Marin Brain Injury Network

Here at Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery, we believe no one should be alone after a brain injury and that everyone deserves to have access to the rehabilitation and support they need to live their best life possible - for as long as they need it and regardless of their ability to pay. Our goal is to pick up where the healthcare system leaves off to help survivors and their family members adjust to life changes, improve their abilities, and ultimately, thrive. We fill gaps in the continuum of care with an array of services that are not offered anywhere else in our area, and that are, according to current neuro-rehabilitative knowledge, known to be effective in helping brain injury survivors improve their abilities. Our programs are unduplicated in our area and are developed in response to the needs of the community and the people we serve. If a service is identified as being needed and not available anywhere else in our area, we strive to develop and offer it.

More people than ever before are surviving head trauma. Our brain has the amazing ability to heal with ongoing treatment. But, often survivors are sent home too early after initial rehabilitation and without the adequate support and follow-up care they need to thrive, even though they may be capable of continued improvement. Lack of rehabilitation can lead to an overall decline in quality of life, disabilities, declining abilities, depression, isolation, and re-hospitalization. We help brain injury survivors:
-- Increase functional abilities
-- Reduce isolation
-- Reintegrate people in the community
-- Improve mood disorders
-- Increase self-esteem
-- Support coping with loss
-- Increase independence
-- Improve patient outcomes
-- Decrease re-hospitalization
-- Enhance relationships
-- Connect people with the community resources they need to live their best life, such as food, housing, and pathways back to work

Schurig Center offers an array of rehabilitative and supportive services that pick up where the healthcare system leaves off to help people not only survive but thrive after brain injury. Services are offered with an individualized, holistic approach designed to support cognitive, social, psychological, physical, and spiritual well-being. This individualized approach enables our center to serve a range of abilities and needs. We also offers scholarships funded by community support to ensure everyone has access to life-changing services, regardless of their ability to pay for service.

Based on neuroscience and current rehabilitative knowledge, Schurig Center's programs have come to be known as a model in the field of brain injury recovery. Our center is unique in its ability to serve the specific needs of brain injury, concussion, and stroke survivors thanks to our staff of experienced, knowledgeable brain injury experts.

To ensure our programs stay in step with current trends in the field of brain injury rehabilitation, we consult quarterly with our clinical sub-committee and Board members, many of whom are medical professionals, regarding the design and implementation of all services. We also continually assess the needs of our community and respond by creating new services as needed, ensuring that we only offer services that are not offered elsewhere in our area.

Schurig Center benefits from sustaining partnerships with numerous organizations. We utilize these partnerships in the areas of service provision, consultation, education, sharing resources, assessing community need, and inclusion on our leadership team. Some of our partners include:

-- ConcussionSmart Marin
-- Sutter California Pacific Regional Rehabilitation Center
-- Kaiser Permanente
-- NeuroRestorative
-- College of Marin
-- Golden Gate Regional Center
-- Department of Rehabilitation
-- Dominican University
-- Health and Human Services of Marin County
-- Kentfield Rehabilitation Hospital
-- Marin County Office of Education
-- Marin General Hospital
-- Marin Link
-- Marin Stroke Consortium
-- Mt. Diablo Memory Center, Sutter Novato Community Hospital
-- Stress Management Center of Marin
-- University of California San Francisco

In 1975, Karen Schurig's life was dramatically changed when her daughter, Lis, suffered a traumatic brain injury at age 14 from a car accident in Mill Valley, CA. Lis survived, but required full-time care. Karen had neither the know-how nor the income to support her injured child. She was forced to navigate this new reality alone during an era when the understanding of brain injury was limited and there were no services to help them navigate this new normal. Smart, fearless, and determined, Karen founded Marin Brain Injury Network (MBIN) in 1985 to help others adjust to a changed life after brain injury. She began by gathering survivors and their families to create an extended web of support. Over the next 24 years, she built a trusted hub of diverse, specialized brain injury services. Karen passed away in 2009, but her loving legacy lives on.

Today, MBIN is known as Schurig Center for Brain Injury Recovery. What was once a loose network of advocates has become a permanent facility staffed by a team of dedicated professionals providing an array of services not available anywhere else in our area.