A Peace of My Mind brought our process to the Brain Injury Association on Nebraska and asked, “What do you want your community to know about brain injuries?” The short answer is, “A lot.”

The room was filled with practitioners and advocates as well as people who had sustained and survived brain injuries themselves. And of course, sometimes those were the same people. I am forever encouraged by folks who face a challenging situation, find their way through it, and then decide to dedicate their lives to helping others who are facing similar circumstances.

Attendees were talking about best practices and how to shed light on an issue that has its fair share of stigma and prejudice attached to it. There was a screening of Forever Shaken, a short documentary film that follows the story of several young people who were victims of Shaken Baby Syndrome. Many of the folks who were profiled in the movie were in attendance at the conference, too.

Photographically, there were some new challenges to consider. One person was sensitive to light so she left her dark glasses on and we made sure to get the portrait in just a shot or two. One woman had Bell’s Palsy and didn’t like the way one side of her mouth drooped when she smiled. So I switched my light to the other side, featuring the smile she wanted in her profile shot. “I never like my pictures,” said another. But the answer was always the same. “This is a come as you are project. You are perfect just the way you are.” And we figured it out together.

Early in my career, I photographed a winter trip with a group called Wilderness Inquiry that takes people of all abilities on outdoor adventures. This particular trip brought people with traumatic brain injuries into the wilderness and let them ski and snowshoe and dogsled at their own pace and on their own terms.

At the end of the trip we all sat around a campfire and talked about our favorite memories. The message I heard most often from the participants was, “I got to find my own limits.” or “Nobody told me not to try something.” I suppose it’s natural…caring friends and family members tried to protect the people with traumatic brain injuries, but at a certain point, that protection became oppressive. Folks needed to make their own decisions and find their own path. Find their own voice.

The act of asking, “What do you need?” and “How can I help?” and then paying attention to the answers, is at the heart of the work we do with A Peace of My Mind. So we asked, basically, “What do we need to learn?”

And then we listened.