A video dedicated to Mrs. Ailsa Steinert on her retirement after 46 years of teaching at Pingree School in South Hamilton, MA, Laura talks about Mrs. Steinert's influence and narrative methods in social policy research, and briefly reads from her book "Brain Injury Survivors: Narratives of Rehabilitation and Healing." Click here on or the narrative methods image above.
 

  Lorenz, L.S. (2012) Contesting Health Policy: Toward a utopian vision of community-based rehabilitation for brain injury. For the Section on Science, Knowledge and Technology Paper session: ’Neuro’: Interventions, Entanglements, Futures.” American Sociological Association (ASA) 2012 Annual Meeting, August 17-20th Denver Colorado (forthcoming).  For more information and a copy of the Abstract please click (here)
 

  Lorenz, L.S. (2012) Enacting emotional engagement with healing from brain injury: Taking photographs and writing text. For the panel “Disability, Voice and Power.” The Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), 2012 Annual Meeting, August 16-18th Denver Colorado (forthcoming). For more information and a copy of the Abstract please click (here)
 

Laura will facilitating a class, WGST 4160 – Health and Gender class as Guest Lecturer for Professor Mark Sherry. The talk is entitled: Experience and Practice with Visual Illness Narratives: Examples of Brain Injury Survivors. University of Toledo, Women's and Gender Studies (WGST), on March 26th 2012. For more information and a copy of the presentation please click (here).
 

Publications  Author. (2012). A Way into Empathy: A 'Case' of Photo-Elicitation in Illness Research. In J. Hughes (Ed.), SAGE Visual Methods. London: SAGE Publications. (forthcoming). Click here to read more information on our Presentations Page.
 

  Lorenz, L.S. (2012). Recovery stories: Shaping the policy image of addiction treatment. Oral presentation for the panel “Celebrating Elliot Mishler I: Performing Stories – Special Presidential Session.” at the 82nd Annual Meeting of the Eastern Sociological Society (ESS), New York City, February 24th, 2012.

Click here for more information of times, place, and links to the ESS conference.
 

The 2011 AMERSA Executive Board and Workshop Review Committee, chose Dr. Lorenz's workshop, Talking with Pictures: Concepts and Hands-on Experience, as the 2010 Best Workshop Award. The award will be presented during the Award Plenary Session of the 2011 AMERSA national meeting which will be held November 3rd-5th 2011 at the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel, in Arlington, VA.  Click here to read more information on our Lectures and Workshops Page.
 

Laura will be facilitating a class PHOTOVOICE: Speaking with Pictures. As Guest Lecturer, Informational Design and Visual Literacy, University of Massachusetts Boston, Instructional Design Program. For more information on this course and a copy of the presentation please go (here).

Laura will be giving a presentation 'Using Participatory Visual Methods in Social Science Research'. Lunchtime Lecture for Sustainable International Development MA Advanced Study and Joint Degree Students, At the Heller School for Social Policy & Management, Brandeis University, on October 24th 2011. For a copy of the presentation please go (here).
 

Lorenz, L.S. (2011). Using visual metaphors to communicate lived experience with an invisible injury. Oral paper presentation. Addiction Health Services Research (AHSR) 2011 conference. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University, Mason Inn and Conference Center, October 4. Click here to read more information from our Presentations Page.
 

  - Brain Injury X-Posed: The Survivor’s View PhotoVoice II

Members of the "Amazing" Brain Injury Survivor Support Group in Framingham, Massachusetts embarked on a 2nd new PhotoVoice Project entitled (PhotoVoice II). The exhibit was prepared by the participants and facilitators over eight-weeks and took place from September through December 2009...

View more this extraordinary 2nd PhotoVoice project by clicking here.
 

Congratulations!  Dr Laura S. Lorenz recent Special Problems Divisions election winner, elected division officer, Disabilities Co-Chair, 2011-2013 for the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP).
 

 Lorenz, L. S. (2011 May). Teaching empathy: Photos as narrative tools in clinical care for brain injury patients. Oral Paper. Teaching Narrative and Teaching through Narrative, International Conference, Nordic Network of Narrative Studies, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland, May 26th-28th, 2011

Abstract - (PDF) 37 Kilobytes
Presentation - (PDF) 1.42 Megabytes 

- The Lexington Minuteman Community Newspaper. 
  by Michael Phillis

 The Road to Recovery - Lexington Facility offers hope to Brain Injury Patients:
 

 'Lorenz is a partner in a new project at the Douglas House (Lexington, MA) that will enable researchers to test the effectiveness of various rehabilitation techniques on the recovery of TBI patients.'...  (PDF) 743 Kilobytes

 Lorenz, Laura S. (2011, Online February 18th). A Way Into Empathy: A 'Case' of Photo-elicitation in Illness Research. Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine, 15, 3, May 2011, pp 259-276, Special Number on ‘Another way of knowing: art, disease, and illness experience.’ Guest Editors, Alan Radley and Susan Bell.

Lorenz, L. S. and Chilingerian, Jon A. (2011). Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care. JoVE - Journal of Visualized Experiments (February 16th 2011).  Video (14:32 Min).  Read more by clicking here.
 

Hardcover 200 Pages
ISBN: 978-1588267283

Learn more about the book and order from: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Barnes & Noble, and more.

  “Incredibly important…. a must-read for people who care about brain injury. Lorenz provides a genuinely fresh way of allowing survivors to provide their own perspectives on life-change experience. This innovative and touching book will change the way we think about—and respond to—the experience of brain injury survivors.”  –Prof. Mark Sherry, University of Toledo

 "A well-conceived and beautifully written treatise. The book is clear and concise while still offering inspirational material that is obviously close to the author’s heart."—Cheryl E. Daugherty, Issues in Mental Health Nursing

 "Offers a sensitive, innovative, and client-centered approach to working with individuals suffering from TBI..."—C. Alexander Simpkins, Milton H. Erickson Foundation Newsletter

"Dr. Lorenz's book, Brain Injury Survivors, Narratives of Rehabilitation and Healing, lights a candle of hope for those who have suffered acquired brain injury--by definition any injury to the brain that occurs after birth and results in functional impairment. Her careful delineation of the effects of this hidden yet pervasive and insidious disability is compelling as well as educational. Her illuminating interviews together with her poignant stories of how survivors are coping illustrate the potential for healing available to those who suffer from this debilitating condition..." —Tasha Halpert Author, Amazon Review

Students and practitioners of rehabilitation therapies, medicine, social science, and social policy will find this refreshing book to be informative and useful. Brain injury survivors and their families will recognize their own experiences and find hope. Clinicians will discover a new approach to improving their care for persons with hidden disabilities.

Description: Although millions of people are affected each year by brain injuries, what it is like to live with these injuries is often misunderstood. Laura Lorenz delves into the experience of acquired brain injury (ABI) survivors to reveal how they make sense of their changed circumstances - and how social policies and medical expectations can enhance, or detract from, their quality of life.

 As she traces individual journeys on the road from diagnosis through rehabilitation, Lorenz evokes the reality of living with ABI. She also tackles the systemic problems undercutting the quality of current medical and social support. Moving beyond ABI, her work encourages a fresh approach to the patient-provider relationship for people with a wide range of disabilities... read more