April 17, 2025 • 27 mins
Mandy Collins, speech therapist and case manager, shares her unique challenges of working with brain injury survivors, the importance of community integration post-injury, and the role of home and community-based rehabilitation. She highlights the importance of patient self-advocacy, shared goal-setting, and resources, such as BIND, for ongoing support. Mandy emphasizes the ongoing nature of recovery and the broad scope of work for speech therapists within the neurorehabilitation field.
New episodes drop every other Thursday everywhere you listen to podcasts.
🎙️ Do you want to support us?
- Give us some feedback, tell us what bindwaves has meant for you by emailing us at bindwaves@thebind.org
- Leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
- Share episodes with your friends!
- Make a monthly or one time donation at www.thebind.org
- Follow bindwaves on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!
🧑💻Visit our website! thebind.org/bindwaves
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brittany (00:07):
Hi, I'm Brittany and a member of BIND and a TBI
survivor.
Carrie (00:12):
And hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and a member of
BIND as well.
And today we're welcoming MandyCollins with us.
She works for Collage Home andCommunity Rehabilitation.
She is a speech languagepathologist and pathologist.
It's ST.
You know, that's, I can saythat's all right.
But yeah.
And a case manager, um, she hasworked in.
(00:35):
This in the speech field foralmost 15 years.
She worked at a post-acute dayneuro rehab for 10 years before
transitioning into the humanhome and community three years
ago.
Um, her entire career has beenhelping those who sustained a
brain injury and learning andadvancing her knowledge on how
best to help this population,which yay we love.
Um, Mandy is also a certifiedbrain injury specialist and
(00:58):
holds many other certificationsthat are used to assist people
in their recovery.
I think I said she's also a casemanager, so we're gonna learn
more about Mandy and how shehelps all of us brain injury
survivors and just kind of getinto it.
So welcome Mandy.
Mandy (01:11):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me here today.
I appreciate that.
Carrie (01:15):
Of course.
We're excited to have you here.
Mandy (01:16):
Thank you.
Brian (01:17):
Welcome to Bind Waves, the official podcast of the
Brain Injury Network of Dallas.
I'm Brian White, BIND'sexecutive director.
On each episode, we'll beproviding insight into the brain
injury community.
We'll be talking to members andprofessionals regarding their
stories and the important roleof Binds Clubhouse.
We work as a team to inspirehope community and a sense of
(01:41):
purpose to survivors,caregivers, and the public.
Thank you for tuning intobindwaves let's get on with the
show.
Carrie (01:49):
Um, so just to kinda get us started, what got you started
with speech therapy and thebrain injury community?
I.
Mandy (01:57):
Yeah, great question.
So I actually started off funfact, uh, wanting to do physical
therapy and after observing somewound care sessions, and I'm not
a feet person and so I decidedpretty quickly in college that
probably that wasn't for me.
Um, my mom, who's a pediatricnurse, she said, Hey, Mandy, you
love to talk, you talk a lot.
You might be a good speechpathologist.
(02:18):
So it's really kind of whatstarted that trajectory for me
in college.
Um.
I thought because my mom's apediatric nurse, that I would go
the pediatric route and workwith children.
But once I got into grad school,I started doing rotations at
places like Baylor Dallas andtheir day neuro program.
The stroke center in Dallas,Pate Rehabilitation was another
(02:38):
internship of mine, and that'swhere I truly just fell in love
with working with adults, numberone.
Um, and, and just the, the braininjury world.
And, and just the neuro world,the brain is just so fascinating
to me because it's so different.
Although the brain is the samefor everybody, um, it's so
(02:59):
different and we can present sodifferently, um, when something
happens to it.
And so for me it was just thisalmost puzzle of if somebody has
an injury or if something hashappened to someone.
It's my job to put the pieces ofthe puzzle together to figure
out how best to help thisperson.
And so it's just a combinationof always kind of keeping me on
(03:20):
my toes versus helping somebodyand, and trying to make a huge
difference in their recovery andin their life.
So that's kind of where Istarted with my love of, um,
working with adults and goingthe neuro direction.
Carrie (03:32):
And I, my listeners probably get sick of me saying
this'cause I say this, so manyspeech therapists start with
children.
Yes.
And then they find the braininjury world and you either go,
Nope, not for me, I'm stayingwith the kids.
Or Yes, no, I love this.
So we have to let you know.
But basically when you meet thebrain injured right after
they've had a brain injury, weare children.
(03:53):
We are just like children.
We're learning, especially forspeech we're, I didn't have the
problem.
Yay.
Again, like I said, I'm a talkertoo, so, um, but you know, a lot
of people after brain injurythat's, they're having to
relearn how to talk.
So they are just like a kidrelearning and are learning for
the first time, how, whatletters are, what, how to make
the sounds, how to find thewords, and all that crazy stuff.
(04:16):
So we definitely do appreciateyou deciding to stay with the
adults.
Mandy (04:20):
Thank you.
Yeah, and I think that brings upa good point, is.
You're right.
A lot of people do go thepediatric route, but I think the
reason for that is.
Our field is still veryrelatively unknown to the
average person.
Most people truly don'tunderstand what I do.
When I tell people in thecommunity, I'm a speech
pathologist or a speechtherapist, they, their first
thing is, oh, you work withchildren?
(04:42):
Um, and I say, no, actually Idon't.
Because that's just theconception that most people have
or the, the preconceived notionthat people have about a speech
therapist.
And so I am excited to educatepeople, no, I work with adults
and this is what my job lookslike.
Um, and so I think, you know,that's.
That's one thing about thepediatric is I myself didn't
realize what, what a speechtherapist did with working with
(05:05):
the adult population until I gotinto grad school and got to see
that firsthand.
So yeah, you definitely bring upa good point there.
Carrie (05:11):
Yeah.
But that's, and then, so youkinda, you did speech therapy
for a long time and then youmoved into case management.
Mandy (05:18):
Yeah, so I had the opportunity a couple of years
ago to move into casemanagement.
I do still.
Have the luxury of getting to doboth.
'cause I can't just give up mypassion and my love.
Sure.
But I get to take my knowledgeand my experience and apply it
in a different way as a casemanager.
And I have found that, um, to bevery exciting and rewarding as
(05:41):
well.
Brittany (05:42):
So being a case manager, how does that fit into
the therapy daily schedule?
Mandy (05:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I always kind of explain myjob to people as being the
center hub, right?
You've got physicians, you haveinsurance, you have the patient
and their family.
You have, um, the therapy team.
There's all these differentelements of somebody's recovery.
And so I like to think of a casemanager as that center hub.
(06:08):
It's the person that everybodycan go to.
The one center point where wecan try to bridge the gap and
bring everybody together toreally make sure that the person
is getting the, the program thatthey need that's for best for
their recovery.
