Synopsis

CONCUSSIONS RESULTING FROM CONTACT SPORTS ARE A HOT TOPIC TODAY BUT ONLY 20% OF THE MORE THAN 1.7 MILLION TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES (TBIS) OCCURRING ANNUALLY IN THE US ARE ATTRIBUTABLE TO SPORTS.

While no two TBIs are alike, certain after effects are common: exhaustion, lack of focus, short term memory loss, emotional lability, lack of inhibition leading to socially inappropriate behaviour, inability to concentrate and/or follow instruction, mood swings, depression, hearing voices… And they take their toll.

Derrick suffered his first concussions as a young boy who loved to box, but it was head injury from a car accident that assuredhis downward spiral into addictions and crime. According to recent surveys, 60-80% of the prison population and 53% of homeless have suffered brain injuries. After brain injury 90% of marriages end in divorce, ‘self- medication’ though substance abuse is rampant and the suicide rate increases fourfold. The resulting cost to society is immeasurable. And yet once the brain injury survivor leaves hospital there is very little help out there.

Following Derrick’s inspiring story, and those of other brain injury survivors, A Change of Mind demonstrates how broken lives can be re-built and damaged brains re-freshed, through new approaches to helping survivors, through science and through a change in societal attitudes and legal reforms.

TEAM