Goal Setting with Brain Injury

Stories of Goal Setting after Brain Injury

The following are stories of real life survivors of brain injury.  Clicking on the titles will take you to their actual story.

Frontal Lobe and Executive Functioning Challenges After Coma

A person or organization must be able to set goals;

Kelly – Difficulties with Noise/Distractions

What issues do you have with, multitasking, staying up, keeping your attention, jumping from thing to thing?: “As long as I’m able to define what my task is and I can set a goal for each task, then I’m able to work that task. And they come drop another one on me, I’ll have to work it in to how I’m going to work it with this task. And if they don’t coincide, I will tell somebody, they don’t coincide with my abilities.”

Kelly – Motivation/Memory Remain Despite TBI

While any analysis based on a single interview and “self-report” is potentially flawed, based upon our lengthy interview and her accomplishments since her severe brain injury, it appears Kelly has few deficits in many of the classic cognitive and frontal areas. It is likely that the drive and discipline that made her successful before her injury, have helped her overcome many classic symptoms.

Surviving Severe Brain Injury – Who Is Lethan?

you mean who you were before, again?That’s one big thing that was really hard for me. I wanted to be the actor Lethan but it was only when I finally began to let go of that and recognize hey – I’m not who I was before. I’m still Lethan, but I’m not who I was before – let’s figure out who I am.I began to work with my skills and my abilities as they now are and were then. I began to rework those abilities and see what my new limitations were – what my new strengths were and what my new weaknesses were. It was about being open to change because as the guy used to say when I worked at the mini mart (and I was handing people change for cigarettes or whatever) “the only thing constant is change”. It’s the one thing that’s true – you’ve always got pennies.

Quinn – Patience Key to Caregiving After Severe TBI

What are your goals for the next year or the next five years? What do you think you need to get to those things?: “The next year is definitely going to be one day at a time, trying to get his physical symptoms under control; his mental symptoms, mood symptoms, all that under control with the right medications; hopefully, the right diagnoses. If there are some ear issues still going on, to resolve them. They might be effecting the headaches and some of his symptoms; trying to, to get him in better shape, one day at a time. And then, longer-term goals would be to get him back to active employment, active exercises, sports and, and, you know, slowly start integrating things that he used to do, back into his world.”