Mind Your Brain @ RHRW 2024

Opening Remarks

Dr. Kelley Crozier – ARU Medical Director

Keynote Speaker

Tom Sweitzer  – MTT, MT-BC – Tom is Co-Founder, Creative Director and Head of Music Therapy at A Place to Be, a non-profit organization serving over 300 families weekly, offering music therapy in Northern Virginia. Tom holds a B.F.A. in Music Theater, a Graduate Certificate in Music Therapy from Shenandoah University and a master’s in music therapy from Berklee College of Music. Tom has created several therapeutic musical productions that focus on acceptance, diversity and empathy that tour schools and have been performed regionally. His Rock Opera about Suicide prevention, A Will to Survive, performed at the Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center. He often is seen as a guest with famed Opera Singer star Renee Fleming, offering his expertise for the National Institute of Health’s “Sound Health” events.

Trusted Medical Fundraising

Sonny Mullen, Director of Outreach at Help Hope Live – Sonny Mullen is from the Philadelphia area and spent the first part of her career in New York City working in television. She joined Help Hope Live in 2016, first working in the Finance Department and is now proudly the Director of Outreach, helping to build the Outreach department to bring Help Hope Live’s mission to a wider audience. With a personal connection to Help Hope Live’s mission, Sonny is happy to use her experiences to connect and speak with individuals in the disability community all over the country, with the goal of helping them safely fundraise for their medical and related expenses.

Traumatic Brain Injury and Visual Dysfunction

Dr. Amanda S. Legge- Doctor of Optometry, special interest in Retina Disease and acute Neuro-Eye Care

11:00 am – 11:40 am

Dr. Silke Bernert, M.D. – Program Director of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at RHRW, Physiatrist, “TBI Recovery – It Takes a Team” – expertise in post-acute care transitions, acquired brain injury care through the continuum, and acute care rehabilitation and mobility.

Mindfulness & Meditation for TBI Survivors and Caregivers

Song & Story during lunch

Cristabelle Braden – Founder of Hope After Head Injury. Hope After Head Injury began simply as a social media page centered on hope for brain injury survivors, started in 2012. It has since organically grown into an active, vibrant online community of thousands of survivors and caregivers. The community grew as founder and survivor Cristabelle Braden gained a following for her video blogs, where she candidly speaks about the daily struggle of life with brain injury. Her beautiful message of hope written into original music (Hope Survives), and her gift to grow and foster relationships and connection between survivors and caregivers.

ALL DAY Resource tables in the lobby

About Our Guest Speakers

Tom Sweitzer (Keynote) – MTT, MT-BC – Tom is Co-Founder, Creative Director and Head of Music Therapy at A Place to Be, a non-profit organization serving over 300 families weekly, offering music therapy in Northern Virginia. Tom holds a B.F.A. in Music Theater, a Graduate Certificate in Music Therapy from Shenandoah University and a master’s in music therapy from Berklee College of Music. Tom has created several therapeutic musical productions that focus on acceptance, diversity and empathy that tour schools and have been performed regionally. His Rock Opera about Suicide prevention, A Will to Survive, performed at the Terrace Theater at The Kennedy Center. He often is seen as a guest with famed Opera Singer star Renee Fleming, offering his expertise for the National Institute of Health’s “Sound Health” events.

Tom received the title Loudoun County Humanitarian of the Year in 2014 and in that same year was invited as a guest to the White House for his work with disabilities. A Place to Be and Tom was awarded “Best Music Therapy Provider of the Year” by the American Music Therapy Association in June 2017. In 2019 he won the Blair County Arts Hall of Fame Award. Throughout Covid he facilitated a nation-wide on-line support group featured both on NPR and ABC news. Tom is a subject of the documentary, “Music Got Me Here,” along with one of his hero, Forrest Allen, a young man with Traumatic Brain Injury who found his voice and courage through Music Therapy. “Music Got Me Here” can be streamed on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. The Hollywood “narrative” film of “Music got Me Here,” is in development with Producer, MGM’s Irwin Wrinkler, and “Bend it like Beckham’s,” Director Gurinder Chadha, starring Netflix’s “Outer Banks” star Chase Stokes as Forrest. Tom’s role will be announced Fall/ Winter 2023. He is honored to be a contributing author to Renee’ Fleming’s book “Music and Mind,” releasing April 2024.

Tom’s one-man show “20 Seconds,” about his childhood had a rousing and successful run at Signature Theater, Off-Broadway in New York, 2023. Tom is dedicated in growing A Place to Be and its mission to help people face, navigate, and overcome life’s challenges through Music Therapy, Expressive Arts, and Performance. He enjoys inspiring, entertaining, and educating while presenting in front of audiences as an Actor, Thought Leader and Music Therapist.

Dr. Amanda S. Legge – Doctor of Optometry, special interest in Retina Disease and acute Neuro-Eye Care

Sonny Mullen, Director of Outreach at Help Hope Live – Sonny Mullen is from the Philadelphia area and spent the first part of her career in New York City working in television. She joined Help Hope Live in 2016, first working in the Finance Department and is now proudly the Director of Outreach, helping to build the Outreach department to bring Help Hope Live’s mission to a wider audience. With a personal connection to Help Hope Live’s mission, Sonny is happy to use her experiences to connect and speak with individuals in the disability community all over the country, with the goal of helping them safely fundraise for their medical and related expenses.

Dr. Silke Bernert, M.D. – Program Director of Brain Injury Rehabilitation at RHRW, Physiatrist, expertise in post-acute care transitions, acquired brain injury care through the continuum, and acute care rehabilitation and mobility.

Michael Francis Wright – Reiki Master,Traumatic Brain Injury Survivor. Michael Francis Wright was a senior in high school when he survived a TBI in a car accident in April 1996. Since then he has been recovering organically; graduated from High School with his senior class that year, finished a Bachelors of Humanities degree in Interdisciplinary humanities, and sought new knowledge & skills, through earned certifications as a Reiki Master Teacher, Mindfulness-Based Stress Relief & Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Trainer, Ericksonian Hypnosis & NLP, and as a Employment Specialist & Social Supports Professional.

Cristabelle Braden – Founder of Hope After Head Injury. Hope After Head Injury began simply as a social media page centered on hope for brain injury survivors, started in 2012. It has since organically grown into an active, vibrant online community of thousands of survivors and caregivers. The community grew as founder and survivor Cristabelle Braden gained a following for her video blogs, where she candidly speaks about the daily struggle of life with brain injury. Her beautiful message of hope written into original music (Hope Survives), and her gift to grow and foster relationships and connection between survivors and caregivers. She began to receive invitations to bring the message of Hope After Head Injury to brain injury conferences, support groups, and rehab centers, and has traveled all over the country speaking, singing, and spreading brain injury awareness. Cristabelle is now a respected advocate in the brain injury community. She is a new member of the Board of  Directors for the Council on Brain Injury and a sought after speaker for keynote presentations at brain injury conferences.