Counseling on a Concussion
A dear family member who is also a Co-Counselor was hit by a car and suffered a concussion. I would love people‘s input on ways of counseling on a concussion.
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I’m sorry to hear that your family member suffered a concussion. I had a concussion—a moderate to severe one—five years ago, which left me unable to work for close to three months. Counseling was a tremendous help in healing from it.
Here’s what worked for me:
- I received one-way time for about four weeks following the injury. It was hard for me to pay attention, or to be on any screens or devices or on the phone, so one-way in-person time absolutely worked best.
- Any attention, from fifteen minutes up to an hour, was great. Most Co-Counselors gave me about forty-five minutes.
- It was sometimes useful to have two counselors (with one main counselor). I find this works well with physical injuries in general.
- Counselors would put their hands on the part of my head that was most affected. That would usually bring lots of crying and/or shaking. We tried to keep the attention right there on my head and brain.
- Yawning was a great discharge.
- Useful directions were about slowing down and paying attention to what had happened. That brought up early terror about slowing down.
- I needed to be reminded that it was essential to pay attention to my body and take all the time in the world to heal it—that there was nothing else I needed to be doing. Taking that direction often led to working on early distresses.
Getting hit by a car is traumatic. I imagine it would also be useful for your family member to tell the story over and over, while discharging.
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 191, April 2018)
Last modified: 2022-12-25 10:17:04+00