Brain Injury Recovery Kit™
The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ is the only tool of its kind. It is a bridge between professional care and something that people can use at home to help maximize the quality of their life. It places the “Best Practices” for brain injury recovery all in one box.
The kit is an innovative system of education, strategies and tools to begin moving into and through recovery. It helps one manage most of the day-to-day challenges faced after a brain injury, while building confidence and independence. It also provides much needed information, so family and friends may better understand the experience of living with a brain injury. This kit offers a flexible approach to recovery that can be tailored to each individual’s needs and used at his or her own pace. By starting with Step 1 in the kit, the individual and family will be guided in the use of the Brain Injury Recovery Kit™. The individual and family does not need to use all of the items provided in the BIRK in order to benefit greatly from the Recovery System. Everyone uses step one which is the heart of the system. The kit is to be worked with throughout the years of recovery.
The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ “puts the tools that everyone needs to recover into one place. It’s portable rehab.”
— Alya Reeve, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist President, AAMR
"I'd love to be able to prescribe the Brain Injury Recovery Kit to a patient just the same as I write a prescription for a brace, for a broken neck."
— Ezriel Kornel, M.D., FACS, Neurosurgeon
The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ (BIRK) was created by Lisa Keller. Lisa sustained a brain injury in 1993. She used her recovery to create a remarkable tool for individuals and families that struggle with brain injury. The kit was developed with Sandra J. Knutson, CRC, CDMS, CCM, Lisa’s former brain injury caseworker, and a thirty-year veteran in the brain injury recovery community.
From a case manager's perspective, I couldn't be more thrilled about the growing popularity of the BIRK—I recommend it to dozens of people a week. There are millions of survivors out there who can't access services due to financial and geographic constraints. Thanks to the BIRK, these individuals now have a concrete resource that they can order and immediately begin making gains towards greater independence.
The Neurologic Rehabilitation Institute at Brookhaven Hospital
Every brain injury is unique. Recovery usually does not mean returning to who and how you were before, but rather finding a new relationship to your abilities and your world. The heart of the system is found on the 8 hour/3 DVD set. Lisa Keller guides you step by step in the use of all the tools. Learning to use these tools makes, “getting through the day,” more productive and less stressful. The DVDs also highlight the importance of professional care, and address commonly asked questions and concerns. It also includes an informative 60-minute session with a neuropsychiatrist, who specializes in brain injury.
The Tools
The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ contains two comprehensive workbooks
that provide Information, exercises, review forms, and checklists that constantly
track progress and reinforce the lessons on the DVDs. The workbooks
help identify “what has changed” that makes it difficult to get
through the day, and provide strategies based on the 4 keys to Recovery (Buddy,
Rest, Acceptance and Routine) to cope with those changes. Activities
as “simple
or easy” as daily hygiene or just going somewhere may become daunting
tasks. The workbooks provide step-by-step protocols for doing just about
everything.
The routine use of the Day-Timer® Personal Planner, will help improve
short-term memory, attention span, and organizational skills… because
everything - mealtimes, medications and appointments - is tracked in one
concise, highly visible place. At the end of the day, essential tasks are
completed with less stress and confusion.
The unique Color-Coding System makes it possible to further organize and prioritize what needs to be done, by creating categories, Most Important, Ongoing Tasks, Family, Money, Friends, and I Don’t Know What To Do With This.
The Orange cord is used to focus on the task at hand and as a cue to return to the task after a rest or interruption.
We’ve also included in the Kit, a keychain with the 4 keys to Recovery, a panic card, a resting eye mask, wrist bands, locator wraps and an Electronic Memory Aid.
The Brain Injury Recovery Kit™ is produced and distributed by Day-Timers, Inc.
“My brother received his BIRK in December 2005, 25-years after his TBI. I wish we had had it when Michael first had his accident to help our family prepare and understand the effects of TBI. A quarter of century later, the tools in kit are helping my brother manage his life and helping me understand the work required to sustain the meaningful life he has created.”