Traumatic Brain Injury: Brain Injury Survivors Help Each Other

A Michigan group for brain injury survivors called Recreation and Socialization in a Variety of Places, or RSVP, brings several dozen brain injury survivors together for various activities. Anne Regalski, an occupational therapist who helped begin RSVP about five years ago, says many people are initially hesitant to join RSVP. "Initially, they don't want to be with people like them," she says. "They don't want to see the deficits or the difficulties. They don't want to be known for their injury."

Brain Injury Survivors Strengthen Each Other

Marty Zobrovitz, who suffered a brain injury so severe that doctors said he would not survive, works as an RSVP coordinator. Zobrovitz says he understands why many people fear being labeled by joining the group, but he has been able to understand that the group's benefits outweigh any stigma. "One of the things that a brain injury does is take away any social interaction," he says. "The individual with a brain injury is not the same person as before the accident."