NEWS

Two recent publications have reported data supporting the efficacy of the TBIconneCT program. A publication in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research reports that this program improved the conversations between people with TBI and their communication partners (https://pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-19-00076). Another publication in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation reports that this program improved participants’ self-reported communication skills (https://doi.org/10.1097/HTR.0000000000000554).

The TBIconneCT program is available for purchase HERE

The WFNR Presidium is calling for people who are willing to join the WFNR Nominating Committee.  The task of this Committee is to nominate candidates for positions as officers of the WFNR.  All interested parties should send a letter of interest and short CV to traceymole@wfnr.co.uk by 17 April 2020.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 
The Nomination Committee of the World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation (WFNR) invites nominations for the positions of President Elect, Secretary-General and two Members at Large.  The positions will all become vacant in October 2020 when the current incumbents reach the end of their term of office.  WFNR is a multidisciplinary organisation and welcomes nominations from any member of the multidisciplinary team. 
General criteria for all nominees:

• Active member in good standing of WFNR
• Knowledgeable about WFNR’s mission and objectives
• Ability to demonstrate a special commitment to WFNR through tenure of membership and participation in the organisation
• Ability to accomplish tasks on schedule and to work effectively with other people
• Understanding and agreement to the necessary commitment of time and Presidium activities
  

As 2019 draws to a close, this affords the opportunity to reflect upon the year and plan ahead.  Since taking on the Presidency of ASSBI at the AGM in May 2019, I have appreciated with new eyes what a multi-faceted and vibrant multi-disciplinary Society we are.  With the Society concluding its 42^nd year since it was formed in 1978, it seems that a review of our activities is timely – indeed, well overdue.  Accordingly, we plan to conduct an external review of the Society (date to be announced).  In planning the review, I am working closely with the ASSBI Executive Committee, and in particular Jacinta Douglas, past President and Olivier Piguet, President-elect.  As part of the review, we welcome submissions from the membership.  Here is a snap-shot of who ASSBI is and what ASSBI does.

ASSBI is a multidisciplinary society dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with brain impairment and their families. ASSBI’s mission is to:

• enable all disciplines who work with people with brain impairment to meet, learn and discuss the latest clinical research initiatives in a scholarly environment
• provide high quality continuing education
• publish scholarly research via our journal Brain Impairment
• promote scientific rigour and evidence-based practice in the field of brain impairment
• encourage students to present, share and publish their work
• provide high quality assessment and treatment resources via ASSBI Resources

ASSBI Executive Committee activities include the following:

• a 16-member Executive Committee (chaired by Robyn Tate) with representation from all Australian states.  The Committee meets every two months by teleconference and oversees the day-to-day running and other activities of the Society. 
• a Publications Committee (chaired by Jan Ewing) which oversees the running of the official journal of the ASSBI, Brain Impairment (co-edited by Jenny Fleming and Grahame Simpson, with Petrea Cornwall and Cynthia Honan as associate editors).  The journal is published quarterly and has a 26-member Editorial Board.
• a Professional Development group (coordinated by ASSBI’s Executive Officer, Margaret Eagers, and MERS Events, with consultation from Barbara Zupan and Skye McDonald from the Executive Committee) that oversees the planning of a variety of continuing education activities, including:
• the annual 3-day conference, with invited international keynote speakers
• workshops (full- and half-day), incorporating face-to-face presentation and live streaming via Zoom, as well as available for purchase as MP4 to view later
• webinars (60 or 90 mins) streamed live via Zoom, also available for purchase as MP4 to view later
• a Student Ambassador programme which aims to recruit students from all Australian states.  As part of the programme there is a Student Coordinator (Jonathan Reyes) and Student Liaison Officer (Dana Wong).
• a Marketing arm, which includes:
• social media, with Twitter, Facebook (managed by Lizzie Beadle and Travis Wearne), and Linkedin (managed by MERS Events)
• the ASSBI Newsletter (coordinated by Margaret Eagers) produced quarterly
• the ASSBI website (managed by MERS Events)
• ASSBI Resources (managed by Skye McDonald and Margaret Eagers), contains assessment tools to download and/or purchase, treatment manuals to download and/or purchase, past workshops/webinars to download
• In addition, ASSBI has working parties that consider time-bound issues, such as consumer involvement (Michelle Kelly, Janet Wagland and Claire Ramsden)
• It also hosts BRAINSPaN, a community of practice network, curated by Dana Wong, Emmah Doig and Joanne Steele

