Headway is a CARF-accredited community integration program for post-9/11 veterans living with a traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, or other neurological condition. We work with warriors and family support members to maximize independence, improve skills, and build supportive networks. Veteran participants have the opportunity to receive community-based occupational therapy, engage creatively, build practical and vocational skills, spend time in the community, participate in recreational and wellness activities, and more with their fellow veterans weekly.
The program offers transportation of non-resident participants to and from sessions and all offsite activities, providing respite support to family members and caregivers who are invited to additional support through dedicated caregiver programming. By participating in Headway, the entire veteran family unit will have new support to help them grow closer, happier, and healthier together.
Headway was born within the Bastion community here in New Orleans. Thanks to the continued support of Wounded Warrior Project, Bastion established our first expansion site with the opening of Headway-San Antonio, bringing this program’s unique model of community-based reintegration and care to the TBI-affected veterans of “Military City USA.” Bastion is so proud to expand this signature program to veterans hubs around the country where we can serve those who will benefit from the community support and individualized services that the Headway model provides.
Our Headway team consists of Clinical Director Rachel Schwenk, LOTR; Occupational Therapist Caity Bower, LOTR; Program Director Allison Tebbe, CRC, CBIS; and Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant Macy Parker. This team is often joined by an occupational therapy intern from Louisiana State University’s Health Sciences Center. Rachel and Caity supervise occupational therapy interns as they work with our Headway participants, facilitate wellness education sessions, and observe Bastion’s occupational therapy experts in action. Through the Headway program, Bastion contracts community-based providers that provide adaptive yoga, music therapy, art therapy, and other therapeutic and recreational activities. Through community partnerships like Recirculating Farms, our Headway veterans have the opportunity to engage with other local nonprofits both at Bastion and in the broader New Orleans community.
“Angry, bitter, lost, and unable to control my emotional and mental health, Headway was a cornerstone of my adaptation and recovery of a Traumatic Brain Injury while in the military.
The empathy and care I received from the staff was exceptional, and the brotherhood of the other servicemembers and veteran who were with me in this journey only hardened my resolve to accept these circumstances and become healthier in body and in spirit.
There is no doubt or question, I would not be here today, a better father and transitioned veteran, without the exceptional care provided by the Headway family.”
– Adam Van Hoozer, Marine Corps Veteran & Headway Graduate
