Social Service Resources

Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
The mission of the Indiana FSSA is to develop, finance and compassionately administer programs to provide healthcare and other social services to Hoosiers in need in order to enable them to achieve healthy, self-sufficient and productive lives.

Indiana Area Agencies on Aging
AAA’s serve people of any age with a disability. They provide information and referral to local resources (financial assistance programs, transportation, utility assistance resources, etc.) as well as broker publically funded programs (CHOICE, Aged and Disabled Waiver, and Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver) to help people stay in their home and avoid nursing facility placement.

Indiana Division of Disability and Rehabilitative Services (DDRS)
The mission of Indiana DDRS is to develop, finance and compassionately administer programs to provide healthcare and other social services to Hoosiers in need in order to enable them to achieve healthy, self-sufficient and productive lives

Indiana Disability Rights (formerly IPAS)
IDR’s mission is to protect and promote the rights of individuals with disabilities through empowerment and advocacy. They provide such services as Information and Referral, Advocacy, Investigations of abuse and neglect, Monitoring of facilities, Protection of rights and more.

Independent Living Centers in Indiana
Centers for Independent Living (CILs) are consumer-controlled, cross-disability, nonresidential, private, nonprofit agencies that are designed and operated within local communities by individuals with disabilities. They promote the independent living philosophy to empower all people with disabilities.

Vocational Rehabilitation
Indiana State agency that assists with return-to-work/vocational needs and school.

Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities
The Indiana Governor’s Council is an independent state agency that facilitates change. Their mission is to advance the independence, productivity, and inclusion of people with disabilities in all aspects of society. This mission is accomplished through planning, evaluation, collaboration, education, research, and advocacy.

Indiana Department of Child Services
The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) protects children from abuse and neglect and works to ensure their financial support.

Indiana Department of Veteran Affairs
Since its establishment in 1945, the Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs (IDVA) has remained focused on aiding and assisting “Hoosier” veterans, and qualified family members or survivors, who are eligible for benefits or advantages provided by Indiana and the U.S. government.

Social Security Administration

Indiana Medicaid

Brain Injury Resources and Education

Brain Injury Association of America
The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) is the voice of brain injury. We are dedicated to advancing awareness, research, treatment, and education and to improving the quality of life for all individuals impacted by brain injury. Through advocacy, we bring help, hope, and healing to millions of individuals living with brain injury, family caregivers, and professional clinicians.

United States Brain Injury Alliance
The mission of the United States Brain Injury Alliance is to engage the community in preventing brain injury and improving lives.

Brain Injury Association of Indiana
The Brain Injury Association of Indiana is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) service organization dedicated to reducing the incidence and impact of brain injury through education, advocacy, support, prevention and by facilitating inter-agency commitment and collaboration.

Resource Facilitation for Individuals with Brain Injury
Prepare an individual with brain injury so they may return to the workforce.  Resource Facilitation assists with access to services and supports to enhance recovery and make informed choices to meet their goals.

Brainline
BrainLine is a national multimedia project offering information and resources about preventing, treating, and living with TBI. BrainLine includes a series of webcasts, an electronic newsletter, and an extensive outreach campaign in partnership with national organizations concerned about traumatic brain injury.

Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc.
Lash and Associates Publishing/Training Inc. is the Leading Source of Information and Training on Brain Injury, Blast Injury and PTSD in Children, Adolescents, Adults and Veterans

Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems
The MSKTC is a national center that helps facilitate the knowledge translation process to make research meaningful to those with spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and burn injury (Burn). The MSKTC works closely with researchers in the 16 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model Systems to develop resources for people living with traumatic brain injuries and their supporters.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention - Traumatic Brain Injury
CDC’s research and programs work to prevent TBIs and help people recognize, respond, and recover if a TBI occurs.

National Resource Center for Traumatic Brain Injury (Virginia Commonwealth University)
The mission of the National Resource Center for Traumatic Brain Injury (NRCTBI) is to provide relevant, practical information for professionals, persons with brain injury, and family members. The NRCTBI has more than two decades of experience investigating the special needs and problems of people with brain injury and their families. With input from consumers and nationally recognized experts, the NRCTBI has developed a wide variety of assessment tools, intervention programs, and training programs.

The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC)
As the traumatic brain injury (TBI) Pathway of Care manager within the Military Health System (MHS), the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) promotes state-of-the-science care from point-of-injury to reintegration for service members, veterans, and their families to prevent and mitigate consequences of mild to severe TBI.

The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (TBINDSC)
The Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (TBINDSC) located at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colorado, is a central resource for researchers and data collectors within the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) program. The primary purpose of the TBINDSC is to advance medical rehabilitation by increasing the rigor and efficiency of scientific efforts to longitudinally assess the experience of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The TBINDSC provides technical assistance, training, and methodological consultation to 16 TBIMS centers as they collect and analyze longitudinal data from people with TBI in their communities, and as they conduct research toward evidence-based TBI rehabilitation interventions.

Substance Use after TBI: Information for Consumers
This website has information on what persons with TBI and their families should know about alcohol or drug use after TBI.

LoveYourBrain
LoveYourBrain was created by brothers Adam and Kevin Pearce after Kevin, a world-renowned snowboarder, sustained a severe TBI while training for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Their mission is to prevent brain injury, support brain injury healing, and promote brain health. They provide several different programs including an educational curriculum that educates youth about concussions and personal responsibility, hold retreats designed to build community through brain-healthy experiences and have an evidence-based yoga program specific to individuals with traumatic brain injury.