• ASSBI fosters the next generation of clinicians and researchers and acknowledges outstanding achievement with a range of prizes, which are awarded at the annual conference:
• The Douglas and Tate Prize for the best research article published in Brain Impairment for the year
• Early Career Clinical Innovation Award for innovation in the field of brain impairment consistent with ASSBI’s mission (see above)
• Student Awards:
•           o   The Kevin Walsh Encouragement Award for the best Honours/Masters student presentation at the annual conference
•           o   The Luria Award for the best PhD presentation at the annual conference
•           o   The Travel Award for the best conference abstract

Again, I welcome your thoughts, ideas comments and submissions regarding the external review. I will keep the ASSBI membership updated about the external review via this newsletter. May I take this opportunity to send you season’s greetings and well wishes for an excellent year ahead.  And do enjoy reading this bumper Christmas issue of ASSBI’s Newsletter.

Robyn Tate, President  

University of Melbourne Clinical Neuropsychology Reunion 2020

It is with great delight that we invite you to the inaugural Master of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) Reunion.

The Master of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) at the University of Melbourne enjoys an excellent reputation as one of the premier clinical neuropsychology programs in the country and produces graduates with a detailed understanding of the affective, behavioural and cognitive manifestations of diseases of the central nervous system, particularly those affecting the brain, in adults and children.

It is with great delight that we invite all cohorts of the Master of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) to the inaugural Master of Psychology (Clinical Neuropsychology) Reunion for all University of Melbourne cohorts. Please join us as we reconnect with friends, make new friends and meet our current cohort of students.

The reunion will be held on the evening of Friday 14 February 2020 at University House at the University of Melbourne. We hope you will help us to spread this invitation as widely as possible through your networks so that nobody misses out.

In order to express your interest in attending, and to be added to the mailing list, please register your interest here: http://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/neuropsychalumni

Many thanks
Amy Bugeja | Project Manager (Advancement and Engagement)
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

We are happy to announce that Jamie Shine has had a beautiful baby girl, both Jamie and bubba are doing well

Our wonderful Social Media Officer Dr Lizzie Beadle has got married – congratulations Lizzie and Mark

In the October issue  of the Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre they discuss the conferences that MERRC academics, clinicians and students have attended and presented at. They celebrate their award winners, and outline recent publications. Click here to view HEADlines for October 2019

We have a new helper, Matthew has been recruited to help Margaret keep the website updated and is doing a great job. He has also got us very close to having the Online Store ready to go.

        Signing in whether you are a member or not will give you the opportunity to update your own information including your email address. It will also give you access to Brain Impairment if you are a member. If you want to change your email address login with your old email address or email Matthew to change it prior to you logging in. https://www.assbi.com.au

        We would like to collect stats such as your discipline and where you come from to get a better idea of our community.

        When your membership is due you will receive a couple of reminder emails and you can renew and pay online by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal if you have an account. You can also transfer your fees via the bank – if you do this email Margaret so she can put your payment through. NO CHEQUES PLEASE.

If you have anything you wish to go onto the site or have any feedback please email me at admin@assbi.com.au.

