Training Resources on Brain Injury – Lash and Associates’ Speakers Bureau
Looking for good speakers on brain injury for training and conferences?
Searching for experts on special topics?
Have a special audience and need a trainer?
Lash and Associates has over 80 authors who write about the effects of brain trauma and brain injury on children, adolescents, adults and veterans. Many are also talented as dynamic speakers on specific aspects of brain injury. Whether you are planning a regional workshop, statewide conference or national program, our speakers’ bureau can help you identify experts.
Cathy Powers, Caregiver
Contact: Cathy Powers — cathypowers1967@gmail.com
Cathy Powers has a story to share about TBI from a caregiver’s viewpoint that is compelling, poignant, sensitive, and moving. She is currently being asked to speak at VA Hospitals nationwide. The week of September 10-16, she has been asked to facilitate, a family caretaker meeting at the RICHMOND HUNTER HOLMES MCGUIRE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION POLYTRAUMA Unit.
She will follow this up by going to the Union County Women’s Coalition on September 29, 2017, where she will share about her experiences as a caretaker, and talk about her book, Sustaining Powers: Rising Above Grief and Loss.
It is Cathy’s desire & plan to present her family’s experiences at the TBI World Conference in San Antonio later this year. Then, in November, she is planning to attend a four-day PUBLIC SPEAKING Course, while also giving a presentation at the Palo Alto VA Polytrauma Unit.
Cathy has a deep, abiding faith that has sustained her and given her the strength to share the story of her grief and loss with others caught in similar circumstances. She is compassionate, wanting others to experience the healing she has achieved.
Publications by Cathy Powers
SUSTAINING POWERS: Rising Above Grief & Loss
Marilyn Lash, M.S.W.
Contact: mlyn@lapublishing.com
With a special interest in helping families cope with the emotional trauma of brain injury, Marilyn Lash addresses the difficult issues of grief and loss. Her audiences range from wives of wounded warrior to families with a spouse, child or parent affected by brain injury. By emphasizing coping strategies and healing, she helps families and clinicians understand that “adjustment” is not a destination but an ongoing process that continually changes over time.
Her current work is focusing on the effects of war on spouses and children when wounded warriors come home. With the complex interaction of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury, she is helping families cope with the stresses of caregiving, compassion fatigue, loss of intimacy, parenting and domestic violence.
With extensive background and experience in medical, educational, vocational and community settings, her training and consultation can address a wide range of needs in both civilian and military communities.
Read an interview with Marilyn Lash
Publications by Marilyn Lash from Lash and Associates:
Explaining Brain Injury, Blast Injury and PTSD to Children and Teens
Understanding the Effects of Concussion, Blast and Brain Injuries
Managing Care and Services after Brain Injury: A workbook for families and caregivers
Parents and Educators as Partners: A workbook on helping your child after brain injury
Students with Brain Injury: Challenges for Identification, Learning and Behavior in the Classroom
Signs and Strategies for Educating Students with Brain Injuries
Barbara Stahura
Contact: barbara@barbarastahura.com
http://www.barbarastahura.com/
Barbara Stahura knows that journaling holds the power to change lives, one sentence, one page at a time. Author of a unique workbook on journaling after brain injury, she has traveled the road of brain injury over many years as a professional writer and caregiving spouse. Now a certified journal facilitator and certified instructor for journaling, she conducts workshops and sessions across the country.
Whether you are the survivor of a brain injury or a family caregiver, a veteran or civilian, journaling can help reduce stress and anxiety and provide a positive tool for coping. For clinicians, journaling exercises can be integrated into a cognitive rehabilitation program. Through her innovative and creative journaling workshops and workbook, Stahura trains individuals and professionals on the uses and techniques for journaling after brain injury.
Read an interview with Barbara Stahura.
Publications by Barbara Stahura from Lash and Associates:
After Brain Injury: Telling Your Story, A Journaling Workbook
Janet Cromer, RN, MA, LMHC
Contact: janetcromer2@gmail.com
As a psychiatric nurse, psychotherapist, caregiver and author, Janet Cromer has a breadth of personal and professional experience in health care. But it is her most recent work and leadership on caregiver stress and compassion fatigue among both family and professional caregivers that are especially relevant in the brain injury and PTSD communities. She speaks nationally on stress resilience, compassion fatigue, hope and healing with interactive presentations for diverse audiences of clinicians, survivors and families. Her passion, insights, and empathy are paired with hands-on practical tools and strategies for caregivers that build positive mental health and promote coping.
Publications by Janet Cromer from Lash and Associates:
Stress Resilience: For caregivers after brain injury
New Normal: For caregivers after brain injury
Janet Tyler, Ph.D.
Contact: jtyler@kstbi.org
As a special educator, Janet Tyler has not only worked directly with students with traumatic brain injury, but she also trains educators to serve those students. For 23 years, she directed an innovative statewide program inKansasthat provided training, consultation, and technical assistance to educators serving students with TBI and their families. With this wide range of experience, she is a popular speaker for workshops and conferences on the educational impact of brain injury on children and youth. Whether it’s the effects of concussion, or the complex behavioral and cognitive impact of brain trauma, she provides the knowledge and the tools that make a difference in the classroom.
