BIAAZ Welcomes Speech Pathologist as Support Group Co-Facilitator
By Christina Eichelkraut
Jessica Mauro, a speech pathologist with Chandler Regional Medical Center’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, fell in love with speech therapy the moment she saw a speech therapist help a patient.
She knew she wanted to channel her passion for helping others into working in healthcare. After attending a job fair with her grandmother, she set up a few appointments to shadow various healthcare professionals – a nurse and a few other positions.
But when Jessica saw the speech pathologist working, everything clicked into place.
“I find that communication and memory, and all those skills we work on in speech therapy are so essential to our day-to-day lives.”
BIAAZ Welcomes Speech Pathologist as Support Group Co-Facilitator
By Christina Eichelkraut
Jessica Mauro, a speech pathologist with Chandler Regional Medical Center’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center, fell in love with speech therapy the moment she saw a speech therapist help a patient.
She knew she wanted to channel her passion for helping others into working in healthcare. After attending a job fair with her grandmother, she set up a few appointments to shadow various healthcare professionals – a nurse and a few other positions.
But when Jessica saw the speech pathologist working, everything clicked into place.
“I find that communication and memory, and all those skills we work on in speech therapy are so essential to our day-to-day lives.”
“When I watched the speech therapist work with her patients I was like, ‘Wow, I’m really passionate about that,'” Jessica said. “I find that communication and memory, and all those skills we work on in speech therapy are so essential to our day-to-day lives.”
Her work eventually led her to work with a number of patients post traumatic brain injury, or TBI, who felt isolated in their experiences during recovery.
“A lot of patients who had sustained a brain injury felt that they didn’t have that support system, and a lot of their family and friends weren’t able to understand what they were going through in a way that somebody that’s been through something similar can relate to,” Jessica said.
That’s when she reached out to the Brain Injury Association of Arizona to ask about getting help to start a support group or learn what supports groups already existed. She was glad to hear that BIAAZ already had nine support groups in place.
“I sat in on a couple and thought they were wonderful,” Jessica said. “They have a lot of attendees and everyone participates.”
Now, Jessica is co-facilitating two of BIAAZ’s groups, the women-only She Shed group and the East Valley Virtual Support Group.
“I think it’s great because everyone has a different perspective and a different idea to bring to the table,” Jessica said. “And everyone else can kind of feed off of that, learn from it, and provide their own experiences. And it just gives a sense of community that you can be lacking without the support group.”
In her free time, Jessica enjoys spending time with her husband and two-year-old child. She especially enjoys hiking, travel, and water activities.
BIAAZ offers nine support groups for survivors of all types of brain injury as well as caregivers and loved ones of survivors.
For more information or assistance registering, reach out to info@biaaz.org, call our Helpline at 888-500-9165, or text 520-310-3301.
Christina Eichelkraut is a recovering print journalist who founded Christina Copy Co. in 2011. When her keyboard isn’t clacking, she bakes complex artisan bread, nerds out on political science, uses her fountain pens to write to pen pals the world over, and reads long past her bedtime in a joyful disregard of her alleged adulthood. Christina earned her B.A. in Mass Communications with an emphasis in print journalism in 2006 from Franklin Pierce University.
ABOUT BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION OF ARIZONA
The Brain Injury Association of Arizona (BIAAZ) is the only statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of adults and children with all types of brain injuries through prevention, advocacy, awareness and education. BIAAZ also houses the Arizona Brain Health Resource Center, a collection of educational information and neuro-specific resources for brain injury survivors, caregivers, family members and professionals.
What began in 1983 as a grassroots effort has grown into a strong statewide presence, providing valuable life-long resources and community support for individuals with all types of brain trauma at no charge.