Guide to Providing Better Services to Your Clients
by Addressing Brain Injury through Neurologic Informed Care
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This guide is meant to help your organization increase its capacity to recognize and address possible brain injury among the clients you serve. Given that unidentified brain injury can impact your clients’ ability to successfully access, engage in, and benefit from your services, this guide may be ideal for your organization in considering updating policies or strategic plans with a focus on equity and inclusion.
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Neurologic Informed Care is an approach to serving clients that considers the possible role and impact of brain injury on treatment or service outcomes. Integrating Neurologic Informed Care into your organizational practices could improve clients’ ability to engage in and fully benefit from your services. Parallel to trauma-informed care, Neurologic Informed Care results from staff trained to recognize the impact of brain injury on cognitive (e.g., memory problems, executive functions) and/or behavioral challenges (e.g., impulsivity, emotional control) and then adapt the ways in which services are provided to clients to accommodate those challenges.
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This guide contains two parts:
Part 1: Organizational Self-Assessment. A 4-question discussion guide evaluating your organization’s readiness to use Neurologic Informed Care, including readiness an skills to identify possible brain injury among clients and integrate brain injury education and accommodations. Please note that identifying is not diagnosing brain injury; however, identifying brain injury can help you to better address your client’s specific needs.
Part 2: Creating an Implementation Plan. A list of potential strategies your organization can use to increase efforts toward better serving clients with brain injury.
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This self-assessment is meant to facilitate a team-based discussion with members of your organization about potential brain injury among clients you serve, and how to increase capacity to integrate brain injury screening, education, and accommodations. Please consider including all members in your organization who talk to clients (i.e., intake coordinators), treat or intervene with clients (i.e., case managers, mental health or substance use service providers), or make major decisions on behalf of the organization (i.e., leaders).
Why Does Brain Injury Matter?
Brain injury is a chronic condition that can affect nearly every aspect of a person’s life and make it more difficult for the person to succeed – specifically if it goes unidentified.
Brain injuries are not outwardly visible. Symptoms can mimic those of substance use or mental health conditions. This can lead to misdiagnosis or misinterpretation of symptoms (e.g., the person is seen as unmotivated, lazy, or ‘non-compliant’). When brain injuries are not identified, this can result in lack of access to brain-injury specific services, accommodations (i.e., simplifying instructions, using memory aides like notebooks to write down information), and strategies that could help support client success.
Individuals who have sustained a brain injury often have multiple intersecting vulnerabilities, including homeless, domestic violence, criminal justice involvement, and/or substance misuse, drug overdoses, and mental health problems. Women, individuals of color, individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+, and those with lower socioeconomic status often experience greater challenges following a brain injury.
Organizations can create a more equitable and inclusive environment by providing Neurologic Informed Care.