Assessment and Treatment of Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

Course overview

Behavioral health professionals frequently work with individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Unfortunately, they do not always recognize the extent of the impact of a TBI on a client's overall functioning. Approximately 60% of TBIs are misdiagnosed; TBI-related impairments are often attributed to or misdiagnosed as psychiatric conditions (McKinlay et al., 2018). You may be working with an individual whose psychiatric symptoms are related to a prior TBI. At other times, you may be working with a client who sustains a TBI during your work with them. In either situation, it is critical that you are able to identify signs of TBI and know how to support the individual in accessing appropriate assessment and interventions. This course will focus on specific assessment approaches that are used to evaluate the severity of difficulties stemming from TBI, including neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and cognitive assessments. It will cover the types of TBIs that commonly occur and the nature of difficulties associated with those injuries. Evidence-based interventions that address the cognitive and behavioral manifestations of TBIs in adults will also be addressed. The goal of this course is to provide behavioral health counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, and social workers in health and human services settings with skills for recognizing signs of TBI and appropriate assessment and intervention options for individuals who have sustained a TBI.