Ohio Valley Center for Brain Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation

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Substance Abuse and Brain Injuries

Community Teams

Community Teams and Brain Injury
Challenge of Teams
Purpose of Teams
Making Community Teams Work
Team Development
PDF Version of Community Teams

Al Nueron syas Community teams are ad hoc — they are created for a specific client, then disbanded when the client meets his or her goals.

Making Community Teams Work

A group of professionals at The Ohio State University's TBI Network are using ad hoc community teams as a way to plan and coordinate services for persons with traumatic brain injury.

Professionals who have worked on these teams say it is worth the effort because they have seen improvements for clients and families. The following practical guidelines are offered to help get started and keep community teams operating smoothly.

Take responsibility for forming the initial team. Thereafter, the responsibility should be equally shared.
Meet face-to-face initially and periodically afterward.
EVERY meeting should allow time to:
- address willingness to collaborate (expect some "storming").
- address turf issues — seek to understand each member’s goals, perspective, and needs.
- address roles and responsibilities — Who will facilitate and take notes? Who will keep the team on task and on time?
- facilitate the client's and family's involvement in the process — encourage participation and shape appropriate interaction.
- identify individual and shared goals —have everyone provide updates.
Decide how communication between meetings will occur (by phone, fax, mail or e-mail), and when and where the next meeting will occur.
Use the means of communication decided upon so that everyone is kept up-to-date.
Convene another meeting to respond to crisis (even better, to avert crisis) or if the involvement of team members seems to be waning.

Cartoon of Sara Bellum and another Team Member untangling Ed from computer cables. Sara says If we work together, we can make our systems compatible for Ed.