Press Release - July 25 2006

Brain Injury Association of Santa Barbara Launches Outreach Program

The Brain Injury Association of Santa Barbara (BIAofSB) is extremely pleased to announce the start of its new Outreach Program, providing pro-active outreach to adults living with acquired brain injuries (ABI) and their families in Santa Barbara County. This program is made possible by the generosity of the Santa Barbara Foundation which has provided the necessary funds for the program.

The name "Brain Injury Association of Santa Barbara" is a new one to the Santa Barbara area. It has been selected both in recognition of the growth of the scope of services provided and to enhance the visibility of an organization that has existed in Santa Barbara for over twenty years. This organization, Jodi House (now a program of BIAofSB), was founded in 1982 by the late Louise Fields and Donna Wustman. After Mrs. Wustman's daughter Jodi, an art student attending college in San Diego, incurred a brain injury in an automobile accident, the Wustmans were unable to find a stimulating program to accommodate the vivacious and talented 19 year old. Jodi House was then formed and structured to serve the needs of ABI victims who had been treated and discharged by medical and rehabilitative facilities. Over the years since its inception Jodi House grew from its modest beginnings into a one-of-a-kind organization modeled as a non-residential clubhouse to serve as a point of connection and as a community nexus for ABI victims. A second program modeled on Jodi House has recently been opened in Solvang to serve north county residents.

BIAofSB currently counts 89 ABI victims among its members, about 45 of whom attend Jodi House on a regular basis. Activities at Jodi House are wide ranging; they include day-to-day social interaction crucial to people recovering from ABI as well as more focused activities: ceramics, percussion group, communication therapy, computer instruction, restorative yoga and, perhaps most importantly, a weekly Peer Support Group where members can describe the ups and downs of their lives, discuss concerns, exchange information and share experiences in the safe and accepting environment of a community of people who are living in similar circumstances. Members have found the program to be a resource which has no counterpart in the medical and social services establishments.

Traditionally, brain injury treatment consisted of the medical intervention necessary to preserve the life and to mend the diagnosable effects of the injury. In some cases rehabilitation followed, both to restore some level of lost physical function and to restore some degree of impaired speech and cognitive function. Generally, at this point, the medical and rehabilitative interventions were considered to have ended and the ABI victim was considered to have been "treated". It has been the common experience of the BIAofSB membership, however, that the real rehabilitation can be said to begin after initial treatment by medical services. This is true because what has been lost by the victim of an ABI is much more than the physical and cognitive functions impaired by the brain injury. What has been significantly altered is the victim's sense of self and connection to community. In addition to loss of physical and mental functions previously taken for granted, BIAofSB members report a sense of alienation from loved ones, feelings of isolation from self, family and community - along with feelings of despair and frustration coupled with inability to make any headway in what sometimes seems to be a morass of obstacles and confusion thrown into their recovery path by the social service agencies they have encountered.

Members report finding at BIAofSB's Jodi House program the empathy that comes from shared experience that non ABI survivors can perhaps only understand intellectually. Where they found disconnection from their pre-ABI life and community, at Jodi House they found acceptance, inclusion and re-connection along with a valuable body of experience in dealing with the medical practitioners and social service agencies that could in some way help with the logistics of post-ABI life.

BIAofSB has seen many improvements in quality of life among its membership. It has seen people who walked through its door in confused, defeated, lost and hopeless states of mind begin to discover their post-ABI selves, regain animation and direction, smile, laugh and make contacts with others and with their community. It has long been a goal of BIAofSB to extend its services to as wide a group of ABI victims as possible. The Santa Barbara Foundation grant for the Outreach Program has facilitated major progress toward achieving this goal.

BIAofSB contact information:
Executive Director: Luciana M. Cramer
Telephone: (805) 563-2882
Email: info@jodihouse.org
Web sites: BIAofSantaBarbara.org, jodihouse.org