LoveYourBrain Yoga programs are designed to build community, foster resilience, and help people understand the importance of loving your brain. They do this by supporting people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury and their caregivers to participate in a free, research-backed, six-week yoga and meditation series based on the science of resilience. LoveYourBrain Yoga program is held four times a year in Indianapolis at Embarque Yoga Studio and also will be starting in 2019 at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana. To find out more about these programs, please contact Wendy at wendy.waldman@rhin.com.

Brain Injury Publications and Videos

Understanding Brain Injury - A Guide for the Family (Mayo Clinic)
This booklet contains information on the human brain, causes of acquired brain injury, the recovery process, and behavior, communication and physical changes after brain injury. It also outlines examples of stressful behaviors and situations that people with brain injury may experience.

Making Life Work After a Brain Injury - A Family Manual for Life at Home
This manual is designed to help you make the transition from the rehabilitation facility to your home and to assist you in managing the cognitive and behavioral changes in your family member as a result of brain injury. It also addresses the lifelong care, vocational, educational, financial, and legal issues associated with a brain injury. The manual is meant to be used in parts or in its entirety, whichever meets your needs. The manual supports the concepts introduced in the three-part video series for families titled Making Life Work, developed by Brain Injury Association of Florida, formerly the National Head Injury Foundation, Florida Association, Inc., under Contract No. V1031-G3661, sponsored by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Labor and Employment Security, 1997.

Brain Injury and PTSD Guide
This resource guide was written by Brain Injury Association of Indiana Vice President Dan Buba offering information and insight into TBI, PTSD, and the healing process.

MSKTC Traumatic Brain Injury Fact Sheets
The MSKTC collaborates with TBI Model Systems to produce evidence-based and consumer-friendly factsheets.

Challenges, Changes, and Choices: A Brain Injury Guide for Families and Caregivers (Brain Injury Association of America)
This booklet is provided by the Brain Injury Association of America to prepare you for the journey toward recovery. In the pages, you will find information about the nature and consequences of brain injury; resource information to help with decision making; and practical suggestions about ways to help your family member, take care of yourself, and enlist the support of others. Written by Carolyn A. Rocchio, a family member of a person with a brain injury and founder of the Brain Injury Association of Florida.

The Brain Injury Handbook - An Introductory Guide to Understanding Brain Injury for Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals
This handbook provides an overview of brain injury and its consequences, as well as strategies and resources that may be beneficial in working with people who have brain injuries. This handbook was created to help Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) counselors provide appropriate services for people with brain injuries in their efforts to return to work.

These materials are adapted in part from The Brain Injury Handbook: An Introductory Guide to Understanding Brain Injury for Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals, made possible through a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau in cooperation with the Henry H. Kessler Foundation. Included with permission from N.J. Department of Human Services, Division of Disability Services. 

The Challenge! News Magazine Archives​​ (Brain Injury Association of America)
For more than 30 years, THE Challenge! has been a go-to source for public policy news, research, medical advances, legal and financial issues, and inspiring stories of recovery.

Understanding Brain Injury - A Guide for Employers (Mayo Clinic)
This guide explains the causes and types of brain injury. It lists the behavioral changes that are most common among people who sustain brain injuries and offers simple techniques you can use to help them deal with the possible changes. The effort you put forth can make a tremendous difference to an employee with a brain injury.

Understanding Pediatric Brain Injury – A Guide for Parents and Teachers (Mayo Clinic)
This guide is intended to help family members, teachers, and other caregivers understand common thinking, behavioral, emotional and communication changes that can result from a child’s brain injury. It also outlines strategies to help a child adapt to these changes and issues that may arise when the child returns home, to school and to the community.

Understanding Brain Injury - What You Should Know About Brain Injury and Recovery
These videos, developed by Shepherd Center, uses simple language and images of real people who have sustained a brain injury, as well as medical experts and advocates. Judy Fortin, former CNN anchor and medical correspondent, guides you through important information to help maximize your loved one’s recovery. Lee Woodruff adds practical advice – her husband, Bob Woodruff of ABC News, was injured in a bomb blast in Iraq.

How to Start a Brain Injury Support Group
This is a simple guide to starting a local brain injury support group published by Project STAR at Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation.

Stroke Resources and Education

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
NINDS’s mission is to support and perform basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience research through grants-in-aid, contracts, scientific meetings, and research in its own laboratories and clinics. NIND funds and conducts research training and career development programs to increase basic, translational and clinical neuroscience expertise and ensure a vibrant, talented, and diverse workforce. NIND promotes the timely dissemination of scientific discoveries and their implications for neurological health to the public, health professionals, researchers, and policy-makers.

American Stroke Association
Whether you are a stroke survivor, caregiver, or healthcare professional we strive to bring you the most up to date, unique and comprehensive resources for stroke. From online education to resources such as StrokeSmart magazine and support groups—we are here to help. 

Caregiver Support

Family Caregiver Alliance
To improve the quality of life for caregivers and those they care for through information, services, and advocacy.

Well Spouse Association
Providing peer support and education about the special challenges and unique issues facing “well” spouses every day.