Employment After Traumatic Brain Injury

About the Webcast

The Center on KTDRR is collaborating with the American Institutes for Research to support webcasts and a Community of Practice that examine issues and challenges around evidence-based practice and vocational rehabilitation (VR). This is the sixth in a series of webcasts that examine the links between VR research and practice. A dialogue with a researcher, a state head injury coordinator, and a VR practitioner examines the research, policy and VR practice surrounding return to work following a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The webcast follows the thread of the relationship between research and practice as it relates to supporting the return to work of individuals following a TBI. The webcast organizers do not mean to endorse specific interventions as an appropriate approach for VR, but rather to explore how research has been conducted and applied, through training, to inform VR practices.

For more information about returning to work after a TBI, please see KTER Center Technical Brief #6 (2016), Highlights from a KTER Center Systematic Review: Employment Interventions for Return to Work in Working Aged Adults Following Traumatic Brain Injury

View the Archive:

  1. This webcast originally aired via YouTube on March 25, 2015. You do not need a YouTube account to view the video:
    http://youtu.be/dVjg1YO6c6U (opens new window)

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  2. Edited transcript of the presentation (MS Word™ DOCX)
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About the Presenters

Photo of Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, PhD, ABPP

Jeffrey S. Kreutzer, PhD, ABPP, is a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Medical College of Virginia Campus. He serves as Director of Virginia's federally designated Traumatic Brain Injury Model System and coordinates VCU Health System outpatient services for persons with brain injury. A founding member of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia, Dr. Kreutzer has more than three decades experience developing, providing, and evaluating brain injury services. He has published more than 160 peer reviewed papers, many focused on return to work and supported employment. Dr. Kreutzer is the Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology, and in 2010 he received the Distinguished Lifetime Contribution to Neuropsychology Award from the National Academy of Neuropsychology. In September 2013 he received the North American Brain Injury Society Award for Innovations in Treatment.

Photo of Alyssa Bonser, BA

Alyssa Bonser, BA, is a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist with over 13 years of experience in the field of human services. She earned her BA in Sociology and Criminal Justice from East Stroudsburg University in 2000. Ms. Bonser is currently completing her master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling at George Washington University. She has worked for a local community rehabilitation provider where she served individuals with disabilities in various capacities, including job developer, job coach, case manager and lead coordinator. In 2005, she joined the State of Maryland’s Division of Rehabilitation Services as a Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist. In this role, she assists individuals with disabilities to achieve economic self-sufficiency and independence. From 2008 through 2011, Ms. Bonser participated in the Governor’s Employment Initiative for Individuals with Acquired Brain Injury, and continues to specialize in a caseload serving this population. Ms. Bonser is involved in other state work groups including Division of Rehabilitation’s Policy Review Committee, and the agency’s Case Management Focus Group.

Photo of Maria Crowley, MA, CRC

Maria Crowley, MA, CRC has worked for the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services for 25 years, currently serving as the State Head Injury Coordinator for the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services. She is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she earned her Bachelor of Science and Master in Rehabilitation Counseling degrees. Mrs. Crowley manages the Department’s Head Injury Services, statewide Head Injury Task Force, the Impaired Drivers Trust Fund Advisory Board, the Alabama Head & Spinal Cord Injury Registry, and is the Project Director for the current TBI grant. She is past president and current Board Member of the National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA) Board of Directors, and serves on many other statewide committees, including the Alabama Trauma Registry Task Force and the Alabama Coordinating Committee for Disability Surveillance and Research. She served on the board of Ms. Wheelchair Alabama, Inc. for many years and is a co-founder of the Birmingham Area Governor's Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities.