Traumatic Brain Injury Conference: A Focus on Policy & Advocacy
Sponsored by Mind Your Brain and Woods System of Care
Saturday, November 4, 2023
Woods Services, Employee Training Center, 10 Meadowood Drive, Langhorne PA 19147
Penn Medicine and the Mind Your Brain Foundation, sponsor of the annual Mind Your Brain Conference now in its 10th year, is excited to join forces with Beechwood NeuroRehab, a premier brain injury provider and part of the Woods System of Care that provides lifelong care to individuals with traumatic brain injury, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and critical mental health needs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, for our first policy and advocacy conference on Saturday, November 4, 2023, 9:15am–4:00pm.
This is an opportunity for survivors, advocates, and providers to gain the skills they need to make a difference for the other 1.7 million people who sustain a traumatic brain injury annually through collaboration, information sharing, and education so that we can collectively become a more powerful voice to create change.
The Mind Your Brain Foundation, the PA Brain Injury Coalition, the Woods System of Care, and other stakeholders are working closely with state and federal lawmakers to develop legislation aimed at improving services received by people with brain injuries. At this conference, you will be able to learn about those initiatives and understand how you can help them become law. Some of these proposals include: 1) ensuring brain injury treatments are adequately funded by the government; and, 2) post-acute NeuroRehabilitation that would require insurance coverage for these services.
Conference Schedule:
9:15 a.m. Registration Check-In, Coffee Resource Table visits
10:00 a.m. Opening Remarks and Patient Perspective: Janine Kirby, traumatic brain injury survivor and advocate
10:20 a.m. Legislator Remarks and Keynote: featuring Pennsylvania State Representative Joe Hogan (PA-142) and Pennsylvania State Senator Frank Farry (PA-6)
11:00 – 11:45 a.m. Workshop A: Advocacy 101: Learn about bills that have been introduced already and how you can play a role in shaping future legislation
Panelists: Monica Vaccaro, Director of Programs at the Brain Injury Association of Pa; Dr. Drew Nagele, PsyD, ABPP, FACRM, CBIS-AP, CBIST, CESP is the co-Chair of the PA Brain Injury Coalition; Kevin MacDonald, TBI survivor and founder of RESTART your life/ RENEW your mind and co-organizer of the Brain Injury Awareness Day in Harrisburg.
Moderated by: Kristen Farry
12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. Lunch and Resource Table visits
1:00 – 1:45 p.m. Workshop B: Finding Your Voice by Toastmasters: Learn how to develop and present a 2-minute pitch to legislators and communicate better in all lifestyle settings.
Panelists from Toastmasters are: Natanya Sortland, Alex Lawes, and Robin Ratliff
2:00 – 2:45 p.m. Workshop C: Mental Health Matters: Participants will learn about the cognitive and psychiatric manifestations in individuals recovering from a traumatic brain injury. Participants will also learn about the tools that they need to utilize to identify & address the problem and the resources available in the community.
Panel Discussion by Woods Services: Sailaja Musunuri, M.D., executive vice president of integrative medicine and chief of psychiatry, Thomas DiNapoli, Senior Cognitive Therapist, and Jen Caputo, PMHNP.
Moderated by: Tine Hansen-Turton, President and CEO of Woods Services.
3:00 p.m. Closing Comments
MYB@Woods System of Care Policy and Advocacy Conference Register here to attend. This is a free event, and lunch will be included.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.