the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Washington County?

In my current role as a Disability Benefit Specialist, I focus on individual client cases to access public benefits and supports, so my biggest wins are always about making a direct impact in the lives of survivors with their public benefit awards so that they can access their basic needs and continue to focus their efforts on their recovery and independence as a survivor of brain injury.