After the acute care phase of their treatment, many trauma survivors face uncertainty. Will they get their old lives back? Or do they face changes that will lead them down a new path in life? It can be difficult to find the answers to these questions and face the challenges that lie ahead.
NextSteps is an interactive program that helps those recovering from serious traumatic injury to manage their lives after injury. It starts by helping trauma survivors explore the ways their lives have changed and how they can move forward.
NextSteps helps trauma survivors understand where they are on the road to recovery, helps them figure out where it is they want to go, and helps them to develop the skills to get there.
In NextSteps, trauma survivors work through a series of lessons and have the opportunity to share their experiences and learn from others who are facing similar challenges. NextSteps classes can be run as groups at hospitals, as well as online, where survivors can work at their own pace and in their own surroundings. NextSteps Online was developed by colleagues at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health for use in the Trauma Survivors Network.
The two video clips on this page describe the many benefits of self-management programs like NextSteps, one from a survivor's perspective, and the other from the perspective of an expert in rehabilitation psychology.