Carrie (06:25):
That makes sense.
So kinda like that projectmanager.
Yeah.
In way.
So now I'm curious too, so we'vetalked about.
Speech therapy.
We're not done talking about allthese things, speech therapy and
case management.
But when I was doing your intro,this intrigued me what is a
brain injury specialist, becauseI have not ever heard that term
before.
Mandy (06:46):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It is a certification that youcan earn.
Um, there's various stipulationsto be able to, um, be able to
test for it.
So it is a certification thatyou test for, uh, it's, it's.
In my opinion, pretty difficult.
Uh, and so it helped that beforeI tested for it, I had worked in
(07:06):
a post-acute rehab every singleday with people who had
sustained a brain injury.
So I had the very, the clinicalknowledge behind it to be able
to go in and take thiscertification.
And then there was a lot ofstudying as well.
Um, and so, um, it is just anextra certification that I have,
uh, after sitting down andtaking a test and passing it,
(07:26):
that just demonstrates, uh, an.
An elevated knowledge in thefield of brain injury.
Carrie (07:34):
Okay.
So it just kind of goes hand inhand with speech therapy and
case management.
Sure.
You don't do Sure.
It's not requirement any extraor above.
I mean, it, it just kind ofgives you a leg up, but it's not
a spec.
I mean, you don't.
You don't go, okay, today I amgonna put on my brain specialist
hat and work specifically onthis.
It's kind of just an additional,
Mandy (07:54):
yeah, it, I think it's a way to also help the public, to
help employers, to help justanybody when they look at
somebody on paper to be able tosay, okay, this person has a
little bit more specializedknowledge and brain injury.
Because again.
As a speech pathologist, ourfield is so broad.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, you can, you can dodysphagia, you can do voice, you
can do, um, you know, cognitivetherapies, uh, your speech and
(08:16):
language therapy.
There's just so many areas thatthis just kind of helps people
know.
This speech therapist has alittle bit more knowledge and
brain injury, um, versus maybesomebody else who's.
Working in a school withchildren and doing more of that
language or articulation therapyor somebody who's working in a
voice clinic but doesn't do somuch of the neuro.
(08:38):
Um, it's just a way to kind ofhelp narrow down and identify
those who have that moreextensive knowledge.
Okay.
Maybe.
Oh
Brittany (08:45):
yeah.
And so with, um, post braininjury, you probably encourage
people to go in community.
So why is it being, beinginvolved in the community so
important?
Mandy (08:56):
Such a good question and it's, this is what I can
probably talk about.
Mm-hmm.
And really talk y'alls ear offon.
So one of the things that I'vefound, whether you're in a
clinic or whether you're in thehome and community environment
like I am right now for, for myjob, they're oftentimes.
Can be a panic when it comes todischarge.
What is next for me, especiallyfor people who don't feel like
(09:18):
their recovery is done, butthey're discharging from therapy
and it maybe, it's, maybe it'sa, a funding reason that they're
discharging insurance or whoeveris saying, no, no more therapy.
You've gotta go.
Um, maybe it's just you'vecompleted the program that
you're in and it's, you're,you're ready for the next step.
But there's just a level of, of.
(09:38):
Sometimes panic, fear, anxietyof what's next for me.
And I know with my knowledgethat recovery doesn't stop.
Uh, recovery continues to happenif you can put in the work.
So I wanna make it my job and mymission to help people learn the
tools that they need to recoverafter they've stopped therapy.
(09:59):
Um, and so getting people intothe community is really how
you're gonna further yourtherapy.
After brain injury.
If you're sitting at home andyou're not leaving the four
walls of your house every day,um, you're probably not as
likely to be able to make thegains and make the recovery as
somebody who is just livingtheir life and going out there
(10:20):
and meeting new people and, andexperiencing new things, um,
it's just good for the mind, thebody, the soul.
All the things to get out there.
And so that's where in home andcommunity we really get to work
with patients, getting them intothe community and helping get
them set up for what's nextwhile we're working on their
goals and while we're helpingthem recover, we're always
(10:41):
planning and trying to help themfigure out what's next for them
after discharge.
Carrie (10:47):
Okay.
So now I'm gonna back up just alittle bit before I go to the
next question.
Um, so home and communityhealth.
Are y'all And I, I don't wannasay, I'm trying to figure out
how I wanna say this.
So like, we know Rehab WithoutWalls, are y'all similar to
that?
So you go into similar mm-hmm.
So you go, this is like, it's,is it after day neuro or instead
(11:07):
of day Neuro.
Mandy (11:09):
The cool thing about home and community is it can fall
anywhere on the continuum.
I think a misconception withhome and community is that, that
it comes at the end of yourrecovery.
You, you're in acute care andthen maybe you go to inpatient
or outpatient rehab or a dayneuro, and then very last you go
to home and community, and thenyou're kind of done after that.
And that might be true, thatmight be some people's.
(11:31):
Trajectory of their recovery.
Mm-hmm.
And that could be very true forthem.
You know, we also have peoplethough that aren't appropriate
to go to a day neuro program.
Maybe their level of alertnessor their fatigue and their
endurance, uh, prohibits themfrom participating in a day,
neuro or an outpatient program.
And so yes, that's where homeand community, we would go into
the patient's home with them andstart working on the goals that
(11:53):
they need to be able to get themto whatever their next step is
and maybe their next step afterus.
Is going to a day neuro program,or maybe they discharge from us
and they go to outpatient.
And for some people, you'reright, it's at the end of that
kind of recovery continuum.
And so we truly are trying toset them up for you, have
completed your therapy, andlet's figure out what's next for
(12:16):
you.
Carrie (12:16):
Okay.
So that's good because I know, Imean, you said it and we say it
here.
I mean, just because insurancestops paying for therapy,
therapy doesn't end.
Sure.
As a survivor myself, I knowtherapy is gonna be going on for
the rest of my life, which iswhy we have BIND is Sure.
We call it therapy by doing.
It's nontraditional therapy.
But everything we do here, allthese wonderful skills we learn
(12:39):
here in the podcast is some sortof therapy.
Whether it's, it's working ourbrain or cognitive, um.
Our previous co-host, she hadaphasia and you wouldn't even
know it.
Mm-hmm.
When she was on here, being aco-host, you know, so everything
we do here, people cleaning,mopping, they were doing that
this morning, there's their PT.
So we get a lot of all thatdone.
(12:59):
So we definitely know about thetherapy.
Never ending, but Exactly.
And we are big on community hereas well.
So you talked about thetherapeutic benefits of
community events post-injury,and I think you kinda hit on
that, but I mean.
Is it hard to get, like we findit hard sometimes.
