Some of the questions I am asked most frequently are “how do I become a brain injury advocate” or “how do you get started sharing your story?”

On today’s episode, I’m sharing a lot of what I have learned about advocacy through the years - joined by Monica Vaccaro, director of programs at the Brain Injury Association of Pennsylvania, to share her perspective and insight! We are talking about being a self-advocate for brain injury, tips for sharing your story, and also how to get involved with advocacy on a larger scale if it’s something you are interested in!

Brain Injury Awareness Month might be almost over, but the advocacy goes on all year long! 🙂 Let’s continue to use our voices together to make a difference!

-Cristabelle

Concussion Safety: Bringing a fresh perspective to sports concussions, Tracey Suggs and Foster Wilkins are the founders of Protect Your Skull - the world’s first and only concussion awareness brand creating quality performance apparel for today’s athlete. They are amazing advocates as they work hard to educate for safety in sports- today’s conversation is one you don’t want to miss!

Susan H. Connors, president and CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America, is here today for a special Brain Injury Awareness Month Episode. Listen as she shares about what the BIAA does, including help and resources that are available to survivors.

Susan is a champion for brain injury, and today she also shares some of her personal journey as to how she got involved in the BIAA and what she has seen in brain injury awareness over the last 25 years. The discussion closes with encouragement and tips for those who may want to get involved with advocating on a broader scale.

How is female brain injury different? Today we are talking about awareness centered on female brain injury and concussions. Cristabelle is joined by Katherine Snedaker, founder of PINK Concussions. She offers some insight into the gaps in research when it comes to brain injury in women for this episode for Brain Injury Awareness Month.

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

Brain injury is an invisible injury, and this affects survivors and families on a daily basis.

Today, Cristabelle is joined once again by her mother, Cyndie Braden, for the first week of Brain Injury Awareness Month!

If you've ever been overwhelmed or overstimulated with brain injury symptoms, you are not alone. Today, Natasha Wilch is here to share some ways to help us calm down symptoms. We discuss some simple strategies along with encouragement for survivors.

Resilience: we can come back stronger than we ever realized through brain injury!

Today, Cristabelle hosts a delightful conversation with survivors Brad Neufeld and Jo Ann Glim. They share their stories, what resilience means, and encouragement to listeners to never give up.

How do we keep going on the brain injury journey? Sometimes it can be a struggle just to get through the day. Today Cristabelle keeps it real, sharing that it is not always easy, but we can choose to never give up.

Next, Tanya Gauthier, founder of the nonprofit TBIncredible, joins to share her inspirational story through her own traumatic brain injury and encouragement to listeners on how to keep going!