Myth of the “one year recovery of function window.”
Often as not,  MTBI (Mild Traumatic Brain Injury)  and Post-Concussion Syndrome sufferers are told almost off-handedly by their neurologists or allied health care professionals that the recovery they will gain will be experienced in the first year after their accident. This medical statement is not necessarily true, and it needlessly discourages those with a mild brain injury from seeking continued care and therapy after that period of time. Additionally, some therapy modalities actually take more than a year to complete. Vision therapy, Cranial-Sacral therapy, Cognitive training and soft-tissue therapies are a few fine examples.

What is a “Brainlash”?
It is a mild, traumatic whiplash to the brain and central nervous system.  Dr. Denton coined this term in 1991, in an early attempt to define and describe the experience of sustaining a whiplash not only to her neck, but to her entire spinal structure from the coccyx to the skull. This whiplash affected spinal alignment, added soft tissue irritation from the low back, through to the mid-thoracic region, the neck and the head. It effectively rattled the core of the nervous system and it’s supporting musculature.

Describing what happens in a whiplash to the neck will equally describe what can also happen to the brain above it. The back and forth, high velocity whip to the interior structure of the brain’s many parts, glands, and infrastructure causes minute and frequently undetectable sheers and tears too subtle to be detected on various scan tests. While these sheers present lifestyle shifts very real to the sufferer, they are inconclusive to the results of tests,  which are geared towards more obvious, and large-scale differences.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury is a grouping of subtle, minute and often miniscule disruptions, sheers, and tears inside the brain. Affecting glands which regulate important bodily functions, the brainlash motion can shake, jiggle or rearrange the tissue structure of the glands. Add this atop the shifts and sheering to the cerebrum and cerebellum, and a complex of seemingly inconsequential insults, when taken together, produce a rendered life with a brain struggling to make sense of and progress normally in the world.
And all the while, you actually look like your normal self on the outside!

What is MTBI Life Coaching and how does it help ?
Different from general Life Coaching, which focuses on relationship, business or personal growth goals, Life Coaching for MTBI is focused on you having the most appropriate tools, support and organizational guidance to effect a workable program of recovery. Life Coaching helps you gain mastery over your life going forward.

A Life Coaching session with Dr. Denton will give you fresh options, additional strategies, new considerations for choices you can make and a sense of ownership and personal power in the decisions to be made in your life going forward.

Dr. Denton will ask you briefly about your initial injury, other subsequent injuries and the therapy path you have experienced so far. She will then guide you towards additional or newly considered approaches that may offer additional relief from pain, sensory overload, environmental adjustments, mobility challenges, cognitive struggles and lifestyle dilemmas.

Consider Dr. Denton your new team member, offering you a broad perspective of your experience so far and the horizon of possibilities before you. From your conversations, she can offer new choices, encouragement, affirmation that ‘you are not crazy’ and ‘you are not making this up’, and a host of referral opportunities to revitalize, strengthen and support you on your way.

This Life Coaching service focuses MTBI survivors towards a therapeutic course of action which aims to maximize positive outcome.

What will I gain from our sessions together?
Your sessions will provide you with a concrete roadmap of choices, considerations, lifestyle adjustments, and possible referrals of appropriate professionals in your area who can assist you in your next steps. Your recovery efforts will be more consolidated, organized and focused. Economy of effort for maximum results is the goal.

Understanding your therapy history to date makes it helpful to offer recommendations for therapy options you may not be aware of or understand to be of benefit.

What can I expect, short term and long term, from MTBI Life Coaching?
Short term expectations include a fresh examination of progress to date based on previous therapeutic and lifestyle efforts and their effectiveness. Most likely, a modified plan will emerge, refocusing your efforts, reorganizing your therapies, adjusting your living and working environments, seeking advocacy and support from new sources, and learning how to manage and rebuild your energy over time.

Long term, the general idea is for Dr. Denton to be available for occasional consultation to affirm and support your ’right track’ efforts. You are welcome to check in with brief  sessions from time to time, as your needs change and additional help or updates seem appropriate.