People, you know, we encouragepeople to come to BIND.
(13:20):
Mm-hmm.
Because we're, you know, maybewhen you're done, you're
discharged, you're like, I don'treally know what I don't know
what I don't know.
Sure.
First, so I don't know, am Iable to go back to work or do I
even wanna go back to work?
I don't know what the nextchapter, the next step looks
(13:41):
like, do I wanna go to a BIND?
Do I want home?
And what you have, sorry.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm blanked on everything, but,um, so how do you encourage
those people that are kinda inthat, you know, well therapy is,
they're telling me I'm gonnahave to stop and they're telling
me I had to go be in thecommunity, but I'm scared.
(14:03):
And I mean, how do you encourageand motivate and get them
involved and back out in thecommunity?
Mandy (14:12):
Yeah, so that's, that also is the other thing.
I really love my job.
Just in case y'all aren't gonnabe able to tell by the end of
this, I love my job so much.
So with home and community.
I'll back up and say, you know,I worked in a post-acute rehab
for 10 years and I've worked inanother setting before that.
And I think there absolutely isa time and a place, and those
(14:33):
settings do amazing, wonderful,great things for people.
One of the disadvantages that Ipersonally found working in, in,
um.
Like a a day neuro program isthat while we are able to go out
into the community, to someextent, a lot of the therapy is
done in the clinic.
The majority of the therapy isdone in the clinic, and that
goes for every discipline.
(14:53):
And what I noticed is that thereisn't always the carryover from
the clinic to the home life.
Pat patients would come in andthey would do these beautiful
things in the clinic and thenthey would go home and kind of
fall apart.
And there's many reasons, um,why that might happen.
What I've found with home andcommunity is that we are able to
(15:14):
do these tasks real life in themoment in their environment, and
so that is how we get themcomfortable with what's next is
we are already planning.
What's next from the verybeginning.
And so as we're doing therapywith them and moving through
their, their therapy course withthem, we are doing the things
(15:36):
with them that they will bedoing after discharge, so that
when they do discharge, they'realready set up and comfortable.
They know what's next for thembecause they've done it with a
therapy team.
Oftentimes we will find that ifyou ask somebody to do something
and they've never done itbefore.
There is an element of maybefear, and so they don't want to
try it because it's like, well,I haven't ever done that.
(15:57):
I don't want to.
I don't wanna try it.
I'm scared to do that.
So that's where the therapistsays, I'm not scared.
Let's do it together.
They will go with the patient orthe patient's families.
They'll try whatever the task orthe activity is, and help
instill that level of comfort tothe patient, and confidence to
the patient and prove to them.
I know you can do it now.
(16:17):
I need you to know that you cando it and look, we're doing it
together and, and help set thisperson up for when discharge
does happen and the therapist isno longer there.
I know you can keep doing thisby yourself without me there.
Brittany (16:30):
Yeah.
For patients.
I know for my, a little bit, mystory.
Um, when I first had my braininjury, mine was neglected for
seven months.
So I think maybe having acaseworker would probably help,
but even with the caseworker.
So how do you, um, advocate foryour patient?
Mandy (16:46):
I always say, my saying that I say to everybody is, if
it's a problem for you, it's aproblem for me.
It is so often that I willassess a patient as as a speech
therapist, but this kind ofrolls into case management too.
I will assess a patient, or thetherapy team will assess a
patient and.
It doesn't, things don't reallyshow up on testing.
(17:07):
On paper, you look fine.
You tested great, you fellwithin normal limits, and the
patient says, no, but I'm stillhaving problems.
I can't work like I used to.
I can't focus like I used to.
I'm having problems with mymemory like I used to.
They'll point out these specificthings and so I, I, that's my
motto is if it's a problem foryou, it's a problem with me.
I don't care if it shows up ontesting or not, because it's
(17:29):
about how you're able tofunction, not how you're able to
test.
And so.
Um, that's as a case manageralso where I'm able to advocate
and I think that's where myexperience as a speech therapist
comes in, is as a case manager.
It's a lot of writing reports,sending information to
physicians or to insurance totake what the patient and the
(17:50):
therapy team are doing togetherto be able to justify and
warrant the services that areneeded.
And so that's where I get to putmy.
Clinical experience and my casemanagement experience together
and say, listen, I know on paperit may not look like this is a
problem, but let me explain toyou all the reasons why this is
a problem and how this isaffecting this person and why we
(18:12):
do need to keep working withthis person to get them to their
goals.
Brittany (18:16):
And then how do you help patients advocate for
themselves?
Because I know I had a hard timeadvocating for myself'cause I
went to the same doctor he islike, go home, turn off the
lights.
So I was gonna school at thetime to be a respiratory
therapists in temple.
So I went and drove back twohours and then the next month it
declined.
I didn't know what a cup was.
I went back to that same person.
(18:36):
Oh, you're fine.
So I drove two hours right backto school.
I.
Declined and then I went, Ididn't know my name the third
time, and they're like, uhoh,you might have a brain bleed.
Go to the ER that's attached toit.
And then found out I hadpost-concussion at the time.
But then they're like, okay,you're fine.
Discharge went back to schooland whew, like.
(18:56):
So I was just sitting on a braininjury for seven months.
I didn't know I had, I kind ofknew I had,'cause I studied
medicine, but it was so hard toadvocate for myself to tell'em,
there's something's wrong,there's something wrong with me.
And no one like kind of listenedto me until like, actually my
primary care listened to me.
'cause like your ankle's stillswollen here.
And then she's like, go to aorthopedic orthopedic's.
(19:18):
Like that's foot drop or dropfoot.
And it's like, that's a braininjury problem.
Goes to a brain injuryspecialist, and then that's when
the ball got rolling, but sevenmonths too late.
So I wish I had like this ran orlike.
The knowledge to advocate formyself and or a case manager.
So how do you actually help yourpatients advocate for
themselves?
Mandy (19:37):
Yeah, I think that brings up a good point of so many
people tell what Take whatphysicians tell us at face
value.
Well, my doctor said this, sothat's the end of it.
And I think there's starting tobe this shift in society of
people knowing that it's okay toquestion and it's okay to kind
of.
Really advocate for yourself andstand up for yourself when you
(19:59):
know that there's a problem.
And so in the home and communitymodel, we are very, very lucky
to have such large, amazingteams of, you know, PTO OT
speech, but also we havephenomenal social workers,
counselors.
People who can help teach thoseskills of advocating for
(20:19):
themselves because that doesn'tcome natural for some people.
Some people don't wanna rufflefeathers.
Mm-hmm.
Don't want to, um, whatever thereason may be.
And so that's,
Brittany (20:27):
or have aphasia too.
'cause I actually had aphasia,which.
It looks like I don't, but youknow.
