Love Your Brain – Debbie Havusha’s Blog

Love Your Brain

Our brains are truly organs of wonder.  Our brains need lots of love and attention.  When their capacity to function has been compromised from trauma at birth or from an acquired insult to the brain, we need to love our brains even more!    IMG_1373

“Concussion/Mild Traumatic Brain Injury has been receiving warranted attention over the past 2 years, after years of the impact of concussion being minimized.  It is now clear that there is nothing “mild” about concussion/MTBI, and children are not immune to the potential for longer term consequences and persistent symptoms.  Management to date has focused primarily on return to play, but insufficient attention has been paid to the comprehensive management of concussion/MTBI from a medical, psychological, cognitive and social perspective.” (Headline Magazine Spring 2013)

In December 2014, I bumped into Dr. Kathy Selby, a Pediatric Neurologist at BC Children’s Hospital.  I told Kathy about our son Ari’s third concussion.  Ari has been suffering from Post- Concussion Syndrome (PCS) after sustaining 3 severe concussions, two of which were sports related.  She sympathized with the situation and immediately told me to check out Kevin Pearce’s compelling documentary ‘The Crash Reel’.  Kevin was injured in a serious snowboarding accident leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics.  He had recently spoken about his traumatic brain injury at a conference at BC Children’s Hospital. Kathy suggested that Ari watch this video.

This last May, Ari was chosen to partake in a 6 day retreat founded by the tireless efforts of the Pearce family (www.loveyourbrain.com).   At the camp Ari befriended the Pearce brothers, Kevin and his brother Adam.  It was at this camp that Ari met many people who have had to love their brains after sustaining diverse traumatic brain injuries. Gaining information about nutrition, practicing yoga and meditation while sharing stories helped everyone grow more and love more.

The diverse group of participants all shared one thing in common- sustaining head injuries and remaining positive.   The objective of the ‘Love Your Brain’ movement is to educate and advocate about a brain healthy lifestyle.  Ari returned from the retreat inspired and wanting to make a difference here in Vancouver.  Ari will be receiving mentorship from the inspiring founders and leaders of the Love Your Brain movement.

This fall Ari will be speaking to high school aged youth about Brain Health.  Ari intends to leverage his unfortunate head injuries to spread the message of ‘Loving Your Brain’ in preventing and coping with head injuries. There are far too many people in sport along with their coaches who do not understand the significant importance of suspending play until the individual is ready to return to play.

Learning to heal and to honour the brain’s compromised capacities is to -Love Your Brain, without compromise!!!

Please email Ari if you are interested in booking his Love Your Brain Presentation at ari.havusha@gmail.com

Yours in pro-active brain health, Debbie

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