Recipient of the 2014

Neuro-Rehab Services

Nominated For: 2014

NRS has been providing a full range of home, work, school and clinic-based rehabilitation services to adults and children with a brain injury or another serious injury for 35 years. We have helped thousands of people across Ontario to successfully rebuild their lives.

In 2021 NRS teamed up with Brainworks. In a recent article, the Crash Support Network, NRS and Brainworks were described as “two powerhouse, award winning companies combining efforts: Smarter Together, with the common goal of reaching as many people as possible with their services”:

• NRS, by way of multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual programs and services, meeting the needs of our multi-cultural society.
• Brainworks, providing services to most remote areas of the province where services are limited.

And both companies are proud recipients of the 2022 Canadian Business Excellence Awards which recognize companies that excel in terms of client satisfaction, employee engagement and innovation.

We offer a full range of in person and virtual, pediatric and adult assessment and rehabilitation services. Each client’s team works together to help them achieve their unique goals, which may include:

• Becoming as independent as possible
• Resuming old interests or discovering new ones
• Achieving at school, paid or non-paid work
• Engaging in physical activity and sport
• Improving their quality of life and relationships.

What makes us different is that, in addition to having some of the most experienced and compassionate rehab professionals, we are a true “one stop shop”, committed to client and family centered, multi-disciplinary and team-based rehabilitation services across Ontario. Services offered include:

• Case Management
• Occupational Therapy
• Physical Therapy/Kinesiology/Massage Therapy and Chiropractic
• Speech and Language Pathology
• Social Work
• Psychology
• Child Life
• Nutrition
• Life Skills, Fitness, Vocational and Academic Rehab Coaching
• Driver Assessment and Training
• Life Care Planning
• Neuropsychology and Capacity Assessments.

NRS has always been committed to giving back to the brain injury community. Past initiatives have included:

• Planning and chairing major symposia, with topics including:
  • Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury: Rehabilitation and School Programming Under Bill 59.
  • Success after TBI: Clinical, Ethical and Medico-Legal Considerations in Defining and Measuring Outcome.
  • Celebrating Your Success as We Enter the Millennium.
  • Diversity and Health (two annual conferences).
• Presenting at numerous conferences and workshops attended by hospital and community rehab professionals, educators, insurers, lawyers and university students on various aspects of pediatric and adolescent brain injury rehabilitation. Topics have included:
  • Client and family centered programming.
  • Multi-cultural programming.
  • Supporting the student with brain injury in the classroom.
  • Self advocacy training.
  • Adaptive technology.
  • Standardized assessments, outcome measures and report writing.
  • Discharge planning and effective programming across the continuum of care.
  • Ensuring quality of care in light of changes in auto insurance legislation (Bill 59; Bill 198; Life after DAC’s; Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) Five Year Review).
• Participating in multi-stakeholder committees. Accomplishments include:
  • Planning four bi-annual Toronto ABI Network conferences and two conferences on Diversity, Health and the Law.
  • Helping to develop one of the first college programs in Ontario for front line workers working in the area of brain injury.
  • Championing processes to involve private providers in the activities of the Toronto ABI Network.
• As Founding/Executive Members of the Alliance of Community Medical and Rehabilitation Providers, our staff advocated against the Financial Service Commission of Ontario’s proposed changes to the auto insurance regulations. They helped develop a government relations strategy, drafted position papers and briefing notes for key decision makers in the government and met with over 30 Ministers and MPPs. They developed a public relations strategy, contributed to press releases and were interviewed by dozens of newspaper, radio, and television media. One staff member was project lead for a multi-stakeholder expert panel responding to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario Expert Panel Catastrophic (CAT) Impairment Report.
• Organizing and/or participated in such worthwhile events as Helmets on Kids (giving out free helmets in low-income communities), BIST Birdies for Brain Injury Golf tournaments and Run, Walk and Roll, and volunteering for such organizations as CADS (Canadian Adaptive Snowsports).

We are honoured to share our anniversary with OBIA and proud that we have been able to raise funds to help them to fulfill their mandate of “education, awareness and support”. Most recent fund-raising events have included:

• 30th Anniversary Celebration at Second City Theatre
• 25th Anniversary Celebration “Celebrating Success”, a tribute to NRS clients and their families.