Mandy (20:32):
Sure.
Yeah.
And so that's, as a team, wewould help support somebody in
our program advocate forthemselves and, and help, help
teach them the tools and thethings to say, and, and also we
actually go with our patients.
Uh, we have the luxury ofshowing up at doctor's
appointments with our patientsand saying, Hey, listen, this is
what's going on.
And, and helping the patientadvocate for themselves.
(20:52):
And so that's.
Uh, that's one of the positivesabout our program, but not
everybody's in our program.
And so what I would say topeople who are maybe just
sitting at home or like you,you, you tried, but you were
just kind of turned away.
Yeah.
Um, my advice to those people isonce again, if you know it's a
problem, it's a problem.
I would seek out, um, people whoreally know the brain because.
(21:15):
You know, doctors are prettyspecialized, and just because
you go to one neurologistdoesn't mean that that
neurologist really knows a tonabout whatever your diagnosis
is.
Um, you know, may, you may havehad a, a traumatic brain injury,
but you might be seeing aneurologist that really deals
more with migraines or whatever.
So I tell people get, always geta second opinion.
(21:36):
So number one, you'd wanna goto.
A neurologist or somebody thatdeals with the brain.
Um, there's also something outthere called a physical medicine
and rehab doctor that we, thattypically are, they're very
knowledgeable in any kind ofbrain dealings.
Um, they're, they're greatpeople to try to help advocate
for you as well.
Um, so that would be number,number one is going to a doctor
(21:56):
that knows specifically aboutneuro.
But if you go see a doctor andthey're still telling you,
you're fine, you're fine, you'refine.
And you don't think that youare.
I am such an advocate of secondopinions.
Go, go get a second opinion.
But I know I would if, ifsomething major were going on
with me and I didn't like thefirst answer, I would at least
go get a second opinion.
And now if you're getting asecond opinion and it's the same
(22:17):
opinion, that becomes a littlebit more of a battle.
But then if you've gotconflicting opinions, well now
you know that you probably needto keep pursuing what's going on
with you.
Carrie (22:29):
That makes sense.
So on a kind of a differentnote, but, um, and I mean kinda
same with kinda, but, so this isa question we like to ask, um,
that's kind of a little bitawkward, but for as this works
for both as a speech manager, aspeech manager, as a speech
therapist, as a case manager,even just as an advocate in what
you do in your environment.
(22:50):
So how do you handle survivors?
Um.
I don't like saying patientssurvivors, um, when they start
getting those feelings of angeror depression, when they've gone
a little bit out, that they justfeel like they're not
progressing to where they shouldor they don't, they're getting
that, like the community isstill too scary and they, they.
(23:12):
Don't know how they're gonna fitin anymore.
I mean, how do you kinda,because I mean that, you know, a
lot of people, I did dealt withall that on my own, but not
everybody can.
And so how do you help thosepeople that, does that make
sense?
What I'm trying to ask?
Mandy (23:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Again, we have amazingcounseling support with us and,
and within our home andcommunity model, we have the,
um, counseling and the, and thesocial work support and the, you
know, we have neuropsych supportand all the, all the support
that as a therapist we mightneed to, to help the patient.
I think, you know, thosefeelings are so valid of the,
(23:50):
the anger or the aggression orwhatever, um, getting back into
the community when somebody'sfeeling that way.
It's about baby steps and it'sabout their comfort level.
I'm not gonna push you and askyou to do something if I really
don't think that you can do it.
And so I think there's a levelof trust when you work with your
therapy team.
That tends to, I think, help.
Um, you know, oftentimes whenpeople trust us, they tend, they
(24:11):
tend to be willing to pushtheirselves a little bit more
out of their comfort zone.
So that's helpful to be able toget in there and really build
that rapport and trust withsomeone.
But like I said, just.
As a therapist, understandingand knowing I am not in your
shoes, and so I'm gonna work atyour pace.
I know what I think you can do,and I know what I think you need
(24:33):
to do, but ultimately it's up toyou and it's gotta be at your
pace and on your time, and we'regonna work through that
together.
And if we can build these littlesteps at a time, then over time
we've taken these big steps toget to that goal.
And I think letting.
Our survivors and our patientshave a say in their goals.
Carrie (24:53):
Mm-hmm.
Mandy (24:54):
I don't set goals for my patients.
My patients set their goals.
Sure.
And so asking the patient, what,what do you think is doable for
you?
And let's work towards that.
Um, and then that often timeswill help because it's the goal
that they've set for themselves,knowing what they think they can
accomplish.
And it too.
Carrie (25:10):
Right.
And then it's not sounrealistic.
Mandy (25:12):
Correct.
Yeah.
Brittany (25:15):
All right.
So how'd you find about find outabout us?
BIND.
Mandy (25:19):
You know what I, I actually don't know because I've
known about y'all for so long.
Oh gosh.
So back when I was working inour post-acute program, we
started bringing patients.
Here to this location becausethis was the only location at
the time.
And so, um, we would bring, uh,patients here and try to get
patients involved after, uh,discharge.
(25:41):
And then now with our home andcommunity model that I'm in, we
use y'all as a resource whileour patients are in therapy.
So our patients may see us andalso come to BIND.
Um, and then again, like yousaid, it's such a great resource
after discharge that, you know,our goal is to hopefully help
work with people again, findthose resources in the
(26:02):
community, find the places thatthey can be a part of once they
discharge, that's really gonnahold meaning and value in their
lives.
And find is just the mostperfect place for that.
Carrie (26:14):
Oh, we'd love to hear you say that because that's
like, you know, community's inour tagline.
So we are very big on community.
And Mandy, it was so good tohave you here today.
Thank you so much.
And get to know you and get toknow about your, yeah.
Resource that you have and we'llmake sure we get that all in
there.
'cause I'm excited.
I didn't know there was more ofy'all out there other than Rehab
Without Walls.
Yeah.
Options are great.
So thank you again for joiningus.
Mandy (26:35):
Thank, thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
It, it was such a pleasure.
Okay.
Brittany (26:39):
Yeah.
And to all our listeners, if youwould like to contact us by
email, um, you can email us atbindwaves@thebind.org.
And then follow us on Instagramat bindwaves and visit our
website, thebind.org/bindwaves
Carrie (26:54):
and again, don't forget to click that like button, that
subscribe button, that sharebutton.
And if you're on YouTube, thatNotify button, like I always
say, just click all the goodbuttons.
If it's got a thumbs up, goahead and click it.
You won't be sad.
And just continue.
If you wanna watch our prettyfaces, we're on YouTube, so just
continue to listen to bindwaves.
Brittany (27:13):
Yep, you can find us on all your favorite listening
platforms too.
Carrie (27:17):
So until next time.
