Concussion patient advocate shares her experience to help others

A few years ago, Jill Wright's life was turned upside down in an instant. She had a lot on her mind, juggling a busy work schedule, shuttling her daughters to after school practices and preparing for the grand opening of her family's espresso bar. It was during one particularly hectic evening that she accidentally hit her head on the kitchen counter and the impact resulted in a traumatic brain injury. 

Jill's injury was so severe that she wasn't able to work or even perform routine tasks like grocery shopping. She felt overwhelmed and experienced one challenge after another seeking out the rehabilitative care she so desperately needed.

It wasn’t until she was referred to the Acquired Brain Injury Program (ABI Program) at St. Joseph's Parkwood Institute that Jill was able to learn the skills she needed to get her life back on track. Having the right information gave Jill a clear path on how to move forward with her rehabilitation. She credits the care and expertise she received at Parkwood Institute for her recovery.

Jill is now using her experience and background in creating educational resources to help other brain injury/concussion survivors through a new Concussion Care video series produced with the help of clinicians at St. Joseph's. Using the London Community Foundation's Making A Difference family fund, Jill created these videos geared to improving access to concussion care resources for people needing or awaiting guidance from health care professionals. The videos include tips and evidenced-based resources from St. Joseph’s ABI Program team and testimonials of lived experience from patients.

The video series is a part of an educational toolkit launched by St. Joseph's to empower patients to pace and plan their recovery from an acquired brain injury. The toolkit, which includes the MyBrainPacer app and Mindfulness podcast series, is designed for people to use at home. Save and share this page—it could help you or someone you love.