Our theme for this year's conference is on the challenge and the art of living. We believe that individuals with brain injury would benefit from developing a point of view larger than their disability, one that addresses the challenges of living life to its fullest, regardless of brain injury. We believe the process of taking on this challenge is inherently normalizing, empowering, and may constitute the final phase of rehabilitation and the first phase of life after TBI.

Life is challenging for everyone after all. In fact, life is extremely challenging for most of us. We are challenged to feel we are important, worthy, and that our lives matter, among other things. Despair, loneliness, anxiety, depression, and the myriad other modern ailments that pervade so-called "normal" society attest to this.

Rarely does our upbringing and education prepare us to address these great challenges. On the contrary, upbringing and education may have caused us to believe that happiness is a matter of luck, wealth, or membership in the right club and that those who actively seek it are selfish. We may have developed a habit of holding on to anger as a form of power as well as to punish those we feel are even less deserving than ourselves. Add to all of this the tendency to romanticize life before injury, and to see every problem as rooted in disability, and it is easy to understand how an individual confronted with the additional challenge of brain injury might become hopelessly trapped in a system of beliefs more disabling than the injury itself.

How can individuals with a brain injury meet these challenges, and, if they cannot, of what ultimate value is our rehabilitation? Are professionals any better prepared in the art of living than those we serve? What formal training and guidance are we prepared to give? What skills must we be prepared to teach beyond mobility, cognition, communication, and ADLs? And how far must we be prepared to stretch beyond the boundaries of "accepted" rehabilitation practice in order to accomplish this?

Our conference this year is an exploration of different ways to assist survivors to move beyond a life defined by disability and to learn skills that we all need but are rarely taught, including emotional self-care practices, what it takes to make friends and acquire “social capital” in an increasingly fragmented and disability-averse society, the importance of avocation, and the pursuit of spiritual well-being.

This 5^th Annual Mid-Hudson Brain Injury Rehabilitation Conference once again features an exceptional panel of presenters and is geared toward a professional audience of case workers, doctors, educators, psychologists, rehabilitation therapists, social workers, and other helping professions with an interest in brain injury rehabilitation.

Location:  This year our conference will be held at the beautiful campus of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.


About the Mid-Hudson Brain Injury Rehabilitation Conference:

Northeast Center for Special Care presents a yearly conference devoted to the latest information and education about traumatic brain injury rehabilitation with world renowned experts in the field of neurorehabilitation.

Our 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 conferences were highly rated by attendees.  Our 2009 conference will feature education from noted brain injury experts that can benefit you and your work with TBI survivors.

The annual Mid-Hudson Brain Injury Rehabilitation Conference is aimed at professionals and clinicians who support Traumatic Brain Injury survivors.  Whether you are a service coordinator, independent living specialist, community integration counselor, regional resource development specialist, home and community support support staff, TBI coordinator, case manager, social worker, nurse, physician or clinician - there is important information that you can use.

View past conference agendas:

2008 Conference Brochure

2007 Conference Brochure

2006 Conference Brochure


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