Coping-Skills Training Workshop: A Group Intervention Aimed to Improve Coping in Survivors of Brain Injury and Their Caregivers #234

TUE 1 NOV // 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Primary Content Focus: Brain Injury

Secondary Content Focus: Clinical practice (assessment, diagnosis, treatment, knowledge translation/EBP), Mental Health

The focus of this workshop is to provide training in how to facilitate an evidenced-based coping skills group for individuals with brain injury and their caregivers. It will specifically review the different Modules of the program, teach participants advanced cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, and Mindfulness skills and demonstrate application of group therapy skills. While the developers of this program will be teaching this workshop, prior workshop attendees from the Mayo Brain Rehabilitation Clinic will be discussing real-life application of this program.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Familiarize oneself with various Modules or content areas used in this intervention
Acquire specific cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, and Mindfulness-based strategies adapted to individuals with BI
Discuss guidelines for facilitating the group therapy
Learn strategies to implement this intervention in real-life brain injury rehabilitation settings.

KEY WORDS

Brain Injury
Mental health
Coping
Rehabilitation
Translational clinical research

FACULTY

Samantha Backhaus, PhD
Clinical Neuropsychologist, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana

Dr. Backhaus is a Clinical Neuropsychologist at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana’s comprehensive outpatient brain injury Neuro Rehab Center. She is the Associate Director of the Day Treatment Program. Her primary focus is working with adults who have acquired brain injuries, both providing neuropsychological assessments and formulating appropriate interdisciplinary treatment plans in assisting individuals reintegrate back to the community. She has also developed several coping skills and family-focused interventions to help individuals improve the quality of their lives following brain injury. She has several publications and many presentations within the field of brain injury rehabilitation. She has provided coping-skills workshops and training on numerous occasions.

Summer Ibarra, PhD
Rehabilitation Psychologist; Associate Director of Department of Resource Facilitation, Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana

Dr. Ibarra is a Rehabilitation Psychologist at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana’s comprehensive outpatient brain injury NeuroRehabilitation Center. She received her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology from Ball State University and completed her internship in Clinical Psychology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Her clinical time is divided between the departments of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology and Resource Facilitation. Her role in the department of Rehabilitation Neuropsychology includes neuropsychological assessment and intervention for individuals affected by brain injury, including individual, family and group psychoeducational and psychotherapy services. As part of the Resource Facilitation department, Dr. Ibarra serves as the Associate Director and clinical supervisor for staff working with individuals with brain injuries that are working toward achieving their vocational goals. In addition to these clinical and administrative duties, Dr. Ibarra is also heavily involved in research activities including serving as co-investigator on several grant-funded studies and projects. She is co-developer and co-author, with Dr. Samantha Backhaus, of the evidence-based manualized group intervention, titled Brain Injury Coping Skills (BICS) Group. She is an active member of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, has authored several referred publications, and has presented numerous times to national and international audiences on topics related to brain injury rehabilitation.

Kamini Krishnan
Instructor of Psychology, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Krishnan is an Adult Neuropsychology Fellow in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine with an interest in Brain Rehabilitation. She has clinical and research experience in rehabilitation.

Tom Bergquist, PhD, LP, ABPP-CN
Consultant in Clinical Neuropsychology, Mayo Clinic

Dr. Bergquist is Assistant Professor in Psychology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medical and Program Director of the Mayo Brain Injury Outpatient Program. He is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology. Dr. Bergquist received his doctoral degree in Clinical and Medical Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He did his internship in Clinical Psychology at the Oklahoma University Health Sciences Center and completed a two-year fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at Mayo Clinic. He has given numerous regional, national and international presentations in the areas of brain injury rehabilitation and disability, and has authored or co-authored over 2 dozen publications and several book chapters. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Brain Injury – Interdisciplinary Special Interest Group of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine in 2011. He is program director for the Mayo Clinic Brain Rehabilitation Program and co-investigator in the NIDILRR funded Mayo TBI Model System Center. His principal research interests include rehabilitation following acquired brain injury and coping with disability.