Services and Supports for Persons with Brain
Injury
The Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies' Center for Recreation
and Disability Studies at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been awarded a three
year grant by the U.S. Department
of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration, in the category
of Initiating Recreation Programs for
Individuals with Disabilities. The purpose of the Services and Supports
for Persons with Brain Injury project
is to enable individuals with brain injury to decrease social isolation
and loneliness, strengthen community
living skills, and increase the skills needed to participate in inclusive
recreation opportunities. This will be
accomplished by developing, implementing, and evaluating consumer driven,
community based therapeutic
recreation services that promote skill mastery, self-determination,
and inclusion:
Specific components of this project include:
-
individual therapeutic recreation services to survivors of brain injury,
-
support and education of family members,
-
technical assistance to peer support groups, and
-
training for community recreation providers.
An estimated 14,000 persons with brain injury live in
North Carolina (Brain Injury Association of
North Carolina, 1997). This project will directly target adults who
have experienced brain injury
residing in rural communities. A collaborative interagency model will
be tested and disseminated that includes
consumers and families as the driving force of the services and supports.
Project staff will work with the
NC Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, NC Division of Mental Health,
Developmental Disabilities,
and Substance Abuse Services, Brain Injury Association of North Carolina,
Partners in Assistive
Technology, NC office of Disability and Health, and community recreation
providers. Services and
Supports to Persons with Brain Injury will follow best practices in
rehabilitation which encourage the
provision of individualized and flexible services aimed at community
inclusion rather than the creation
of new segregated programs. Without an effective array of services
an supports, satisfactory psycho-social
adjustment and successful return to work, family, and community is
jeopardized.
For additional information please contact:
Project Director, Dr. Jan Hodges,
Project Coordinator, Karen Luken, or
TRS Betsey Zook