How Can CBIS(T)’s Participate in Brain Injury Awareness Month?

By Wendy Waldman, B.S.W., CBIST

It’s March and time again to celebrate Brain Injury Awareness Month. For 31 days, the Brain Injury Association of America will lead survivors, families, caregivers, advocates, and professionals in the #MoreThanMyBrainInjury awareness campaign. This campaign and the message it carries promotes survivors first, giving them the opportunity to overcome being defined by their disabilities, allowing them to tell their own stories and share their own narratives with others. Central to this campaign is the sharing of inspirational and touching videos, photos, and messages on various online platforms and during specially planned virtual events. Education and awareness messages will be disseminated by those impacted by brain injury in order to promote awareness about this chronic, non-discriminatory condition that many don’t know about until they “have to know about.”

As a CBIS/CBIST, part of what we learn and teach is the importance and the need to bring focus to the prevalence, consequences, and impact of brain injury upon those that experience it. We know that brain injury can be a lifelong condition that needs to be managed as such and that funding options for lifelong care are lacking. We also know that recovery after brain injury is highly variable and there are no two brain injuries alike, complicating the planning for lifelong care. As CBIS/CBISTs, we must participate in efforts to raise awareness about this chronic condition at every opportunity, year-round, and especially during Brain Injury Awareness Month.

The #MoreThanMyBrainInjury campaign offers many incredible ways to promote awareness for brain injury. As a CBIS/CBIST, we can reach out to our communities and share the fantastic #MoreThanMyBrainInjury creative toolkit that BIAA provides. In this toolkit, you can find numerous ways to participate in Brain Injury Awareness Month, including but not limited to templates for messages to personalize and share on social media, the #MoreThanMyBrainInjury icon to personalize, graphics and posters that can be easily shared, as well as coloring pages to be printed out and utilized. There are public service announcements (PSAs) and tools available to engage the media and your congressional representatives, fact sheets on brain injury to disseminate, and the new 2022 legislative briefs offered by BIAA which focus on increasing access to care for those impacted by brain injury.

Don’t forget to sign up for a virtual summit on Capitol Hill on March 16. The Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, co-chaired by Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.), will host a briefing on the importance and value of advocacy. Attendance is free, but pre-registration is required. Click here to register and be sure to let your community know about this important awareness event.

I look forward to celebrating Brain Injury Awareness Month with my community and my fellow CBIS/CBISTs across the country. Together, we will continue to strive for increased awareness, resources, funding, education, and support for those impacted by this silent epidemic.

 

Wendy Waldman, B.S.W., CBIST currently serves as a board member for the Indiana Association for Persons Supporting Employment First (INAPSE) as well as the Brain Injury Association of Indiana. She is a Certified Brain Injury Specialist Trainer and provides CBIS training all over the state of Indiana.