An Innovative Approach to Stroke & Aphasia Recovery: Part 2, Groups

One day long ago I found myself dancercising in the basement of a bingo hall.  This was, to make a gross understatement, way out of my newly single comfort zone. I was awkward at best and going the wrong way at worst, but I was in a group with 200 others trying to do the same thing. I went back, and found a community of people I had little in common with other than this shared experience. I worked harder because I saw them working harder. Soon I knew a few routines and was offering encouragement to newcomers. I was getting more confident; healthier.   You probably have a similar story – a group you didn’t expect to join but pushed you to be better.
Groups are powerful things – little organisms that wiggle and struggle, contract and expand, create and adapt. Those who need a hand get one; those who can lend a hand offer it.
In post-stroke rehabilitation efforts, the most common treatment model for those with communication and physical impairments is an individual session – 1 patient, 1 clinician – or parallel individual sessions with 1 clinician engaging with 2 – 3 patients at a time.  It is a paradigm of clinician as the expert and the patient as the student. The clinician expertly guides the tasks and shares strategies and practical information, but rarely shares themselves, despite the inherit intimacy of the rehabilitation task at hand.
In the medical community groups are frequently used for education, such as nutritional counseling for those with diabe...

Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - October 28, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Advocacy Women's Health Source Type: blogs