Core Health Care offers DVD on Brain Injuries

CORE Health Care, a provider of treatment for individuals with brain injuries and complex psychiatric disorders, has developed a unique, instructional DVD and manual, the CORE Family Trainer, designed to train families to interact with their loved ones who have suffered a brain injury. After the initial medical crisis of a brain injury, families are often faced with behavioral problems that can be difficult to understand and disruptive to everyday family life.

"We receive calls from families across the country looking for resources, some sort of guidance to help them understand the changes in their loved one with a brain injury and how to effectively communicate with them," Eric Makowski, CEO of CORE Health Care and president of the Brain Injury Association of Texas, said. "We scoured the country but found that there was no such tool in existence, so we created it."

In addition to a user friendly manual, the CORE Family Trainer packet provides a DVD of conceptual role-playing that illustrates common problems families may encounter at home with friends or loved ones who have survived a brain injury.

"A brain injury can be extremely difficult, not only for the patient, but also for his or her family members and loved ones," Richard Temple, Ph.D., vice president of clinical operations for CORE Health Care, said. "This instructional DVD shows actual scenarios and the appropriate ways in which to respond to them."

The DVD includes paraprofessional staff members from CORE Health Care who have years of experience working with brain injury patients, rather than actors. Their first-hand knowledge of "de-escalation techniques" and behavior modification gives the scenarios an authentic feel. The scenarios illustrate "less effective" techniques versus "more effective" ways to respond to common behaviors, followed by a panel discussion between two rehabilitation professionals and a neuropsychologist.

"Understanding why a brain injury patient behaves in a particular way is only part of the learning process," Temple said. "Learning effective ways to counter that behavior is a critical key to helping the patient to recover."

As families review the manual, watch the DVD, and practice the conceptual role-play situations, they will gain a deeper understanding of the two key concepts of recovery.

Behaviors that appear to be willful may not be so. Although the behavior may look to be willful and purposeful, it is often not a conscious act. Many times, these behaviors are the result of the injury relating directly to specific areas of the patient's brain. Understanding this point allows the caregiver to learn how to avoid taking these incidents personally.

There is hope for things to improve over time. The very latest rehabilitation research empirically proves that new and permanent neuronal connections can be made, even in impaired brains. This knowledge of the brain's plasticity opens up a world of opportunities for long-term survivors of brain injury, developmental disorders, and psychiatric illness. "The brain is always changing," and it is becoming increasingly evident that rehabilitation can affect the direction and utility of that change. The home environment can be a positive catalyst to help foster continued long-term recovery if some thought is given to creating a supportive situation.

The skills made available to families through the CORE Family Trainer DVD are supported by research and are well established principles of treatment found in the best rehabilitation facilities throughout the country.

To order the DVD, please call 866-683-1007 or visit www.corefamilytrainer.com.

About CORE Health Care:
CORE Health Care is based in Dripping Springs, TX and provides post acute rehabilitation for brain injury and long term care for individuals diagnosed with brain injuries, autism, psychiatric disorders and other special needs. The licensed professional staff provides psychiatric and medical care; cognitive, physical, occupational, speech and psychotherapy; and vocational and educational development with a personalized program for each resident. CORE's continuum of care is designed to restore self-directed functional ability to individuals so that they can live in the least restrictive environment possible with minimal need for support services.

CORE is committed to staying on the cutting edge of new research discoveries to provide our clients with the most effective treatments based on the best available scientific evidence. Neuroplasticity is the guiding philosophy for rehabilitation. In the context of an intense, comprehensive program, repeated learning trials are presented that can actually rebuild connections that were damaged by the injury or illness. These new discoveries provide reason for hope and optimism in the long rehabilitation process as well as motivation for the individual to persist with the hard work necessary to improve.