Brittany (27:19):
Until next time.
We hope you've enjoyed listeningto bindwaves and continue to
support Bind in our nonprofitmission.
We support brain injurysurvivors as they reconnect into
the life, the community, andtheir workplace, and we couldn't
do that without great listenerslike you.
We appreciate each and every oneof you.
Continue watching.
Until next time.
Until next time.
Hi, I'm Brittany and a member of BIND and a TBI
survivor.
Carrie (00:12):
And hi, I'm Carrie, a stroke survivor and a member of
BIND as well.
And today we're welcoming MandyCollins with us.
She works for Collage Home andCommunity Rehabilitation.
She is a speech languagepathologist and pathologist.
It's ST.
You know, that's, I can saythat's all right.
But yeah.
And a case manager, um, she hasworked in.
(00:35):
This in the speech field foralmost 15 years.
She worked at a post-acute dayneuro rehab for 10 years before
transitioning into the humanhome and community three years
ago.
Um, her entire career has beenhelping those who sustained a
brain injury and learning andadvancing her knowledge on how
best to help this population,which yay we love.
Um, Mandy is also a certifiedbrain injury specialist and
(00:58):
holds many other certificationsthat are used to assist people
in their recovery.
I think I said she's also a casemanager, so we're gonna learn
more about Mandy and how shehelps all of us brain injury
survivors and just kind of getinto it.
So welcome Mandy.
Mandy (01:11):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me here today.
I appreciate that.
Carrie (01:15):
Of course.
We're excited to have you here.
Mandy (01:16):
Thank you.
Brian (01:17):
Welcome to Bind Waves, the official podcast of the
Brain Injury Network of Dallas.
I'm Brian White, BIND'sexecutive director.
On each episode, we'll beproviding insight into the brain
injury community.
We'll be talking to members andprofessionals regarding their
stories and the important roleof Binds Clubhouse.
We work as a team to inspirehope community and a sense of
(01:41):
purpose to survivors,caregivers, and the public.
Thank you for tuning intobindwaves let's get on with the
show.
Carrie (01:49):
Um, so just to kinda get us started, what got you started
with speech therapy and thebrain injury community?
I.
Mandy (01:57):
Yeah, great question.
So I actually started off funfact, uh, wanting to do physical
therapy and after observing somewound care sessions, and I'm not
a feet person and so I decidedpretty quickly in college that
probably that wasn't for me.
Um, my mom, who's a pediatricnurse, she said, Hey, Mandy, you
love to talk, you talk a lot.
You might be a good speechpathologist.
(02:18):
So it's really kind of whatstarted that trajectory for me
in college.
Um.
I thought because my mom's apediatric nurse, that I would go
the pediatric route and workwith children.
But once I got into grad school,I started doing rotations at
places like Baylor Dallas andtheir day neuro program.
The stroke center in Dallas,Pate Rehabilitation was another
(02:38):
internship of mine, and that'swhere I truly just fell in love
with working with adults, numberone.
Um, and, and just the, the braininjury world.
And, and just the neuro world,the brain is just so fascinating
to me because it's so different.
Although the brain is the samefor everybody, um, it's so
(02:59):
different and we can present sodifferently, um, when something
happens to it.
And so for me it was just thisalmost puzzle of if somebody has
an injury or if something hashappened to someone.
It's my job to put the pieces ofthe puzzle together to figure
out how best to help thisperson.
And so it's just a combinationof always kind of keeping me on
(03:20):
my toes versus helping somebodyand, and trying to make a huge
difference in their recovery andin their life.
So that's kind of where Istarted with my love of, um,
working with adults and goingthe neuro direction.
Carrie (03:32):
And I, my listeners probably get sick of me saying
this'cause I say this, so manyspeech therapists start with
children.
Yes.
And then they find the braininjury world and you either go,
Nope, not for me, I'm stayingwith the kids.
Or Yes, no, I love this.
So we have to let you know.
But basically when you meet thebrain injured right after
they've had a brain injury, weare children.
(03:53):
We are just like children.
We're learning, especially forspeech we're, I didn't have the
problem.
Yay.
Again, like I said, I'm a talkertoo, so, um, but you know, a lot
of people after brain injurythat's, they're having to
relearn how to talk.
So they are just like a kidrelearning and are learning for
the first time, how, whatletters are, what, how to make
the sounds, how to find thewords, and all that crazy stuff.
(04:16):
So we definitely do appreciateyou deciding to stay with the
adults.
Mandy (04:20):
Thank you.
Yeah, and I think that brings upa good point, is.
You're right.
A lot of people do go thepediatric route, but I think the
reason for that is.
Our field is still veryrelatively unknown to the
average person.
Most people truly don'tunderstand what I do.
When I tell people in thecommunity, I'm a speech
pathologist or a speechtherapist, they, their first
thing is, oh, you work withchildren?
(04:42):
Um, and I say, no, actually Idon't.
Because that's just theconception that most people have
or the, the preconceived notionthat people have about a speech
therapist.
And so I am excited to educatepeople, no, I work with adults
and this is what my job lookslike.
Um, and so I think, you know,that's.
That's one thing about thepediatric is I myself didn't
realize what, what a speechtherapist did with working with
(05:05):
the adult population until I gotinto grad school and got to see
that firsthand.
So yeah, you definitely bring upa good point there.
Carrie (05:11):
Yeah.
But that's, and then, so youkinda, you did speech therapy
for a long time and then youmoved into case management.
Mandy (05:18):
Yeah, so I had the opportunity a couple of years
ago to move into casemanagement.
I do still.
Have the luxury of getting to doboth.
'cause I can't just give up mypassion and my love.
Sure.
But I get to take my knowledgeand my experience and apply it
in a different way as a casemanager.
And I have found that, um, to bevery exciting and rewarding as
(05:41):
well.
Brittany (05:42):
So being a case manager, how does that fit into
the therapy daily schedule?
Mandy (05:47):
Yeah, absolutely.
So I always kind of explain myjob to people as being the
center hub, right?
You've got physicians, you haveinsurance, you have the patient
and their family.
You have, um, the therapy team.
There's all these differentelements of somebody's recovery.
And so I like to think of a casemanager as that center hub.
(06:08):
It's the person that everybodycan go to.
The one center point where wecan try to bridge the gap and
bring everybody together toreally make sure that the person
is getting the, the program thatthey need that's for best for
their recovery.
Carrie (06:25):
That makes sense.
So kinda like that projectmanager.
Yeah.
In way.
So now I'm curious too, so we'vetalked about.
Speech therapy.
We're not done talking about allthese things, speech therapy and
case management.
But when I was doing your intro,this intrigued me what is a
brain injury specialist, becauseI have not ever heard that term
before.
