Welcome

This site was built for the purpose of identifying existing resources for individuals with brain injuries, highlight the pathways to these, and expose the gaps in services on both a state and federal level. The current system is siloed and does not promote success. During my capstone experience, I worked with an individual with a brain injury (from 20+ years ago) to navigate the Oregon resource maze. I left our weekly meetings feeling overwhelmed, drained, and unaccomplished. The current siloed system was extremely difficult for me to navigate and I don’t have a brain injury. How can we expect individuals with a disabled brain to gain access to the things they need/want? We can't. That is why the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) reports that 95% of all persons with head injury DO NOT receive services they need to establish personal sufficiency (BIAA, n.d.).

The goal of this website was to create supporting evidence to advocate for improvements in support and services for individuals with brain injuries in Oregon. This website is far from comprehensive and will continuously need to be updated with the latest information. But it is a start.

Before we can look at some of (or lack of) the services/resources available to this population, we must first consider some of the deficits that occur following brain injury. Brain injury results in physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral impairments. Many of these create exponential barriers to getting the services they need/want.