Since its founding last July, the Cariboo Brain Injury Support Group has only grown.
The group currently numbers around 30 members who meet regularly in person and online to offer one another support and resources in dealing with challenges brought about by brain injuries. It is something that group founder and Lac La Hache resident Mike Dewing loves to see.
“The reason I started this was to help people so to help so many people, in such a short time, feels good,” Dewing said. “I’m hoping five years from now to have a couple hundred people because I know that statistically there are more people (with brain injuries) around here.”
Dewing founded the group last year after suffering three-strokes in May of 2022 which damaged his ability to walk and talk properly. His goal was to bring together those, like him, who had been dealing with brain injuries on their own with little support. The group’s membership now includes people from Lone Butte, 100 Mile House, Williams Lake and Soda Creek.
Since its founding, Dewing has met with or sent letters to several levels of government including the District of 100 Mile House Council, the Cariboo Regional District Board and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo. Dewing said that after receiving his letter Caputo sent a group a certificate congratulating them for their formation.
“It’s kind of like a pat on the back. It’s easy to get a certificate, but I want money (for the group),” Dewing quipped with a laugh.
Right now Dewing said the club meets on the first and third Wednesday of every month at the 100 Mile United Church at 3 p.m. and the second and fourth Friday of the month in Williams Lake at the Cariboo Regional District Library at 1 p.m. He remarked they will also meet up infrequently at the Chartreuse Moose in 100 Mile and the Starbucks in Williams Lake once or twice a month.
“We have a good support system,” Dewing said.
The group has also begun to do regular speech therapy sessions over Zoom for people like Dewing with aphasia, a common side effect of a stroke. Dewing said he was inspired to do this after attending some speech therapy services in Kamloops. He spent 16 months on a waiting list to meet with the specialist who only spent five one-hour sessions with him virtually.
When Dewing asked if the specialist would be willing to include other people from the group on the call he declined, saying other people would have to talk to their family doctor and get on a waiting list. Finding this stupid, Dewing decided to organize something through the group on his own.
“When you have a speech impediment it’s very important to practice and talk,” Dewing said. “Today I’m better (at speaking) than I was six months ago and that’s because I practice.”
Talking with the other people with speech impediments in the group, Dewing said they decided to meet via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. to do speech exercises together. Each of them takes turns reading the exercises which can include listing the days of the week, colours and other simple exercises. Since they’ve begun Dewing said that people from Kelowna and Haida Gwaii have started participating as well.
Despite the success of the group Dewing remains humble simply describing himself as just “the stubborn old guy from Lac La Hache.”
The group officially gained non-profit status in September last year and gained a board of directors to govern it. Dewing said they’re currently working on gaining charity status so people can write off their donations and they can do some fundraising.
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Using any donations they receive, Dewing said the group would like to fund more programs for their membership. Right now Dewing and the other board members are thinking of organizing regular exercise classes. Dewing is currently working with a trainer from Vintage Athletics, noting that working out helps improve the neuroplasticity of your brain.
“There’s a lot of people in the membership that would benefit from exercise, so I’m working on developing a program. I’m not still sure if it’s going to be in person or virtually,” Dewing remarked. “In person would be better, that way you can touch someone and motivate them. The whole idea of the group is in-person contact.”
Dewing encourages anyone with a brain injury or who knows someone with a brain injury to get involved with the group. He said they can attend one of their regular meetings in 100 Mile House or Williams Lake or reach out to him via 604-202-1630.
“The more people who talk about the group and what it’s for, the more people that will join the group. That’s what I want.”