Matthew, Webmaster’s sidekick

I am writing my President’s report for this issue of ASSBI’s Newsletter just as Brain Injury Awareness Week (19-26 August 2019) is drawing to a close.  Acquired brain injury is often thought of as synonymous with traumatic brain injury arising from an external cause, but it includes a wider range of neurological conditions, such as stroke, brain tumour, hypoxia, degenerative disorders, cerebral infections.  Raising awareness about brain injury is important.  As we know, acquired brain injury is often described as the “invisible disability” or the “hidden epidemic”.  If signs and symptoms of acquired brain injury are not recognised by the general public, then interactions with the public can be misinterpreted as antisocial (cf. impaired self-regulation), drunken (cf. ataxic gait and slurred speech), rude and crude (cf. poor social skills, tactless communication). 

ASSBI uses a number of strategies to raise awareness.  Our Social Media team, headed by Dr Elizabeth (Lizzie) Beadle and Travis Wearne, has the most specific brief.   As Lizzie explains, “we recognize social media platforms as opportunities to engage not just the ASSBI community but also the public in general. One of the social media platforms we use is Twitter. Twitter is a ‘micro-blogging’ system where individuals can send and receive short posts. Twitter has become increasingly popular with academics, students, policymakers, politicians, and the general public. In healthcare, Twitter is used to connect researchers, health care providers, and consumers.”  Indeed, Twitter is popular, and it does connect. 

As part of Brain Injury Awareness Week, Lizzie and Travis seized the opportunity to use ASSBI’s established Twitter platform as a way to connect with others on this year's topic of Brain Tumour Awareness. They asked one of ASSBI’s advanced student members, psychologist Lee Cubis, to “takeover" the Twitter platform for the week and discuss his research in brain tumour and engage the community more broadly.  Lee reported that the strategy generated conversations about acquired brain injury, and specifically brain tumour.  Importantly it facilitated direct connections between people with brain injury and researchers.  Lee commented that it “led to some good, meaningful conversations that I think both sides appreciated”. Lizzie and Travis are compiling a list of people who wish to assist with future “ASSBI Twitter takeovers”, so do contact them if you are interested.

Speaking of Twitter, readers should know about a mixed-methods study hot off the press (published in the June issue of ASSBI’s journal, Brain Impairment) by ASSBI member, Melissa Brunner, and her colleagues (Bronwyn Hemsley, Stuart Palmer, Leanne Togher and Stephen Dann), entitled: ”If I knew what I was doing on Twitter then I would use it more”: Twitter experiences and networks of people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) (see DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/BrImp.2019.12).  Of course, the issue of cyberbullying is a down-side of social media and has had currency in the recent press. People with brain injury may be particularly vulnerable to cyberbullying - see also Melissa’s associated paper (Int J Lang Comm Dis, 2019, 54(2), 221-223) which, inter alia, discusses risks of social media.   Our ASSBI colleague in Melbourne, Dr Kate Gould, has been working with clients on the issue of cyberbullying and she runs advocacy training on the topic (see this Newsletter for further details). 

Social media stands in contrast to scientific journals which generally provide very limited and not readily accessible opportunities for consumers to join the conversation.   It provides powerful ways for researchers and clinicians to engage with and hear from consumers in an informal environment, as well as for consumers to have a voice and share experiences with each other.  And as this report shows, ASSBI and its “rising stars” are at the very forefront of important work in this area.

My very best wishes to you all,

Robyn Tate

President  

Our website has been improved to provide more information about all our products (check it out!) and to make it more accessible to people searching for evidence based resources on-line.  We have now introduced PDF versions of most of our products for local buyers as well as overseas. These cost less than the printed versions making them even more affordable. With 10% off for ASSBI and INS members, there is simply no reason not to stock up!

We are also excited to announce the publication of TBI ConneCT.  This program is based on the very successful TBI Express program but is suitable for use with individuals.  We have another manual in the works: PEPA – for assisting people with ABI increase their activity levels and meaningful goals. Watch this space as it will be available soon.

In another initiative, we have partnered with eValorix, a Canadian on-line company, to sell our MEC manual. Hopefully, this will provide a greater reach for this ASSBI Resource and is a toe in the water for us in terms of trying out international distribution networks. 

Last but not least we are now selling MP4s of previously recorded Workshops and Webinars  - have a look