About this Event
📍 Location: In-person at Mindeo (Green Lake, Seattle) and Online
What happens when the most disruptive effects of a brain injury are the ones no one else can see?
For many people living with traumatic brain injury (TBI), the challenges extend far beyond what is visible to others. Changes in thinking, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and everyday functioning can be persistent, complex, and difficult to explain—even to the people closest to them.
And while these challenges are often described as invisible, for the people experiencing them, they are anything but.
Join us at Mindeo Brain Fitness for a fascinating evening with neuroscientist, brain injury survivor, and advocate Daniel Avesar, PhD, as he explores the hidden layers of brain injury through both scientific understanding and firsthand experience.
After sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury as an undergraduate, Daniel spent more than a decade navigating his own recovery. His journey ultimately led him to pursue a PhD in neuroscience and to develop a new framework for understanding the often-overlooked internal experiences of people living with brain injuries.
Drawing on his personal recovery, scientific training, and extensive conversations with other brain injury survivors, Daniel will introduce a survivor-developed framework that views the challenges of brain injury not as isolated symptoms, but as interconnected pieces of a much larger puzzle.
He'll also share preliminary qualitative research examining five layers of these challenges, offering a new perspective on how we can better understand, communicate about, and support the lived experience of brain injury.
🧠 What You'll Learn
- Why brain injury is so often misunderstood: Explore the disconnect between what others observe and what survivors experience internally.
- The interconnected layers of brain injury: Discover a new framework that helps explain how different internal challenges interact and influence everyday life.
- What survivors are telling us: Learn from preliminary qualitative research and firsthand accounts about the often-overlooked effects of brain injury.
- Bridging science and lived experience: Understand how survivor perspectives can complement clinical knowledge and improve communication.
- Building better understanding and support: Explore how recognizing these hidden challenges may help families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals respond more effectively.
💡 Why Attend?
Brain injury doesn't always look the way we expect it to.
Someone may appear to have recovered physically while still navigating significant cognitive, emotional, or sensory challenges that others struggle to recognize.
This presentation offers a different lens for understanding those experiences, giving attendees new language, perspectives, and insights into the complexity of brain injury.
Whether you're navigating recovery yourself, supporting someone you love, or working with individuals affected by brain injury, this discussion offers an opportunity to deepen your understanding.
✔️ Understand the invisible effects of brain injury – Discover why cognitive, emotional, and sensory challenges often go unrecognized or misunderstood.
✔️ Gain insights from lived experience – Hear a unique perspective from a neuroscientist who has spent over a decade navigating recovery from a severe traumatic brain injury.
✔️ Discover a new framework for understanding brain injury – Explore how seemingly separate symptoms are interconnected and influence everyday life.
✔️ Learn what brain injury survivors want others to understand – Hear insights from firsthand accounts and emerging qualitative research into the challenges survivors face.
✔️ Build better understanding and support – Walk away with new perspectives that can help survivors, families, caregivers, and healthcare professionals communicate more effectively and approach recovery with greater empathy.
👥 Who Should Attend?
- Individuals living with traumatic brain injury or concussion-related challenges
- Family members, friends, and caregivers supporting someone with a brain injury
- Healthcare providers, therapists, and rehabilitation professionals
- Researchers, educators, and brain health advocates
- Anyone interested in the science of brain injury and the human experience of recovery
🎤 About Our Speaker
Daniel Avesar, PhD — Neuroscientist, Brain Injury Survivor & Advocate
Dr. Daniel Avesar is a neuroscientist, brain injury survivor, and advocate dedicated to improving understanding of the often-invisible challenges associated with brain injury.
After sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury during his undergraduate studies, he spent years rebuilding cognitive abilities and navigating the emotional, sensory, and internal challenges of recovery.
His experiences motivated him to pursue advanced training in neuroscience, including a PhD from Dartmouth and postdoctoral research at the University of Oregon.
Today, Daniel combines his scientific background with personal experience and extensive conversations with other survivors to bridge the gap between the lived experience of brain injury and how it is understood by others.
He is the creator of the Experiencing My Brain podcast and the Building Brain Awareness (BBA) to Help Support Brain Injury Recovery talk series, initiatives dedicated to elevating survivor perspectives and promoting more effective understanding, communication, and support.
📍 Event Details
Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026
Time: 7.00pm
Location: Mindeo Brain Fitness, 7301 5th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115 or Online
Format: Expert presentation followed by an audience Q&A
✨ Space Is Limited — Reserve Your Spot Today!
Join us for an engaging evening of neuroscience, lived experience, and a new perspective on one of the most misunderstood aspects of brain health.
We look forward to welcoming you to Mindeo!
This event is educational and does not replace individualized medical assessment or treatment.
Event venue & nearby stays
Mindeo Brain Body Fitness and Red Light Therapy - Green Lake, 7301 5th Avenue Northeast, Seattle, United States
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