NEOBIF Reflective Essay

Attending the NEOBIF conference this past Friday was a really valuable experience with lessons I can carry with me into my career in the future. I was surprised that the community was so strong and that in some cases, you could not tell who had had a traumatic brain injury and who had not. Even though I feel that I had the skills to be able to speak with new people to begin with, I feel as though I gained a better understanding on how to speak with people that I am just meeting for the first time. I feel as though I gained a better knowledge about the diversity of traumatic brain injury as well. Some of the most valuable knowledge I gained was speaking with Kevin Pearce and asking him what he would like his therapists to know. He said that

The interactions were very friendly and caring. In addition, the caregivers almost had a sixth sense when it came to the survivors. They seemed to know exactly what that person needed and when, without always needing to be told. One person that I interacted with was a young man who had been in a motor vehicle accident. He was left unable to speak necessarily, even though he could fully understand what was being said to him. His mother was with him and could explain what he needed or what he was trying to say if he was having difficulty. While I was not the only one speaking with them, I did try to keep what I did say simple so as not to overwhelm him with questions. He mentioned liking music so I tried to steer the conversation towards those types of apps for his phone. Prior to the event, I had been concerned with what could possibly happen. I thought that I might get in a situation where someone may say something inappropriate and I might not know how to react. I was also concerned that I might not know how to help someone properly learn how to use certain aspects of technology. Neither of my concerns ended up being an issue at the event, as no one said anything inappropriate and I was able to answer all their questions about the