Cherie Phoenix, LABI's
founder and Executive Director, is in her seventh year working in the brain injury community and her fourth year as a member of the California Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Advisory Board.
Cherie is a zealous Independent Living and disability rights advocate. In his final days in office, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reappointed her to a second term on the State
Independent Living Council (SILC), where she serves as Chair of the Communications & Collaboration Committee. She is also the President of the Board of Directors of the Independent Living Resource Center, which serves the tri-county region.
More
locally, Cherie is Chair
of the Thousand Oaks Disabled Access Appeals & Advisory Board, Chair
of the Thousand Oaks Council on Aging's Senior Adult Master Plan
Transportation Committee, and a member of the Ventura County Veterans
Employment Committee.
Cherie lives in
Thousand Oaks with her husband and a menagerie of dogs, cats and birds. She has
a BA in English from UCLA and is still adjusting to the fact that her daughter
attends <shudder> USC. She is relieved that her son has balanced the scales by attending UC Santa Barbara.
Ryan Needham, LABI's Peer Counselor, sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in May of
2001 while he was a junior at UCLA (go Bruins!).
Ryan
has a real gift for connecting with people. He mentors survivors in
compensatory strategies and encourages them, with his quietly humorous
attitude, to reach a little higher than they think (or realize) they can.
He's
equally appreciative of the family's perspective, having spent plenty
of time working out the dynamics of living at home with his parents. He is ambidextrous and
able to help survivors and their caregivers better understand and support
each other.
Ryan
is highly motivated and continues to make progress, both physically and
mentally. In addition to his work with LABI and his ongoing "self-rehab," Ryan
volunteers at the library assisting young adults with developmental
disabilities in their reading.
Suzanne Carrillo,
LABI's Administrative Assistant, sustained her brain injury in
January, 2003 when she had surgery to remove a brain tumor, followed by
30 radiation treatments.
Despite
her permanent Impairments of severe fatigue, ataxia, vertigo, poor
memory, difficulty paying
attention, and major depression, Suzanne was determined to return to work so
she had "something of my own that was more than just taking care of my
husband and two sons."
In
addition, Suzanne is able to relate to consumers who use our services
because she uses compensatory tools and strategies -- support groups,
medications, paratransit -- herself.
Another benefit of LABI's employment of people with brain injuries is that we illustrate a key tenet of the Independent Living philosophy: Given
appropriate reasonable accommodations, many people with disabilities can
do the same jobs as people without disabilities (and do them as well or
sometimes even better).
Ask how she's doing these days and Suzanne says, "I am trying to accept the person I am
now and not compare myself to who I was before. I hope with therapy and time I
will come to terms with my limitations and have realistic expectations for
myself.”
