There Is MORE Meeting

There is More Support Groups are designed to be full participation.  We don’t have an instructor / classroom model, rather we use a facilitator / discussion group model.   Everyone is invited and encouraged to share, regardless of speech skills.  Caregivers and Family members are encouraged to come and take part in the discussions.

The average attendee is average to high functioning, or has a caregiver or family member who can assist the person in participating.

0-20 Minutes  New Introductions

We allow a few minutes for each newcomer to introduce themselves, their background and their hopes.  All attending members introduce themselves.

5-40 Minutes   Members urgent forum

Some members will have urgent stories that need to be shared in the group.  Since our groups are designed to help one another, we give great value to this time.

10-40 Minutes   Workshop Sessions

Every week, as time allows, we spend time on our workshop topics.  These are a few of our currently planned 2018 workshops.

Help! My Doctor’s a Pain and I cannot navigate the Insurance System!!!.  This will be crisis recurring workshop that will be visited as often as any members are in a crisis mode and crying our for help.

Fighting for the Old me.   Sessions Discuss when is it healthy or wise to fight to retain or gain back still that your stroke or brain disease took from you.  We talk about loss of work, independence, freedom, driving, sometimes respect, etc., and how you can retain and regain these dignities.

Finding the New ME, Replacement Therapy.  Just because you cannot do what your “old me” used to do is not an excuse to do nothing.  THERE IS MORE!  Sessions Discuss how to identify what you can do, that will create value, and make you a value and interesting person!

Role Reversals and Caregivers.  For much of your life, you may have been the provider, protector, or caregiver of your home.  Now you have depend on others to be your caregiver.  These sessions cover the range of challenges faced in role reversals and accepting care from others.  These sessions also cover how to appreciate and protect your caregiver’s emotions.

Dealing with Sensory Overload:  Sensory exhaustion and overload is major  to part of body and brain fatigue after brain injury. What we experience with our senses is essentially more information for our injured brains to try to process and organize.  The symptoms can be headaches, migraines, nervousness, isolation from noise, need to sunglasses indoors, pain when touched and more.  The triggers can be:

• Sounds that you barely noticed now will become alarming cause you to jolt.

• Background sounds and stimulating environments that quickly become overwhelming.

• Fluorescent and bright that are always too bright and cause headaches

• Clothing that was comfortable before feels irritating now.

• Large gatherings of people feel overwhelming.

• Hearing Multiple conversations at once are irritating

Tom Schuck established the There Is More Support Group. This is his story:

Before my stroke and brain injury, I held positions as Director of Information Services at a national medical monitoring company, owned a software company and was a part-time Pastor. After my brain injury and stroke, I found myself unable to do the things that had given my time meaning and my life purpose. After a short time, I fell into despair. I knew that there had to be something more. I was determined that I must find new things that I could do - new hobbies and activities. I looked for people that I could talk to who understood my frustration and the physical pain of everyday living of the aftermath of stroke and brain injury. If the doctors could not repair my brain, I was going to “fix me.”

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Tom Schuck is still unable to work, yet through the help of a loving wife and family, he enjoys life.  He actively seeks to increase involvement in the There Is More Support Group to help others with their new life transition.  He loves sailing and does it as often as he can.  Tom and his family live in Connecticut.

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Tom Schuck has written several books about living with stroke and about his favorite animal - the squirrel.

This book deals with the depths of depression that many survivors of stroke and brain injury go through, whether they are able to express it for themselves or not.

The book ends abruptly, without hope, at the end of despair - for that is a common a experience. In fact, the primary reason for the book was to bring hope and healing through the understanding that the pain the reader is going through IS a common experience.

In my sequel Building a New Me. Search for Spiritual Meaning After Stroke/Brain Injury, I discuss my journey away from the depression and finality of the first book, into answers and solutions. The sequel is NOT about roses and platitudes, because the pain never goes away, it is about successes in building a new me.

Click here to view or purchase.

A Brain Injury/Stroke Survivor continues his survival story as he discusses the need for spiritual meaning when rebuilding life after catastrophic loss.

Click here to view or purchase.

VIEW ALL OF THE BOOKS BY STROKE SURVIVOR AND AUTHOR TOM SCHUCK. CLICK HERE.