Traumatic Brain Injury
National Resource Center

The following is an on-line version of text from The Brain Injury Handbook:
A Guide for Rehabilitation Providers. Text and formatting have been modified for viewing in
various browsers. Look for a PDF version of selected Ideas in the coming months!

Idea # 11
Usually there is
more than one client.

You might decide to focus entirely on Mr. Haynes and his goals. You could validate Mr. Haynes’s concerns about the stress of working and the severity of his disability. After all, many older persons have a hard time making progress after an injury and a smaller proportion return to the work place. In good conscience, you should support his claim for medical disability retirement.

On the other hand, failing to consider the concerns of Mr. Haynes’s wife and the interests of your rehabilitation colleague could have grave consequences. Either one may begin to view you as uncaring and showing poor judgment. They may discourage other patients from seeing you and refer to others with "better therapy skills." Your support for Mr. Haynes’s retirement might be viewed as contradictory to the goals of rehabilitation.

Failing to address Mrs. Haynes’s concerns could create additional problems. She could:

		Withdraw her support for his participation in rehabilitation Become deeply distressed, discouraged, and depressed because of family role changes and increasing stress
Undermine your efforts to help him adjust and change his lifestyle
	Complain bitterly to you or about you regarding your poor judgment and failure to properly serve the client

In reality, the rehabilitation process would be far simpler if there was only one important client in every case, a single person whose needs, interests, and desires required our full attention.

Recognizing the viewpoints of significant others in every case helps preserve our good reputation and maintain our effectiveness. Typically, significant others include - persons who can support or be affected by the rehabilitation process; family members, friends, colleagues, persons who refer the patient, and persons who pay for treatment.

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Last updated - 10/02/2008