Publications by Janet Tyler from Lash and Associates:
Section 504 Plan Checklist for a Student with a Brain Injury
Planning In-School Transitions for a Student with a Brain Injury
Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, Ph.D.
Contact: jskreutz@vcu.edu
http://blog.vcu.edu/somprofiles/2011/05/jeffrey-kreutzer-phd-abpp-facrm.html
Few experts have the combination of data based research, clinical expertise, and publications that are found in Dr. Kreutzer’s work. Even more impressive is his skill at translating research findings and clinical practice into user-friendly information and tools for practical application by audiences as diverse as families, survivors, therapists, and psychologists.
His interests and work cover a broad spectrum but all focus on delivering psychosocial support, and neuropsychological services to persons with a wide variety of neurological disabilities. The Brain Injury Family Intervention is an empirically based education, skill building, and psychotherapeutic program for families that is internationally recognized. His work in developing and evaluating supported employment programs for persons with brain injury has been widely used in state vocational rehabilitation programs across the US.
Publications by Jeff Kreutzer from Lash and Associates:
Choosing, Finding and Keeping a Job after Brain Injury: A workbook and training program
Back to Work? Options after a Disability
Adults with Brain Injury: Myths and Stereotypes about Work and Life
Getting Better and Better after Brain Injury: A guide for survivors for living smarter and happier
Brain Injury Work Book: A guide for living and working productively
Mike Strand
Contact: gull2112@comcast.net
After over 20 years of brain injury recovery, Mike Strand has emerged as a leading light in the art of what is possible in the face of adversity. Since 1999, his Here and Now column in the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance’s newsletter has been eagerly devoured each issue.
His book, Meditations on Brain Injury, is a collection of his best and most popular articles. It is a down to earth commentary on living with a brain injury that is both funny and serious as well as informative, while not being preachy or lecturing. His second book Expanded Consciousness was recently published in 2013 and further explores his insights into the many dimensions of living with a brain injury.
He is a dynamic and passionate speaker who mixes laughter and tears with real life stories. Beneath his engaging and easy going style is a tremendous resolute inner strength that comforts and inspires.
Read an interview with Mike Strand
Publications by Mike Strand from Lash and Associates
Expanded Consciousness: More Meditations on Brain Injury
Samantha Backhaus, Ph.D.
Contact: samantha.backhaus@rhin.com
http://rhin.com/samantha-backhaus-phd/
Depression, cognitive challenges, behavioral changes, emotional problems – these are the difficult issues facing so many adults who survive brain injuries. It’s one thing to clinically assess these issues and write comprehensive reports, it’s another to actively work with individuals and families to rebuild their lives. Samantha Backhaus’ passion is helping families and survivors achieve a positive quality of life following brain injury. Her innovative 16-week treatment intervention, the Brain Injury Coping Skills Group (BICS) won the 2009 McDowell Award for Best Presentation presented by the American Society for Neurorehabilitation. Her training teaches rehabilitation clinicians how to implement this program, both nationally and internationally.
Publications by Samantha Backhaus from Lash and Associates:
Irritability and Anger after Brain Injury
Robert Fraser, Ph.D.
Contact: rfraser@u.washington.edu
We’ve all heard the numbers on the high rates of unemployment for persons with disabilities and it’s gotten even tougher in today’s economy. The question is what can be done? Bob Fraser has focused on just this issue as Director of Neurological Vocational Services within Rehabilitation Medicine at Universityof Washington. Combining his expertise in rehabilitation psychology and vocational rehabilitation with his research in employment outcomes, here’s an expert who understands both sides of the equation – the employer and the applicant with a disability. He can address the critical issues of overcoming barriers to employment, negotiating accommodations on the job, and returning to work after a brain injury.
Read an interview with Robert Fraser.
Publications by Robert Fraser from Lash and Associates:
Living Life Fully after Brain Injury: A workbook for survivors, families and caregivers
Taryn Marie Stejskal, Ph.D., LMFT
Contact: thinktaryn@gmail.com
As Founder and President of Wellness Strategies in Indiana, Dr. Stejskal addresses the impact of grief and loss on families when a member has a neurological injury. By focusing on the remarkable challenges that families face, she traces the emotional healing process for families over time as they embark on the journey from treatment to returning home and living in the community.
There’s a lot of talk about the impact of brain injury on a couple’s relationship, but too often it’s based on assumptions and anecdotes rather than facts and research. What’s the real story about sex, divorce, romance and marriage after brain injury? As a marriage and family therapist with a strong research and clinical background in neurological disorders, Taryn Stejskal speaks on sexuality, intimacy and marital relationships after brain trauma with insights, compassion, and sensitivity.
Read an interview with Taryn Marie Stejskal.
Publications by Taryn Stejskal from Lash and Associates:
Stress and Anxiety after brain injury