NCC NEWS AND UPDATES

Have you and your warrior participated in an NCC Brain Booster session yet?! If not, check out the Brain Booster Fall Series offered through Neuro Community Care!

What is Brain Booster? Brain Booster is a 4-module series of sessions introducing functional strategies to empower individuals to be more focused, productive, purposefully engaged and in control of daily activities. The program is very interactive and facilitated by NCC CMs with OT and SLP backgrounds. We would love to have warriors attend these virtual sessions WITH the support of their CSS to assist with lessons and follow through.

Participants may attend as many modules of interest even if previously attended. Sessions are never the exact same and new participants bring new situations and new learning opportunities.

The October 14th session in the Fall series will be “Get’er Done.” In this webinar, participants learn strategies to prioritize daily tasks/activities based on level of importance. If you feel this would be an asset to your warrior, please reach out to their case manager to register!

If you have any questions, reach out to your case manager or contact Jenny at Jabramson@neurocc.com

TBI / Veteran Related Trainings

**Please note these trainings are intended to support your professional development, but are not required by NCC. Therefore, the registration fee and time spent participating in these external webinars may not be billed to NCC.

Wednesday, October 6: The Psychology Of Financial Scams In The Aging Population
Presented by the American Society on Aging
10am PT. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Thursday, October 7: Understanding Moral Injury from a Character Domain Perspective
Presented by USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
1pm PT. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Wednesday, October 13: Understanding Addiction Treatment for Patients with Brain Injuries
Presented by Enterhealth Addiction Treatment
1pm ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Wednesday, October 13: Defining Moments in Brain Injury Conference
Presented by the BIAA – Maine
8am – 5pm ET. CEUs available. $45 – $125.
Details and registration found here.

Tuesday, October 19: The Psychology of Money: Understanding Service Members’ Financial Decisions
Presented by the Military Family Learning Network
11am ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Tuesday, October 19: Where Faith Meets Grief
Presented by TAPS Institute for Hope and Healing
12pm ET. Free. Details and registration found here.

Wednesday, October 20: Social Support to Reduce Risk of PTSD and Other Negative Outcomes
Presented by PTSD Consultation Program: Lecture Series
2pm ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Tuesday, October 26: The Power of Sound Healing
Presented by TAPS Institute for Hope and Healing
12pm ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Tuesday, October 26: Warrior Care Recovery Care Coordination Program
Presented by the Military Family Learning Network
11am ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Thursday, October 28: Promising Practices in Military Health Care
Presented by Defense Health Agency
7:30am – 4:35pm ET. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

Thursday, October 28: Caring For Those Who Care: Meeting The Needs Of American Indian And Alaska Native Caregivers
Presented by the American Society on Aging
11am PT. CEUs available. Free.
Details and registration found here.

On Demand: 5 Main Symptoms of Brain Injury and Why They Are so Difficult to Resolve
Presented by North Dakota Brain Injury Network
Recording available here. (Scroll down for archived webinars)

On Demand: Brain Injury and Behavioral Health: Informing Best Practice: A six-part webinar series for Behavioral Health Professionals
Presented by Craig Hospital
Recordings available here.

Resource Recommendation:

Homes For Wounded Warriors

We recognized a gap in what is provided for our wounded veterans when they returned home. The long road to recovery not only begins when they leave the confines of the hospital, but when they return to their homes to begin a sense of normality. Upon return, many of our wounded veterans face new obstacles by simply navigating their lives in their own homes. These changes can be daunting, costly and take significant time to adjust. Our mission is to raise money to build and remodel injury-specific, accessible and mortgage-free homes for our injured United States Military Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Further details can be found on their website.

Creative Arts Corner:

What I See by Daniel W.

People think of combat as constant chaos. They think of death and destruction. What combat really is, is the fight to find the beauty in all the devastation. I must have taken 5000 pictures while in combat; none of them are of combat. They are of the landscape, palaces in a sea of sand; they are of the people and the marketplace. I filled my eyes with the exact opposite of combat. I filled my eyes with beauty, not hate.

The first time I took a picture, it was simply to catalog where I had been. Memory is a fickle friend and all too often does not see what the eye does. But as I continued to take pictures of my time in Iraq, I realized that what the lens saw, I was seeing as well. People full of laughter and smiles surrounded by a warzone. Palaces made of marble and stone larger than any mansion in America. The landscape invited curiosity and questions. Why would anyone live in such an inhospitable place?

As we flew over the vast ocean of sand, small bedouin encampments would come into view. Surrounded by nothing, these were societies on their own. They had been this way since people settled these lands. Small units of people, all of their resources contained within. How they survived, I have no idea, but they had been doing it forever and most likely would continue to do it long after we were gone. They learned how to embrace the land and take everything it had. Finding water in the sand traps was no easy task, but they did it with proficiency. There was a lot to learn from these people. Survival does not have to be a struggle; it can simply be a way of life.

Artist bio:

Daniel G W. is an author, combat veteran, blogger, and award-winning poet. He has been published in newspapers as well as magazines. When he is not writing he is spending time with his family taking in all that Colorado has to offer. You can read more of what he has to say on his blog ohsomuchmore.net.

Creative Arts Therapist: Several of our warriors have been participating in creative arts sessions online once a week with writing instructor Anne Alper. Sessions focus on guided writing exercises with theme prompts to develop writing skills and structured writing practice.

Ms. Alper has a Master’s in Education and Counseling, is certified through the Amherst writers and Artist Foundation, and completed a 2 year program in California for expressive arts.