LoveYourBrain Retreats Improve Quality of Life After Brain Injury!
New study finds LoveYourBrain Retreats improve resilience, emotion regulation, and cognition.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 12, 2023
Contact: Dr. Kyla Pearce, Senior Director of Programs & Research Scientist, LoveYourBrain
Email: kyla@loveyourbrain.com
Norwich, VT - The LoveYourBrain Foundation, a national 501(c)3 nonprofit, is proud to announce the publication of the first-ever study on the effectiveness of LoveYourBrain Retreats, a novel, free, five-day multimodal program designed to benefit people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their caregivers. This study showed the integration of mindfulness, gentle yoga, brain health nutrition, art therapy, and community is an effective rehabilitation model to improve quality of life and has significant potential for expanding access to complementary therapy after TBI.
“Given the complex, common, and chronic nature of TBI, and the limited community-based rehabilitation services available, we are really excited by the findings of this study,” shared Dr. Drew Davis, Division Director and Professor of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine at University of Alabama at Birmingham, and co-author of the study. "Coupled with LoveYourBrain’s model of offering its programs at no cost, we see opportunities to make a substantial, accessible, and long-term impact on the TBI community.”
TBI is a serious public health concern with both short- and long-term impacts for the individual, family, and society. Due to the complex and chronic nature of TBI, community-based rehabilitation with physical, psychological, social, emotional, and motivational components is critical for quality of life. Yet, access to holistic services is extremely limited in the United States, leaving millions of people impacted by TBI with ongoing symptoms and barriers to actively participating in their communities. To address this gap, LoveYourBrain Retreats were designed with multimodal therapies, which are intended to optimize treatment by delivering different types of therapeutic interventions together. This first-of-its-kind curriculum integrates both psychosocial and mindfulness-based components. and is designed to be scalable so that medical institutions and other stakeholders can adopt it for greater accessibility.
In this study, 68 people with TBI and caregivers participated in one of three LoveYourBrain Retreats offered in Maine and California. The 53 people with TBI ranged in severity of brain injury (from mild to severe), time since injury, gender, and race, indicating LYB Retreats are accessible and inclusive of people with diverse lived experiences. After completing the program, significant improvements were found in multiple health outcomes, including quality of life, resilience, cognition, and emotional/behavioral dysregulation among TBI survivors.
All participants - TBI survivors and caregivers alike - reported high satisfaction and described improvements in community connection, reframing the TBI experience, self-regulation, and self-care. Notable benefits included feelings of validation in the TBI experience, an ability to approach life with greater resilience and optimism, learning to regulate emotions and negative thoughts, and new, practical, and diverse self-care habits.
Retreat participant, Sherron, shared just how meaningful it was for her — “The LYB Retreat far surpasses anything that I have done for my emotional recovery since my TBIs… I was able to recognize my areas of needed improvement and feel more ready to move through them with positivity, support, and courage now that I’ve arrived home.”
Taken together, the study’s results indicate LoveYourBrain Retreats are an effective rehabilitation model that facilitates a post-traumatic growth, defined as changes in self-views (e.g., appreciation of personal strengths and greater awareness of new possibilities for one's life) and depth of connection in relationships. The implications are major, since research shows people make sense of themselves through the meanings and felt experiences of social activity, which contrasts the more traditional medical model of defining identity by impairments and abilities.
"We hope this study generates further partnerships with medical providers and advocacy organizations to scale this program to help address the unmet need for holistic care," shared LoveYourBrain’s Senior Director of Programs and Research, Dr. Kyla Pearce. "And, we’re particularly focused on how to engage groups with greatest disparities in access and outcomes, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.”
To learn more about LoveYourBrain’s full body of research visit http://www.loveyourbrain.com/research
About LoveYourBrain: The LoveYourBrain Foundation is a Vermont-based non-profit that improves the quality of life of people impacted by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and raises awareness about the importance of brain health. Guided by their family’s experience, brothers Kevin and Adam Pearce established LoveYourBrain in 2014 following Kevin’s severe TBI from a snowboarding accident before the 2010 Olympics. Kevin’s remarkable resilience was transformed into the award-winning HBO Documentary, “The Crash Reel,” which brought to light the challenges and prevalence of TBI. In response, LoveYourBrain developed programs and resources designed to create community and foster resilience for people impacted by TBI. Now, LoveYourBrain’s Retreat, Mindset, and Yoga programs are offered at no cost across the globe to empower the TBI community with new tools, resources, and connections. Visit www.loveyourbrain.com to learn more.