Helping Brain Injury Survivors Reclaim Their Lives

A dam was just 23 when he suffered a stroke that nearly took his life. He spent two weeks in the ICU, then months as an in-patient at a rehabilitation facility to re-learn how to walk, talk, and feed himself. 

As he was discharged, neither Adam nor his parents were prepared for what lay ahead as he continued his difficult recovery at home. That’s where Jodi House stepped in to help fill a critical gap in services. 

“Once medical professionals have finished their lifesaving work, survivors and their families are often left to cope with the emotional, behavioral, and social effects of the injury on their own,” says Lindsey Black, Jodi House executive director. “We offer access to ongoing support that can make a meaningful difference in their recovery.”

Jodi House offers a range of classes and services for survivors that include vocational assistance, support groups, movement programs like yoga and dance, and workshops that can aid cognition, memory, and communication. Members can also participate in art and music therapy classes and other opportunities for creative expression. All vital resources that can help brain injury survivors have the most comprehensive recovery possible. “Jodi House is focused on helping survivors re-learn the skills for daily living that they need to reintegrate into our community at the highest level of functioning possible,” Black says.

Sometimes the most effective support is combatting a crushing sense of isolation that follows a brain injury, as was the case with Adam. 

“It’s hard for people to understand how a survivor of brain injury can look normal on the outside but feel so different inside,” says Adam’s mother, Karen. “Jodi House has been an incredibly bright spot in Adam’s daily life. He rarely misses the classes and he’s able to connect with people like himself who also have suffered traumatic brain injuries. My son needs the in-person interaction at Jodi House because he says nobody else understands him the way other survivors do.”

Black says stories like Adam and Karen’s – families who are overwhelmed and exhausted by trying to find resources to help their loved ones – are why the nonprofit recently began bolstering its caregiver support services by creating a support group just for them.

“It’s not just the survivors but also their caregivers who have to adjust to the new normal and how challenging that is when you don’t quite know what the new normal is going to be,” Black says. “It’s navigating the unknown.”

The support group has given Karen a sense of community and somewhere to turn when she has questions. But the biggest comfort has been what Jodi House has done for Adam.

“He has told me a few times that he doesn’t know how he would live without Jodi House,” Karen says. “To me, that says everything.”