Jodi House

Jodi House chose this issue to be the focus of this week’s Giving List column because March is National Brain Injury Awareness Month. The nonprofit, which has been around for more than 40 years, has launched its first-ever weeklong Brain Injury Awareness campaign. The effort includes developing video content around the voices of the organization’s members (aka clients), caregivers, volunteers, staff and board members to share through a social media and email campaign over the first nine days of the month. 

But of course, every month is a time for awareness, and action, for those at Jodi House who have survived brain injuries. The Jodi House mission is to empower its members to not only survive, but also thrive to the greatest extent possible. To that end, all of Jodi House’s programming services promote independent living skills and social reintegration into our community at the highest potential level of functioning.

Jodi House steps in once medical professionals have finished their life saving work in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic brain injury or stroke, offering support to survivors and their families who might otherwise be left to cope with the emotional, behavioral, and social effects of the injury on their own. 

“Cottage Hospital is an amazing resource, and they do an amazing job,” explained Lindsey Black, executive director of Jodi House. “After the medical work, survivors get discharged from a hospital to an interim situation in an inpatient rehab center for an average stay of several months. But then you come out and might lack a lot of the resources and support you need for what is a lifelong recovery.

“It’s almost like they pat you on the back when you leave and say, ‘You’re lucky to be alive.’” 

That’s where Jodi House comes in, as the nonprofit offers a range of classes and services for brain injury survivors of all kinds. Services include a day program, case management, vocational assistance, and support groups. 

“We have a medical doctor on our board who tells us that she gets great peace of mind just knowing that Jodi House exists,” Black said. “Because while she can provide care for these survivors and their families to a certain extent, as a medical professional, she isn’t equipped to help them with skills for daily living.”

While online help is also available, Jodi House’s services are offered largely at its downtown Santa Barbara location – a Victorian home in the former site of Chad’s Restaurant, a setting designed to feel residential and non-medical.

“We’re really about helping our members maximize their independence,” Black said. “The vast majority do not want to end up in assisted living or in a residential care facility. They want to stay in the community, in their apartments or their homes. So both our day programs and individual case management services are there to help bridge the gap in getting their needs met, helping our members work on their goals for recovery.” 

Services can be as simple as assisting a brain injury survivor file a disability claim, because most are not able to return to work full time, and even navigating the process can be daunting if not overwhelming. Others want or need much more help, depending on their individual levels of ability or recovery. 

“The nature of everyone’s injury is so different,” Black explained. “Our classes really run the gamut, including occupational therapy, speech therapy, a physical therapy class called posture instability – as well as yoga, meditation, tai chi, art therapy, music therapy and many more. Members can come and go, can pick and choose what they want to participate in. It’s not one size fits all.” 

Jodi House serves 150 brain injury survivors annually while also providing needed respite for their caregivers. All of the organization’s services are available on a sliding scale or free of charge for those who cannot afford it. No one is ever turned away because of the inability to pay. This past year, Jodi House introduced a financial assistance program focused on diverting brain injury survivors from becoming unhoused or placed in an institutional setting, and they introduced a Women’s Group and Caregiver Support Group. 

The nonprofit is one of only a dozen sites statewide that receives funding from the California Department of Rehabilitation to provide services to brain injury survivors. 

“They know we’re good at filling the gap and care and completing the continuum of care for brain injury survivors,” Black said. “And they also know it’s far less costly for the state to have people be able to stay in their community than to have them end up at an assisted living facility. But private support lets us do that much more.” 

That includes providing emotional support both from its licensed staff and other instructors, as well as the members themselves, with everyone doing their best to help the brain injury survivors deal with the aftermath of their injuries.

“One of our brain injury survivors recently told me that we have to slow down sometimes and acknowledge that brain injury is sad,” Black said. “There’s often a mourning period that goes on for a lifetime, because unlike a developmental disability, our survivors often remember who they once were, and the things that they used to be able to do that they can’t anymore. Jodi House is a safe and supportive place for people to come as they are, not who they once were. It’s a community, almost a family where people are accepted for who they are. For someone struggling with depression and isolation, it’s so helpful just being together with people.” 

But the focus is mostly on moving forward with as upbeat an outlook as possible, Black said. 

“It’s about empowerment and positivity, moving ahead together, not as who you were yesterday, but embracing who you are today, the new normal,” she said. “How do we get you living your best possible life?”