Mandy (06:46):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It is a certification that youcan earn.
Um, there's various stipulationsto be able to, um, be able to
test for it.
So it is a certification thatyou test for, uh, it's, it's.
In my opinion, pretty difficult.
Uh, and so it helped that beforeI tested for it, I had worked in
(07:06):
a post-acute rehab every singleday with people who had
sustained a brain injury.
So I had the very, the clinicalknowledge behind it to be able
to go in and take thiscertification.
And then there was a lot ofstudying as well.
Um, and so, um, it is just anextra certification that I have,
uh, after sitting down andtaking a test and passing it,
(07:26):
that just demonstrates, uh, an.
An elevated knowledge in thefield of brain injury.
Carrie (07:34):
Okay.
So it just kind of goes hand inhand with speech therapy and
case management.
Sure.
You don't do Sure.
It's not requirement any extraor above.
I mean, it, it just kind ofgives you a leg up, but it's not
a spec.
I mean, you don't.
You don't go, okay, today I amgonna put on my brain specialist
hat and work specifically onthis.
It's kind of just an additional,
Mandy (07:54):
yeah, it, I think it's a way to also help the public, to
help employers, to help justanybody when they look at
somebody on paper to be able tosay, okay, this person has a
little bit more specializedknowledge and brain injury.
Because again.
As a speech pathologist, ourfield is so broad.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, you can, you can dodysphagia, you can do voice, you
can do, um, you know, cognitivetherapies, uh, your speech and
(08:16):
language therapy.
There's just so many areas thatthis just kind of helps people
know.
This speech therapist has alittle bit more knowledge and
brain injury, um, versus maybesomebody else who's.
Working in a school withchildren and doing more of that
language or articulation therapyor somebody who's working in a
voice clinic but doesn't do somuch of the neuro.
(08:38):
Um, it's just a way to kind ofhelp narrow down and identify
those who have that moreextensive knowledge.
Okay.
Maybe.
Oh
Brittany (08:45):
yeah.
And so with, um, post braininjury, you probably encourage
people to go in community.
So why is it being, beinginvolved in the community so
important?
Mandy (08:56):
Such a good question and it's, this is what I can
probably talk about.
Mm-hmm.
And really talk y'alls ear offon.
So one of the things that I'vefound, whether you're in a
clinic or whether you're in thehome and community environment
like I am right now for, for myjob, they're oftentimes.
Can be a panic when it comes todischarge.
What is next for me, especiallyfor people who don't feel like
(09:18):
their recovery is done, butthey're discharging from therapy
and it maybe, it's, maybe it'sa, a funding reason that they're
discharging insurance or whoeveris saying, no, no more therapy.
You've gotta go.
Um, maybe it's just you'vecompleted the program that
you're in and it's, you're,you're ready for the next step.
But there's just a level of, of.
(09:38):
Sometimes panic, fear, anxietyof what's next for me.
And I know with my knowledgethat recovery doesn't stop.
Uh, recovery continues to happenif you can put in the work.
So I wanna make it my job and mymission to help people learn the
tools that they need to recoverafter they've stopped therapy.
(09:59):
Um, and so getting people intothe community is really how
you're gonna further yourtherapy.
After brain injury.
If you're sitting at home andyou're not leaving the four
walls of your house every day,um, you're probably not as
likely to be able to make thegains and make the recovery as
somebody who is just livingtheir life and going out there
(10:20):
and meeting new people and, andexperiencing new things, um,
it's just good for the mind, thebody, the soul.
All the things to get out there.
And so that's where in home andcommunity we really get to work
with patients, getting them intothe community and helping get
them set up for what's nextwhile we're working on their
goals and while we're helpingthem recover, we're always
(10:41):
planning and trying to help themfigure out what's next for them
after discharge.
Carrie (10:47):
Okay.
So now I'm gonna back up just alittle bit before I go to the
next question.
Um, so home and communityhealth.
Are y'all And I, I don't wannasay, I'm trying to figure out
how I wanna say this.
So like, we know Rehab WithoutWalls, are y'all similar to
that?
So you go into similar mm-hmm.
So you go, this is like, it's,is it after day neuro or instead
(11:07):
of day Neuro.
Mandy (11:09):
The cool thing about home and community is it can fall
anywhere on the continuum.
I think a misconception withhome and community is that, that
it comes at the end of yourrecovery.
You, you're in acute care andthen maybe you go to inpatient
or outpatient rehab or a dayneuro, and then very last you go
to home and community, and thenyou're kind of done after that.
And that might be true, thatmight be some people's.
(11:31):
Trajectory of their recovery.
Mm-hmm.
And that could be very true forthem.
You know, we also have peoplethough that aren't appropriate
to go to a day neuro program.
Maybe their level of alertnessor their fatigue and their
endurance, uh, prohibits themfrom participating in a day,
neuro or an outpatient program.
And so yes, that's where homeand community, we would go into
the patient's home with them andstart working on the goals that
(11:53):
they need to be able to get themto whatever their next step is
and maybe their next step afterus.
Is going to a day neuro program,or maybe they discharge from us
and they go to outpatient.
And for some people, you'reright, it's at the end of that
kind of recovery continuum.
And so we truly are trying toset them up for you, have
completed your therapy, andlet's figure out what's next for
(12:16):
you.
Carrie (12:16):
Okay.
So that's good because I know, Imean, you said it and we say it
here.
I mean, just because insurancestops paying for therapy,
therapy doesn't end.
Sure.
As a survivor myself, I knowtherapy is gonna be going on for
the rest of my life, which iswhy we have BIND is Sure.
We call it therapy by doing.
It's nontraditional therapy.
But everything we do here, allthese wonderful skills we learn
(12:39):
here in the podcast is some sortof therapy.
Whether it's, it's working ourbrain or cognitive, um.
Our previous co-host, she hadaphasia and you wouldn't even
know it.
Mm-hmm.
When she was on here, being aco-host, you know, so everything
we do here, people cleaning,mopping, they were doing that
this morning, there's their PT.
So we get a lot of all thatdone.
(12:59):
So we definitely know about thetherapy.
Never ending, but Exactly.
And we are big on community hereas well.
So you talked about thetherapeutic benefits of
community events post-injury,and I think you kinda hit on
that, but I mean.
Is it hard to get, like we findit hard sometimes.
People, you know, we encouragepeople to come to BIND.
(13:20):
Mm-hmm.
Because we're, you know, maybewhen you're done, you're
discharged, you're like, I don'treally know what I don't know
what I don't know.
Sure.
First, so I don't know, am Iable to go back to work or do I
even wanna go back to work?
I don't know what the nextchapter, the next step looks
(13:41):
like, do I wanna go to a BIND?
Do I want home?
