August 2020 Newsletter: Spotlight on BIND

BIND, or the Brain Injury Network of Dallas, is a great organization. In fact, I believe in this organization so much that I serve on their board of directors. It’s a clubhouse where people who have suffered from a brain injury can go and meet with others who have had a similar experience. BIND offers tools, resources, programs, and much more. It’s an incredible resource for our community.

BIND was founded by Valerie Gotcher in 2011. Valerie was a speech therapist and worked in medical rehabilitation for 10 years before founding BIND. In the 2000s, there came a tipping point. Valerie was facilitating a hospitalbased support group for patients who had suffered brain trauma. She frequently heard from former patients about how much they enjoyed these support groups, which typically met once a month. In fact, Valerie says the patients would remark that the meetings were often the highlight of their month.

Valerie was proud of the work she was doing in the support group but was concerned these former patients had little else to fill their calendar. In many cases, they were staying home and weren’t leading productive lives. The support group was helping, but something was missing. They didn’t know how to structure themselves outside of rehab or the group. As a result, they weren’t going to work, attending church, or being involved in their community. In short, they weren’t doing the things they used to enjoy.

After suffering a brain injury, a person’s physical health can decline, which is where rehab comes in. But the injury also has an impact on mental health. Many patients simply didn’t have their mental health needs addressed. Valerie wanted to do something about this. She spoke with leaders of other nonprofits and impacted families and decided to fix something that was clearly broken…