Brain Injury: Beyond the Basics

Presented in partnership with NASW Indiana Chapter

Brain Injury: Beyond the Basics

February 19, 2021 - 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. CST (10 a.m.-4 p.m. EST)

4.75 CEUs

Register via NASW-IN's website

View the flyer for more information

Brain injury can and does happen to anyone and, when it does, life can forever change in that moment. Because brain injury can affect not just cognition but also emotion regulation and physical health, the ramifications on family dynamics, careers, mental health, and basic stability are enormous.

This 5-hour intensive workshop will begin the morning session with a grounding in the basics of brain injury and illustrate the pervasive effects on a person’s life by including the lived experience of a social worker who experienced a concussion in January 2019 and is still navigating recovery. The afternoon resumes with a deeper dive into an often unrecognized complication of and cause of brain injury: opioid misuse and overdose.

Research shows that traumatic brain injury (TBI) significantly increases the risk for opioid addiction and overdose; but without identification and appropriate management, the cognitive and neuropsychological effects of brain injury can significantly increase treatment length, treatment failure, relapse, incarceration, and death. Additionally, brain injury can be caused by an overdose, even with the successful use of opioid antagonists. We will discuss how to recognize the possibility of a brain injury in clients, teach the use of a simple screening tool, and will review how brain injury and addictions professionals can work together to increase the success of opioid use disorder treatment.