Neurorehabilitation: Assisting Recovery and Function in Everyday Life Following Brain Injury

Neurorehabilitation Online Professional Training Program (Level 1)

This four day Certificate Training Program will provide you with information, techniques, strategies and interventions that will equip you to better support people with ABI. 

Some topics include:

• Introduction to Neurorehabilitation: Where brain and function meet
• Foundations of Neurorehabilitation
• Facilitating cognitive function in everyday life
• Behavioural challenges and facilitating participation in life roles
• Relationship building: Supporting engagement in social roles and developing adaptive social networks
• Risk management: Seeking a balance between protection and risk

Program Description:

The Level One certificate training program is intended to illustrate your role in the rehabilitation process as it contributes to the ‘big picture’ in the lives of individuals living with ABI. The information and techniques provided in this program will familiarize you with the functioning of the brain, and how behaviour becomes disrupted when there is an injury to the brain. We promote a “brain first” approach, meaning that we emphasize what is wrong and right with the brain and let that knowledge guide strategies and interventions which will facilitate neural recovery following injury, as well as the individuals’ day-to-day functioning and quality of life.

Date: TBD

Registration Fee: $700

Approved by VRA Canada for 24.5 Continuing Education Hours – Certificates available upon request

This certificate course is accessible through a live online virtual classroom and will be interactive with breakout rooms and small group discussions.

This course has been revised to incorporate the INESSS-ONF Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Rehabilitation of Adults with Moderate to Severe TBI into the curriculum. Participants will now learn how to implement these guidelines in their daily work with clients!

Professors:

Dawn Good, PhD, CPsych is an Associate Professor, and past Chair and Director, at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, in the Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience. Her research is in the field of acquired brain injury in both paediatric and adult populations. She is a Research Associate of the Lifespan Development Research Institute at Brock University and a Registered Psychologist (Ontario) specializing in the fields of neuropsychology and cognitive rehabilitation, licensed to practice in the province of Ontario. She is a Director with the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards, and a writer for the licensing EPPP (Examination for the Professional Practice in Psychology) exam for North American licensure and deemed an expert witness in neuropsychology for both civilian and criminal courts in Ontario. Her research grants have spanned the areas of paediatric acquired brain injury (ABI) and cognitive functions/strategies for persons with ABI and was acknowledged by the Canadian Institute of Health Research as a Canada 150 Health Researchers: Discoveries for Life. She also serves as a Consultant Neuropsychologist to brain injury rehabilitation and mental health programs across Ontario.
Sherrie Bieman-Copland, PhD, CPsych is a Registered Psychologist who practices in the areas of neuropsychology and rehabilitation. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario and is owner of Bieman-Copland & Associates. She also serves as a consultant psychologist to various community-based rehabilitation programs.
Deidre Sperry MSc, S-LP(C) is a registered Speech Language Pathologist and has been practicing for more than 15 years. Dee works in private practice and focuses her work on helping people with acquired brain injuries. In addition to working directly with people living with ABI, she has worked with others to develop various assessment and treatment tools that are now used all over the world. She was also a member of the Expert Panel for the development of the Preferred Practice Guidelines for Cognitive Communication Disorders.
Julie Baker, MA, PhD is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Counselling & Clinical Psychology at D’Youville University, Buffalo, NY in the Doctoral Psychology program (American Psychological Association – Accredited, on contingency). Since 2010 she has been a part-time instructor at Brock University in the Department of Psychology and is an affiliate member of the Neuropsychology Cognitive Research Lab at Brock University. She completed her degrees in Psychology at Brock University with an emphasis in behavioural neuroscience and neuropsychology. Dr. Baker teaches graduate (PsyD, MA Psychology) and undergraduate (Psychology, Neuroscience majors) courses in brain and behaviour, neuropsychology, clinical psychopharmacology, psychometrics, health psychology, developmental psychology, trauma psychology, and cognitive and affective processes, amongst others. She was a Clinical Neuropsychology Intern in the Mental Health division of the Niagara Health System – St. Catharines site and is currently an Intern in Clinical Neuropsychology in a private practice. Dr. Baker has held a variety of scholarships and research grants each with a focus on neuroemotional and neurocognitive sequelae in persons with neurological compromise, particularly traumatic brain injury, including indices of atypical indices of sympathetic nervous system and/or neuroendocrine reactivity in response to stress. This research has been published and presented at a variety of international (e.g., International Brain Injury Association; American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine; North American Brain Injury Society) and national (e.g., Canadian Psychological Association) conferences.
Angela Dzyundzyak MA, PhD is an intern and psychometrist in Clinical Neuropsychology as well as a part-time instructor at Brock University. She completed an internship in Clinical Neuropsychology with children and adults at St. Catharines General Hospital (Mental Health division) in 2017 and since then has been working with a variety of populations (e.g., mild to severe TBI/ABI, neurodivergent, and neurotypical, individuals) engaging residential, case study and individual neurocognitive/neuroemotional assessment and treatment programming in a Clinical Neuropsychology Private Practice setting. Dr. Dzyundzyak has been involved with the OBIA Brock Certification program since 2007, first as a student and then as a Research Associate to support the development and updating of materials for the various Level I and II courses. She completed her BSc in Neuroscience (Neuropsychology stream) and her graduate studies in Psychology (Behavioural Neuroscience stream). Her research interests are in the neuroscience of reward processing, behavioural addictions (e.g., gambling), and individual differences (e.g., personality attributes such as impulsivity, history of head injury). Dr. Dzyundzyak has been involved in teaching at Brock University since 2012 and lectured and/or instructed courses in areas of neuropsychology, neuropsychopharmacology, neuroscience as well as research design/statistics. She has also served as a statistical consultant for a variety of research projects in the Department of Psychology, Department of Teacher Education and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre at Brock University.

Day 1

• Introduction to ABI: Who am I now?
• Etiology of ABI. What happens to the brain during a traumatic event?
• Brain and function
• Introduction to Neurorehabilitation: Where brain and function meet
• Foundations of Neurorehabilitation I: Functional assessment
• Personal adjustment after brain injury: Acceptance, self-esteem and personal identity

Day 2

• Foundations of Neurorehabilitation II: What do you want to accomplish? Defining dreams, goals and outcome measures
• Foundations of Neurorehabilitation III: How will you accomplish the what? Treatment planning
• Introduction to cognitive rehabilitation: Assisting abilities and activities
• Facilitating cognitive function in everyday life
• What do I do when…? Discussion of class generated examples

Day 3

• Behavioural challenges and facilitating participation in life roles ·
• Neurorehabilitation on the front line: Collaboration, prevention and consistency
• Using behaviour change principles in Neurorehabilitation: The importance of doing no harm
• What do I do when…? Discussion of class generated examples

Day 4

• Relationship building: Facilitating participation in social roles and developing adaptive social networks
• Risk management: Seeking a balance between protection and risk
• Family Issues

Please use the event/course registration portal to sign up for any current courses by clicking on the button below. For registration and payment by cheque, or if your organization requires an invoice, please contact training@obia.on.ca or phone 905-641-8877 ext. 102.

Registration is closed.

Please note: Payment in full must be received in advance of the program. A cancellation fee of $75 will be applied if notice is not received by 48 hours prior to the start of the course. Cancellations made less than 48 hours are non-refundable, and no credits will be issued.

Please direct all inquiries to:

Leah Hughes, Training Coordinator & Special Projects
Ontario Brain Injury Association,
PO Box 2338,
St. Catharines, ON L2R 7R9
Ph: (905) 641-8877 ext. 102 or 1-855-642-8877
Email: training@obia.on.ca