The 4th Annual Black Hills Brain Injury Conference was held on May 7th & 8th, 2009 at the Ramkota Hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Brain injury survivor and author PJ Long, Dr. Thomas Bergquist and Dr. James Malec were a few of our nationally renowned speakers. 

8.5 Approved CEUs were available for LPCs and CRCs

Featured Conference Presenters and Topics:

PJ Long is a counselor and advocate for troubled children, a therapist, teacher, lecturer, and author. But for several years following a terrible fall in 1999, PJ was none of these things: in the aftermath of her accident she found herself deprived of almost all cognitive skills. She struggled with exhaustion, with vanished memory, with physical debility, with the inability to perform even the most basic skills, and with despair. Diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), she fell into a long twilight world in which hope itself seemed vanquished. For PJ, for her husband, her children and her friends it seemed that the vibrant, capable and generous woman they had known and loved might be lost forever. After four years of recovery came further blows: breast cancer, and then, the more common but no less painful blow of divorce. 

Before the accident in 1999, PJ was a psychotherapist in private practice, an adjunct college professor, and business consultant. She holds dual masters degrees, one in interpersonal communication and a second in psychology and spirituality. Her undergraduate work included studies in England and Japan. During her nearly twenty-year career in social services, PJ at various times worked at an orphanage in Bangladesh; counseled Saudi women leaving harem life; performed crisis intervention for troubled teens; led parenting groups; and consulted with corporations, hospitals, police, schools, and others. 

The story of how PJ found in herself and with the support of family and friends the light and the strength to rebuild a life is told in her acclaimed autobiographical book, Gifts From the Broken Jar. Details, reviews, reader comments on the book, and ordering information can be found in the links below, as well as information on PJ's workshops and lectures. In all that she does today, PJ remains uniquely able and committed to passing on the insights that she has found to others facing terrible journeys of their own.

Thomas Bergquist, Ph.D., L.P., ABPP is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Mayo College of Medicine and Program Director of the Mayo Brain Injury Outpatient Program.  He is board certified in Clinical Neuropsychology.  He has given numerous regional, national and international presentation in the areas of brain injury rehabilitation and disability, and has authored several publications in rehabilitation and medical journals.  He is a co-investigator of a NIDDR funded study on use of the Internet to deliver cognitive rehabilitation services to rural populations.  He presented on Evidence Based Research in Cognitive Therapy and Mayo Clinic's most recent findings in Telerehabilitation.

James Malec, Ph.D., ABPP is Research Director for the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana Foundation and Professor Emeritus, Mayo Clinic.  He is Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology and in Rehabilitation Psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology.  He has received a number of professional recognitions, including the Lowman Award from the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine for interdisciplinary contributions to rehabilitation, and the Career Service Award from the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota.  He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications as well as other professional publications and continues to conduct research in brain injury rehabilitation and other areas of neuropsychology and behavioral medicine.  He presented on Specialized Approaches to Vocational Rehabilitation and Re-Integration After Brain Injury.