Our brains are one of the most adaptable and dynamic parts of the body. Brain injuries, however, can disrupt all facets of our lives from personality to relationships to how we move through the world. Even a minor concussion can have lingering effects to mood and executive functioning and attention that can slip under the radar. On this episode, I’m joined by a lived experiencer of traumatic brain injuries, Kayleigh Stack. She shares her story, not sparing any of the ups and downs and talks about managing pain and easing the nervous system.

In this episode we discuss:

• the lesser known impacts of traumatic brain injuries
• the importance of nervous system regulation
• types of treatments for TBI
• hyperbaric oxygen treatment
• dealing with chronic pain
• the power of story and resisting reductionist narratives

Bio

Kayleigh is an activist, artist, community steward, and medicine woman. Over the past ten years, she has orchestrated spaces for people to share recorded audios of poignant histories and stories oriented around critical social and political narratives to be presented in an Oral History Performance Initiative: The Community Storytelling Composition Project. Above all else, she believes that sharing personal stories has the power to restore humanity and resuscitate life back into one another when in need. Because “if we don’t share your stories, Who will?” (Mia Mingus 2018)

Most of her work focuses on socio-political discourse, drawing upon performance as a subversive tool to generate conversation around a particular poignant or charged subject. Her educational background spans degrees in Sociology from Hunter College, NY, Anthropology from SUNY New Paltz, NY, a Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine where she became a Licensed Acupuncturist, and Masters of Oral History at Columbia University. Professional accomplishments include getting onto the Cirque du Soleil roster of Circus artists in 2014, Dance Oral Historian Assistant in New York Public Library’s Library of Performing arts, Production Stage Manager with Roll the Bones Theatre at Dead Letter No. 9, Network Director of Zen Peacemakers International, and administration for a variety of reputable arts nonprofits. Currently she is Creative Learning Manager for the international civic production company, Forklift Danceworks. Outside of work, Kayleigh is often escaping into other worlds through reading, writing, or walking quietly in nature. Nowadays, mostly the latter.

Links

• Kayleigh’s  Linktree
• hyperbaric oxygen meta-analysis for tbi https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10072-015-2460-2 & https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/neu.2017.5225
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Resources:

• Find videos and bonus episodes: ⁠DEPTHWORK.SUBSTACK.COM⁠
• Get the book: ⁠⁠Mad Studies Reader: Interdisciplinary Innovations in Mental Health⁠
• Become a member: ⁠The Institute for the Development of Human Arts⁠
• Train with us: ⁠Transformative Mental Health Core Curriculum
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Sessions & Information about the host: ⁠⁠JazmineRussell.com⁠⁠

Disclaimer: The DEPTH Work Podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Any information on this podcast in no way to be construed or substituted as psychological counseling, psychotherapy, mental health counseling, or any other type of therapy or medical advice.