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Drawing on the Strength of Military Families

We talk a lot about the challenges that military families face but we also need to talk about the tremendous strength that they bring to those challenges.

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Asking for Help

Dr. Stephen Cozza, Uniformed Services University, on caregiving and the importance of activating a system of support.

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Setting Goals and Solving Problems

Family and co-parenting strategies for dealing with anger and other serious symptoms related to TBI and PTSD.

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How a Parent's Brain Injury (TBI) Affects Children and Adolescents

How a Parent's TBI and/or PTSD Affects Children

Children have a unique experience of PTSD and TBI -- they're young, they may not fully understand what is going on, and they are usually are not provided the information they need. Dr. Stephen Cozza discusses the different ways a parent's brain injury and/or PTSD may affect children.

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Community Support

Why civilian health care providers should be prepared to ask questions about combat exposure, PTSD and TBI.

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Fractured Family Tales

Family life after brain injury? It’s complicated. People walk out of your life without explanation, without just cause, leaving you to wonder what the heck happened.

How Transparent is Too Transparent?

I feel like I have mastered the face-to-face challenges I used to confront when asked about my health. But it’s my written work that still often causes me angst. Like a human-sized pendulum, I swing back and forth about how much I should share. How transparent is too transparent?

Life Goes On

Gretchen Rubin, once wrote, “The days are long, but the years are short.” She was writing about parenting and not traumatic brain injury, but as I reflect on this poignant quote, I realize that as a caregiver, even those seemingly endless days have passed with such speed that I can hardly account for the last three years of my life.

Compensatory Strategies for TBI Caregivers

It’s well documented that stress affects our ability to concentrate, remember, and sleep, and I don’t think there are many stresses equal to the days and weeks immediately following a severe traumatic brain injury...

How Abraham Maslow Can Help Us Understand Life After TBI

It’s easy for us to think people could do better after they look better, to want to say, “Please try harder!” But when we see all the needs that must be fulfilled before a person moves from one level to the next, the picture becomes clearer.

The Kid(s) are All Right

Sometimes I wonder if I’m underestimating Jack’s awareness of the situation. Perhaps it’s not so much that he doesn’t notice, as he doesn’t let it bother him.

People in My Boat

I know there will always be days when I cry my face off because of what happened to my dad, but I have learned that the best remedy for the unfairness is meeting the daughters and sons and wives and brothers and friends of others who have been where I have been.

Who to Trust?

Of all the things I was warned about following TC’s brain injury diagnosis, no one suggested the idea of mistrust or suspicion. I didn’t anticipate waking up one day, twelve exhausting and painstaking months into his recovery, to find myself on trial, accused of harboring ulterior motives and secret plans...

Does Acceptance Mean Defeat?

Life changes in a million small ways that others cannot see when a loved one is suddenly brain injured. Few understand why caregiving spouses are grieving. After all, you should be grateful that your loved one is still with you. Right? Of course…and yet….

The New Normal

We’ve arrived. It’s taken two and half years to get here, but I now cautiously declare that our family has reached that elusive, indeterminate state of being otherwise known as the “new normal.” What I didn’t expect, however, is that it would take so long for the new normal to finally take hold. Or, like I wrote last month, that it would be so fragile.

When My Dad Gets Bored, He Gets in Trouble

March is brain injury awareness month. It’s the dead of winter in these parts and about the time of year when my dad starts to get bored. And when my dad gets bored, he gets in trouble. I feel all the heat and sorrow of this brain injury pour over me yet again.

Getting past "That's Just the Wife"

Why the success and resilience of the family is the single most important long-term determinant of a veteran's long-term health.

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Returning to Community Life

Veterans with TBI often shy away from social engagement, but that social engagement is the most important part of treatment.

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How Can We Provide the Best Support for Veterans with TBI?

Dr. David Williamson, former director of the inpatient TBI Program at Walter Reed, discusses the key way friends, family, and co-workers can support veterans with TBI.

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Playing Defense After Traumatic Brain Injury

As I began my second life as a brain injury survivor, I found myself having to play defense against stunningly hurtful and relationship-ending accusations.

The Walls That I Have Come Up Against

Dr. Jeffrey Kreutzer: Patience and Persistence Are Key for Caregiving

I know everyone’s story, while different, can be similar in a lot of ways. I have found there are many ‘walls’ that I have come up against. Some hit me right out of the blue with no warning and others crept up slowly. But, once I realized what the ‘wall’ was, I always manage to find a way to climb over it.