"I can't blame them for burning out or seeking new challenges. But it's not easy to bring a new practitioner up to speed when you have a long, complicated medical, dental, social, economic, and cognitive history after brain injury. Educating and learning a new person's facial expressions and body language suck you dry. Losing trusted support over and over leads to separation anxiety and diminished capacity to trust."
"Long before my brain injury, I talked with a friend with paralysis who needed daily help. I had visions from TV shows of a trusted person who cheerfully and competently supplied the physical aid my friend required. A person who stayed in their life and gave them a bedrock to rely on as they went out to work or lived life like the rest of us. I was wrong."
"For two weeks after my car crash, I experienced the heaven and relief of a competent, cheerful personal support worker, paid for by my auto insurance. Subsequently, they became stingy in funding home care, while the home care companies sent workers who treated my brain injury as permission to take advantage of me. I received too few hours per week with cleaning and food prep help."
Frequent turnover of physicians and support workers forces people with brain injuries to repeatedly educate new practitioners and rebuild trust, draining emotional and cognitive resources. Long, complex medical, dental, social, economic, and cognitive histories make onboarding new providers time-consuming and exhausting. Repeated loss of trusted caregivers produces separation anxiety and reduced capacity to trust, setting recovery back. Long-term care arrangements often change every two years, requiring new hiring and risking poor matches. Initial adequate support after injury can be reduced by insurers and home-care agencies, resulting in insufficient hours and exploitative or inattentive workers.
Read at Psychology Today
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