Living with Head Injury

It have been a bless year for a person who have experience a Life changing injury
Living with Head Injury
Hello my name is Walter Hamilton, In 1990 I was working as an addiction Counselor and it was an excellent occupation; to see the addictive person came to believe- in a power greater then themselves. That was the best life I could live; helping someone who needs my help; a professional that God had blessed with insight for helping others out of the grip of addiction. In the same year I began my family with a loving wife and two children who were my world. I was buying my first home yes life was everything I had prayed it would be. In the process of preparing for the home and just when I was ready to come in to my dreams, on October 30th 1995 at 2:00pm I was in a car accident in which I suffered a head injury. Everything changed with my head injury; friends that I known for years, friends whose families were very close to my family, friends who shared good times and bad, because they didn't understand, these friends slowly abandoned the friendship, and for the lack of understanding my wife left me. I found myself not understanding my new world. I did not know what to do. I was relying on strangers to support me in this new world I was in. It was very problematic. I was going through crisis after crisis. I lost my independence, I could not go back to the profession I had grown to be loyal to or to the life I had grown to adore. My life- changing event created an unwanted feeling in me, I became a stranger in my own home, and to lifelong friends; I was a stranger as well. In the community I was treated like I did not speak the same language; so I tried my best to fit in. No matter what I did; I felt like an alien in my birth place. Because of my head injury I became a burden on society. Walking in the doors, of the Capital District Center for Independence Inc. I did not understand the nature of my head injury, I only knew it was getting in the way of my independence. It was a number of years before
found a little understanding of the results of my head injury. By encountering some brain injury programs, I learned a lot about surviving a head injury and the emotional problems that come from surviving such an injury but not about independence. The Center for Independence, supportive in helping me obtains my independence. Little by little I was opened up to the idea being a survivor of a head injury and becoming independent while participating in recovery It was important to me, to get back to work. In my job at the Center for Independence I have been working with Northeast Career Planning, an agency helping people with disabilities find employment, along with Vocational and Educational Services for Individual with Disabilities (VESED) in an occupation that fits my disability in my profession. Sadly, the profession that I was working in as an Alcohol Counselor was a problem with Northeast Career Planning placing a job coach and the problem with addiction program could not allow a job coach for legal reasons. An opportunity opened up for me to work at the Center for Independence as a peer advocate. Now I am on the road to independence, by supporting other survivors in becoming independent. The family at the center is a loving and caring one that supports me as I learn how to be supportive to other survivors. Now I feel like I have come full circle. I am depending more on myself, I have a better relationship with ex-wife, children and friends. I have the opportunity to lead a support group for survivors and be a peer advocate.