About Us: Orlando Brain Injury Support

Who We Are & What We Do

The Orlando Brain Injury Support Group has been the recreational brain injury (BI) awareness outlet since 1988 for BI survivors, family and advocates with community speakers and resources.

Our Mission is to Build Brain Injury Awareness through knowledge and partnership. Together we can each build a strong link in the chain of BI recovery through friendship and support.

Taken at the October, 2008 meeting

The Main Purpose of the Orlando Brain Injury Support Group is to provide a safe environment where Brain Injury survivors can give each other support, share their individual needs and establish friendships by meeting others who face similar challenges.

It is important to help build "Brain Injury Awareness" for 210,000 people that live in Florida with TBI and for the thousands of veterans that sustained a TBI in the war.

We promote brain injury survivors to be proactive in their recovery. We are not Enablers. We provide resources to choose from in hopes of a successful positive productive result for our community and to reflect the benefits we as brain injury survivors have to offer our society, concentrating on what we "can do" which strengthens the links in the chain of brain injury recovery. Together our voices echo forward with love in peace for all.

We hold Monthly Meetings on the 3rd Wednesday at 7-9PM at the Major William Beardall Senior Center located at:
800 Delaney Ave. Orlando 32801
(corner of Gore Ave and Orange Ave) See Map

We have educational speakers from the community. We share community resource information and plan recreational time.

All Brain Injury (BI) Survivors, Family & Friends are Welcome!

Membership Requirements/Expectations

The requirements for OBIS membership are as follows:

Attend OBIS monthly meetings
Encourage Brain Injury Association of Florida (BIAF) membership
Suggest Attendance at BIAF yearly Jamboree
Encourage participation on http://www.tbisurvivorsnetwork.ning.com
Volunteer for fund raising and special events
Network with another group, organization or company in community in an effort to build brain injury awareness

Our History

The Orlando Brain Injury Support Group (OBISG) was founded in 1981 by the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Center located at the Orlando Regional Medical Center. Then the meetings were held at the St. Luke’s Episcopalian Church. Mayor Bill Fredrick and Council Member Glenda Hood on November 16, 1986 dedicated the former Delaney School to become the Mayor William Beardall Senior Center. The Mayor William Beardall Senior Center officially adopted OBISG as a permanent program, providing a place to meet two hours a month.

The oldest documented past Chairperson of the Orlando Brain Injury Support Group is Billie Jansick. Since Billie there have been others such as: Alvin Vicknar, Nancy White, Gregg Smith, Quyless Force, Rob Fiedler, Orlando Torres, and currently serving is Marie-Terese Henderson.

OBISG Members from day one have served as officers and have continued to be faithful supportive attendees, and have faithfully supported the OBISG over the years.

William Beardall was Mayor of Orlando from 1941–1952 and was a member of the St. Luke’s Episcopalian Church. He died in 1984 at the age of 94. His son Jack Beardall attends brain injury support groups because he sustained his traumatic head injury in 1954 from an automobile accident.

The Orlando Brain Injury Support Group is just one of the many brain injury support groups in Florida. For a complete listing of support groups you can visit the Brain Injury Association of Florida web site at http://www.biaf.org.

The Brain Injury Association of Florida was established in 1985 and has always been there to provide guidance, education and entertainment by having the annual Brain Injury Survivor and Family Jamboree at the Cantenberry Retreat in Oviedo. Lynn and Kelly from BIAF Apopka office.