Resources

Facts About Brain Injury

We had the opportunity to sit down with DrRolf B. Gainer, Ph.D., the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute at Brookhaven Hospital and the Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute of Ontario (Canada). Dr. Gainer is a psychologist who is involved in the design and operation of community-based rehabilitation programs for people with a brain injury. Dr. Gainer shares his knowledge about severe brain injury in this interview.

Woman in wheelchair playing tennis

Residential Rehab Breakfast Seminars

Through the sharing of knowledge and information, individuals with brain injury will obtain the best possible care and our referral partners will receive the best possible service.

Each spring and fall, we offer a series of Breakfast seminars to anyone involved in the field of Rehabilitation and Acquired Brain Injury.

Where? – Etobicoke Clinic, 59 Beaver Bend Crescent Etobicoke, ON M9B 5R2
416-231-4358 ext. 37122

ABI Day Program

Please join us for a range of events and activities throughout the month

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Contact: Kindree Alkins at (416) 231-4358 ext. 37126 or nriogroups@nrio.ca

Senior Day Program

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You can also view videos and download articles

Video Presentations

Personal Injury Alliance Supports The Brain Injury Society of Toronto
5K Run, Walk & Roll – September 21, 2013

What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy? — presented by Ann McKee, MD

ACT 2014 — On June 14th, 2014, at Toronto’s St. Michaels Hospital, Daniel Bax launched Awaken Canada Together (ACT). This conference brought traditional and non-traditional treatments for brain injuries into dialogue. Click here for more information on ACT.

Discharged Client shares a video and thanks our program

Recent Articles

Q & A with Daniel Bax, Inspirational Speaker, Author, Recovery Coach, and ABI Survivor

Daniel Bax is a motivational speaker and recovery coach who was injured in a motor vehicle accident in 2005. Daniel has an amazing story and loves to share his experiences with others. Motivated by his own struggles and successes, Daniel now gives talks to medical professionals, rehabilitation providers, traumatic injury survivors and more.

Special Video Message from Daniel Bax

Unlocking the Myths: Keys to Success – Effective Behavioural Strategies for Children and Youth with Acquired Brain Injury – Presented by: Catherine Dodds and Rebecca Swift-Weir

One of the most distressing consequences of acquired brain injury is personality change and challenging behaviour. Family members of children and youth with ABI often report that they can cope with changes in their child’s physical and cognitive needs, but it is the behavioral issues, which impact on the child’s ability to learn and to complete daily routines, that they find the most difficult to understand.
Behaviours that emerge after a brain injury are unique to each child and are usually linked to cognitive issues. What is often labeled as “acting out” or “inappropriate behaviour” may actually be a result of loss of cognitive skills which have been affected by the injury, such as confusion about what is expected, difficulty understanding abstract language, lack of insight into limitations and memory impairment, to name a few. Children with ABI cannot benefit from consequence-based models of behavioral intervention when the injury impacts their ability to remember rules from day to day, nor when they are unable to anticipate the consequence of their behaviour.

This interactive workshop, designed for parents as well as professionals, will introduce participants to an approach to managing challenging behaviours in children with acquired brain injury that focuses on interventions which anticipate behaviour rather than react to behaviour.

Participants will explore their own ideas of challenging behaviours and will build a strategy keychain to effectively work with children with acquired brain injury who exhibit those behaviours.

Our 42 year old son, MD , attempted suicide February of 2020. He survived and was in a coma for weeks. Several pneumonias and blood infections later, he woke with anoxic brain injury. Due to COVID, when he was ready for rehabilitation in 3 months, no programs would take him. Some, because of COVID and some, because he no longer had any “buildable memory”. He languished in the hospital for 8 months being fed with an NG tube and strapped to a wheelchair because they didn’t want him trying to get up or pulling out the feeding tube. As parents we tried every avenue available to us to get help from our medical system and none was found. He had missed the most important few months following these injuries when potential improvement could have been made. Frustrated, we reached out to NRIO. Our lives changed when Colleen Boyce answered the phone that day. Her wealth of information helped us decide how to help our son next. Knowing M had no insurance behind him, she gave us a couple of other avenues to try but in a very short time, we knew M had to attend NRIO if he was to get any of his life back. Within weeks, M was helping make his own meals, helping with his own laundry and going on group outings to the grocery store. I cried when I saw the first video of him in the kitchen making chicken. His brain injury has robbed him of short-term memory, initiation or 3-dimensional thinking. He gets around using a walker and has evolved into a gentle, happy soul with the help of NRIOs caring treatment. At the end of 10 months, he was transferred to an LTC while waiting for a bed in an ABI Residence and NRIO continued to provide M with outpatient therapy in the form of OT, PT, SLP and companionship. During this time, whenever M had an interview with one of these residences, (we applied to them all), NRIO would sit with him through the zoom call and help their team understand his needs and limitations but also, how special a guy he is. We have grown to love our NRIO family over the past few years and know that no matter where M lives, we will always be able to reach out for good advice or help.

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