Patrina's Journey with TBI

Patrina ran into a wall during a childhood play and suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). She had a second TBI shortly after in a car accident. As a result, she had problems at school, mood swings, and experienced feelings of depression, fear, and anxiety. Although she did not receive treatment for TBI, she went on to have a great experience in school and developed a love for learning. More recently, her son experienced a concussion while playing football and began to show a lot of the same symptoms Patrina noticed in herself after her brain injuries. Currently, Patrina is a founder and clinical director of Totally Healed International, a counseling service started in North Carolina that helps those with TBI grow past their pain and trauma. She also has an organization called Crossroad Women and Family Services, which she uses to share resources for those with TBI that are confused on where to seek help.

Why does Patrina want to be an ambassador?

Patrina believes that if you have overcome a challenge or problem in your life, you have a responsibility to help someone else do the same. Not receiving proper treatment for her brain injuries and not understanding why she was having certain symptoms, Patrina wants to make the experience with TBI better for others. She finds it important to provide people with MSKTC’s practical, user-friendly, and evidence-based resources not only to well-inform them of their injuries, but to help them come out of hiding and see that they are not alone in this journey.

What does Patrina do as an ambassador?

Patrina has shared MSKTC’s resources with folks involved with her two organizations to educate them about TBI. She has ideas for ways to include MSKTC’s resources on the Crossroad Women and Family Services website. The website has an entire section dedicated to TBI where Patrina shares empowering and educational resources for those with the injury. She also plans to provide parents of children with TBI MSKTC’s resources and involve social media interns to help disseminate MSKTC’s resources across her organizations’ various platforms. She also plans to share MSKTC resources through her newsletters.