And what you have, sorry.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm blanked on everything, but,um, so how do you encourage
those people that are kinda inthat, you know, well therapy is,
they're telling me I'm gonnahave to stop and they're telling
me I had to go be in thecommunity, but I'm scared.
(14:03):
And I mean, how do you encourageand motivate and get them
involved and back out in thecommunity?
Mandy (14:12):
Yeah, so that's, that also is the other thing.
I really love my job.
Just in case y'all aren't gonnabe able to tell by the end of
this, I love my job so much.
So with home and community.
I'll back up and say, you know,I worked in a post-acute rehab
for 10 years and I've worked inanother setting before that.
And I think there absolutely isa time and a place, and those
(14:33):
settings do amazing, wonderful,great things for people.
One of the disadvantages that Ipersonally found working in, in,
um.
Like a a day neuro program isthat while we are able to go out
into the community, to someextent, a lot of the therapy is
done in the clinic.
The majority of the therapy isdone in the clinic, and that
goes for every discipline.
(14:53):
And what I noticed is that thereisn't always the carryover from
the clinic to the home life.
Pat patients would come in andthey would do these beautiful
things in the clinic and thenthey would go home and kind of
fall apart.
And there's many reasons, um,why that might happen.
What I've found with home andcommunity is that we are able to
(15:14):
do these tasks real life in themoment in their environment, and
so that is how we get themcomfortable with what's next is
we are already planning.
What's next from the verybeginning.
And so as we're doing therapywith them and moving through
their, their therapy course withthem, we are doing the things
(15:36):
with them that they will bedoing after discharge, so that
when they do discharge, they'realready set up and comfortable.
They know what's next for thembecause they've done it with a
therapy team.
Oftentimes we will find that ifyou ask somebody to do something
and they've never done itbefore.
There is an element of maybefear, and so they don't want to
try it because it's like, well,I haven't ever done that.
(15:57):
I don't want to.
I don't wanna try it.
I'm scared to do that.
So that's where the therapistsays, I'm not scared.
Let's do it together.
They will go with the patient orthe patient's families.
They'll try whatever the task orthe activity is, and help
instill that level of comfort tothe patient, and confidence to
the patient and prove to them.
I know you can do it now.
(16:17):
I need you to know that you cando it and look, we're doing it
together and, and help set thisperson up for when discharge
does happen and the therapist isno longer there.
I know you can keep doing thisby yourself without me there.
Brittany (16:30):
Yeah.
For patients.
I know for my, a little bit, mystory.
Um, when I first had my braininjury, mine was neglected for
seven months.
So I think maybe having acaseworker would probably help,
but even with the caseworker.
So how do you, um, advocate foryour patient?
Mandy (16:46):
I always say, my saying that I say to everybody is, if
it's a problem for you, it's aproblem for me.
It is so often that I willassess a patient as as a speech
therapist, but this kind ofrolls into case management too.
I will assess a patient, or thetherapy team will assess a
patient and.
It doesn't, things don't reallyshow up on testing.
(17:07):
On paper, you look fine.
You tested great, you fellwithin normal limits, and the
patient says, no, but I'm stillhaving problems.
I can't work like I used to.
I can't focus like I used to.
I'm having problems with mymemory like I used to.
They'll point out these specificthings and so I, I, that's my
motto is if it's a problem foryou, it's a problem with me.
I don't care if it shows up ontesting or not, because it's
(17:29):
about how you're able tofunction, not how you're able to
test.
And so.
Um, that's as a case manageralso where I'm able to advocate
and I think that's where myexperience as a speech therapist
comes in, is as a case manager.
It's a lot of writing reports,sending information to
physicians or to insurance totake what the patient and the
(17:50):
therapy team are doing togetherto be able to justify and
warrant the services that areneeded.
And so that's where I get to putmy.
Clinical experience and my casemanagement experience together
and say, listen, I know on paperit may not look like this is a
problem, but let me explain toyou all the reasons why this is
a problem and how this isaffecting this person and why we
(18:12):
do need to keep working withthis person to get them to their
goals.
Brittany (18:16):
And then how do you help patients advocate for
themselves?
Because I know I had a hard timeadvocating for myself'cause I
went to the same doctor he islike, go home, turn off the
lights.
So I was gonna school at thetime to be a respiratory
therapists in temple.
So I went and drove back twohours and then the next month it
declined.
I didn't know what a cup was.
I went back to that same person.
(18:36):
Oh, you're fine.
So I drove two hours right backto school.
I.
Declined and then I went, Ididn't know my name the third
time, and they're like, uhoh,you might have a brain bleed.
Go to the ER that's attached toit.
And then found out I hadpost-concussion at the time.
But then they're like, okay,you're fine.
Discharge went back to schooland whew, like.
(18:56):
So I was just sitting on a braininjury for seven months.
I didn't know I had, I kind ofknew I had,'cause I studied
medicine, but it was so hard toadvocate for myself to tell'em,
there's something's wrong,there's something wrong with me.
And no one like kind of listenedto me until like, actually my
primary care listened to me.
'cause like your ankle's stillswollen here.
And then she's like, go to aorthopedic orthopedic's.
(19:18):
Like that's foot drop or dropfoot.
And it's like, that's a braininjury problem.
Goes to a brain injuryspecialist, and then that's when
the ball got rolling, but sevenmonths too late.
So I wish I had like this ran orlike.
The knowledge to advocate formyself and or a case manager.
So how do you actually help yourpatients advocate for
themselves?
Mandy (19:37):
Yeah, I think that brings up a good point of so many
people tell what Take whatphysicians tell us at face
value.
Well, my doctor said this, sothat's the end of it.
And I think there's starting tobe this shift in society of
people knowing that it's okay toquestion and it's okay to kind
of.
Really advocate for yourself andstand up for yourself when you
(19:59):
know that there's a problem.
And so in the home and communitymodel, we are very, very lucky
to have such large, amazingteams of, you know, PTO OT
speech, but also we havephenomenal social workers,
counselors.
People who can help teach thoseskills of advocating for
(20:19):
themselves because that doesn'tcome natural for some people.
Some people don't wanna rufflefeathers.
Mm-hmm.
Don't want to, um, whatever thereason may be.
And so that's,
Brittany (20:27):
or have aphasia too.
'cause I actually had aphasia,which.
It looks like I don't, but youknow.
Mandy (20:32):
Sure.
Yeah.
And so that's, as a team, wewould help support somebody in
our program advocate forthemselves and, and help, help
teach them the tools and thethings to say, and, and also we
actually go with our patients.
Uh, we have the luxury ofshowing up at doctor's
appointments with our patientsand saying, Hey, listen, this is
what's going on.
And, and helping the patientadvocate for themselves.
