By Whitney Clark
The speech and language clinic is running a support group for individuals suffering from strokes and traumatic brain injuries.
The group is co-facilitated by two graduate students in the speech pathology program.
?What we wanted to do was provide a support network for people with brain injuries,? said Nicole Weber, one of the facilitators from Fairfield, Ohio.
Weber said the meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month. In the meetings, the facilitators plan topics of discussion and then let the conversation go from there. The topics vary from stress management to leisure activities.
Carol Moody, the faculty adviser and contact for the group said anyone in the community who has suffered a traumatic brain injury is welcome to come.
?It is a support group for them to share stories and successes,? Moody said.
Kimberly Lyon, a junior from Sandy studying recreational management, has suffered from a brain trauma injury and attends the group.
?It is nice because people empathize with you instead of just sympathize,? Lyon said.
She said there are people who have been working on their injuries for years, and then people that are new to it, just like her.
?I have a friend in the group who has been working on it for over 19 years,? Lyon said. ?It is cool to see how far she has come and what she can accomplish.?
Lyon said the group needs publicity so people know that the option is there. A bigger group gives people more of an option to find someone who is going through the same thing.
Not only is the group for those who have suffered the injury, but also for those who are family and caretakers of the individuals.
?This group also serves as a forum for expressing the feelings and emotions associated with the newly acquired family roles and lifestyle changes that accompany brain injury,? said Skylee Neff, the other co-facilitator of the group and a graduate student from Riverton.
Neff said she has worked as a certified nurses assistant for a couple of years and found how important it is for people to have this kind of support group.
?Speech and language is such an intricate part of our well being,? she said.
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