(20:52):
And so that's.
Uh, that's one of the positivesabout our program, but not
everybody's in our program.
And so what I would say topeople who are maybe just
sitting at home or like you,you, you tried, but you were
just kind of turned away.
Yeah.
Um, my advice to those people isonce again, if you know it's a
problem, it's a problem.
I would seek out, um, people whoreally know the brain because.
(21:15):
You know, doctors are prettyspecialized, and just because
you go to one neurologistdoesn't mean that that
neurologist really knows a tonabout whatever your diagnosis
is.
Um, you know, may, you may havehad a, a traumatic brain injury,
but you might be seeing aneurologist that really deals
more with migraines or whatever.
So I tell people get, always geta second opinion.
(21:36):
So number one, you'd wanna goto.
A neurologist or somebody thatdeals with the brain.
Um, there's also something outthere called a physical medicine
and rehab doctor that we, thattypically are, they're very
knowledgeable in any kind ofbrain dealings.
Um, they're, they're greatpeople to try to help advocate
for you as well.
Um, so that would be number,number one is going to a doctor
(21:56):
that knows specifically aboutneuro.
But if you go see a doctor andthey're still telling you,
you're fine, you're fine, you'refine.
And you don't think that youare.
I am such an advocate of secondopinions.
Go, go get a second opinion.
But I know I would if, ifsomething major were going on
with me and I didn't like thefirst answer, I would at least
go get a second opinion.
And now if you're getting asecond opinion and it's the same
(22:17):
opinion, that becomes a littlebit more of a battle.
But then if you've gotconflicting opinions, well now
you know that you probably needto keep pursuing what's going on
with you.
Carrie (22:29):
That makes sense.
So on a kind of a differentnote, but, um, and I mean kinda
same with kinda, but, so this isa question we like to ask, um,
that's kind of a little bitawkward, but for as this works
for both as a speech manager, aspeech manager, as a speech
therapist, as a case manager,even just as an advocate in what
you do in your environment.
(22:50):
So how do you handle survivors?
Um.
I don't like saying patientssurvivors, um, when they start
getting those feelings of angeror depression, when they've gone
a little bit out, that they justfeel like they're not
progressing to where they shouldor they don't, they're getting
that, like the community isstill too scary and they, they.
(23:12):
Don't know how they're gonna fitin anymore.
I mean, how do you kinda,because I mean that, you know, a
lot of people, I did dealt withall that on my own, but not
everybody can.
And so how do you help thosepeople that, does that make
sense?
What I'm trying to ask?
Mandy (23:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Again, we have amazingcounseling support with us and,
and within our home andcommunity model, we have the,
um, counseling and the, and thesocial work support and the, you
know, we have neuropsych supportand all the, all the support
that as a therapist we mightneed to, to help the patient.
I think, you know, thosefeelings are so valid of the,
(23:50):
the anger or the aggression orwhatever, um, getting back into
the community when somebody'sfeeling that way.
It's about baby steps and it'sabout their comfort level.
I'm not gonna push you and askyou to do something if I really
don't think that you can do it.
And so I think there's a levelof trust when you work with your
therapy team.
That tends to, I think, help.
Um, you know, oftentimes whenpeople trust us, they tend, they
(24:11):
tend to be willing to pushtheirselves a little bit more
out of their comfort zone.
So that's helpful to be able toget in there and really build
that rapport and trust withsomeone.
But like I said, just.
As a therapist, understandingand knowing I am not in your
shoes, and so I'm gonna work atyour pace.
I know what I think you can do,and I know what I think you need
(24:33):
to do, but ultimately it's up toyou and it's gotta be at your
pace and on your time, and we'regonna work through that
together.
And if we can build these littlesteps at a time, then over time
we've taken these big steps toget to that goal.
And I think letting.
Our survivors and our patientshave a say in their goals.
Carrie (24:53):
Mm-hmm.
Mandy (24:54):
I don't set goals for my patients.
My patients set their goals.
Sure.
And so asking the patient, what,what do you think is doable for
you?
And let's work towards that.
Um, and then that often timeswill help because it's the goal
that they've set for themselves,knowing what they think they can
accomplish.
And it too.
Carrie (25:10):
Right.
And then it's not sounrealistic.
Mandy (25:12):
Correct.
Yeah.
Brittany (25:15):
All right.
So how'd you find about find outabout us?
BIND.
Mandy (25:19):
You know what I, I actually don't know because I've
known about y'all for so long.
Oh gosh.
So back when I was working inour post-acute program, we
started bringing patients.
Here to this location becausethis was the only location at
the time.
And so, um, we would bring, uh,patients here and try to get
patients involved after, uh,discharge.
(25:41):
And then now with our home andcommunity model that I'm in, we
use y'all as a resource whileour patients are in therapy.
So our patients may see us andalso come to BIND.
Um, and then again, like yousaid, it's such a great resource
after discharge that, you know,our goal is to hopefully help
work with people again, findthose resources in the
(26:02):
community, find the places thatthey can be a part of once they
discharge, that's really gonnahold meaning and value in their
lives.
And find is just the mostperfect place for that.
Carrie (26:14):
Oh, we'd love to hear you say that because that's
like, you know, community's inour tagline.
So we are very big on community.
And Mandy, it was so good tohave you here today.
Thank you so much.
And get to know you and get toknow about your, yeah.
Resource that you have and we'llmake sure we get that all in
there.
'cause I'm excited.
I didn't know there was more ofy'all out there other than Rehab
Without Walls.
Yeah.
Options are great.
So thank you again for joiningus.
Mandy (26:35):
Thank, thank you.
Thank you so much for having me.
It, it was such a pleasure.
Okay.
Brittany (26:39):
Yeah.
And to all our listeners, if youwould like to contact us by
email, um, you can email us atbindwaves@thebind.org.
And then follow us on Instagramat bindwaves and visit our
website, thebind.org/bindwaves
Carrie (26:54):
and again, don't forget to click that like button, that
subscribe button, that sharebutton.
And if you're on YouTube, thatNotify button, like I always
say, just click all the goodbuttons.
If it's got a thumbs up, goahead and click it.
You won't be sad.
And just continue.
If you wanna watch our prettyfaces, we're on YouTube, so just
continue to listen to bindwaves.
Brittany (27:13):
Yep, you can find us on all your favorite listening
platforms too.
Carrie (27:17):
So until next time.
Brittany (27:19):
Until next time.
We hope you've enjoyed listeningto bindwaves and continue to
support Bind in our nonprofitmission.
We support brain injurysurvivors as they reconnect into
the life, the community, andtheir workplace, and we couldn't
do that without great listenerslike you.
We appreciate each and every oneof you.
Continue watching.
Until next time.
Until next time.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.