Organizational Systems Review
We examine procedures and referral pathways to identify where people encounter barriers and what your team can change.
- Procedure and pathway review
- Priority gap identification
- Written findings and recommendations
Survivor-Led. System-Ready.
Cognitive-Informed Systems Consulting Focused on Cognitive Deficits.
Specializing in Brain Injury.
Survivor & System Solutions helps schools, workplaces, agencies, and community organizations better support people whose memory, attention, processing, or communication has changed. Founded by brain injury and stroke survivor Jordan Slade, S&SS brings lived experience into the decisions that affect everyday life.
How We Work
Practical improvements, built with your team
We begin by listening to your team and the people you serve. Together, we decide what needs attention, agree on the work, and return to see how it is going. Services are available individually or as a coordinated engagement.
1. Assess
Understand what works and where people get stuck.
2. Train
Help staff recognize needs and respond with care.
3. Communicate
Make information easier to understand and use.
4. Implement
Put agreed changes into everyday practice.
5. Include
Listen to those affected and use their feedback.
Consulting and Staff Support
Clearer communication. More consistent support.
Choose the support your organization needs. Each engagement has an agreed scope, written deliverables, and clear next steps.
Cognitive-Informed Staff Training
We help staff understand memory, attention, processing, and communication difficulties, including fatigue and sensory overload. Scenarios give teams a chance to practice their response.
- Introductory or advanced training
- Scenario-based staff learning
- Supportive communication and response practices
Cognitive Accessibility & Communication Review
We review the information people rely on—forms, instructions, and public materials—and recommend changes that make it easier to follow.
- Plain-language recommendations
- Clearer next-step guidance
- Reduced cognitive overload
System Readiness & Implementation Guidance
We help your team introduce agreed changes, assign responsibilities, and check how the tools are being used. Follow-up identifies what needs adjusting.
- Readiness summary
- Department responsibility mapping
- Phased implementation plan
Survivor & Caregiver Engagement and Advisory Support
We create ways for survivors and caregivers to contribute to decisions about programs, policies, and services, with care for their comfort and participation needs.
- Listening sessions or roundtables
- Survivor-safe participation structure
- Written themes and recommendations
School and Educator Support
Support for Schools and Educators
A student may need more time to process a question, help following instructions, or a quieter way to participate. We work alongside educators to make staff responses more consistent and help concerns reach the right person.
Listen and Plan
Listen to school leaders and staff about classroom routines, communication, and recurring concerns. Agree on the changes to work toward.
Train and Implement
Practice agreed approaches with staff, demonstrate classroom-support tools, and make sure everyone understands their role.
Review and Refine
Return to hear what staff are noticing. Check whether the changes are being used and whether they fit the school day, then adjust what needs more work.
Our work supports staff and school procedures. We do not evaluate, diagnose, or treat individual students. Schools retain responsibility for student decisions and supervision.
S&SS Response Systems
Tools that fit your existing operations
Response systems bring instructions, responsibilities, and follow-up into one place. We adapt the relevant materials with your team before local review and adoption.
Field-Use Command County System
Helps public safety, EMS, emergency care, advocacy partners, and county leaders clarify their roles when brain injury may affect an encounter or referral.
Hospital & EMS Response System
Supports communication between emergency responders and hospital teams, attention to sensory needs, discharge instructions, and the next steps after care.
Workplace Safety & Accommodation System
Helps employees, supervisors, HR, and safety teams clarify how to raise concerns, request accommodations, and respond when someone becomes overwhelmed.
Important:
S&SS systems do not replace current agency policy, command
direction, medical protocols, legal review, personnel decisions,
technology approval, or final local adoption.
Official Recognition · July 30, 2026
Recognized by Governor Josh Stein
A July 30, 2026 letter from Governor Josh Stein welcomed Brain Summit attendees and recognized the work of Survivor & System Solutions.
“Survivor & System Solutions develops systems-level improvements that help close the gap between complex health care frameworks and the lived experiences of recovery.”
— Letter from Governor Josh Stein, State of North Carolina
Read the Full LetterBrain Summit 2026
Where Data Meets Advocacy
Brain Summit 2026 brought survivors, caregivers, researchers, healthcare professionals, advocates, innovators, and community leaders together in Charlotte. Explore the event materials below.
Community Insights · Finding Your Way Forward
A little understanding can mean so much.
Brain injury and cognitive changes can leave people and families unsure where to begin. This space offers personal experiences and resources for finding a way forward.
What helped you get through a difficult moment or manage an everyday task? If you feel ready, your experience may help someone facing something similar. A few words are enough. You are welcome to simply read, too.
Every published insight is paired with two relevant educational resources, selected and checked by S&SS during review.
01 · Beginning recovery
Personal experience · Jordan Slade
Awakening: Finding Strength to Move Forward
When I awakened from my coma, I had no idea I had been in an accident that caused a severe traumatic brain injury and two strokes. My life had changed, and I did not yet understand what had happened.
Support from family and friends can mean so much during this time. But I also want to speak to the person who does not have that support: you still matter, and you can take steps forward in your recovery even if you are facing this without family or friends beside you.
You do not have to figure everything out at once. Your next step might be asking your care team a question, practicing something you are relearning, or giving yourself permission to rest. Progress can be difficult to recognize when you are living through it.
Being alone does not mean you have to manage every part of recovery by yourself. A rehabilitation professional, social worker, peer mentor, or support group may help you build connections beyond the people you already know. Reaching for that support is an act of strength.
Recovery is different for everyone. It takes more than willpower, and a difficult day does not mean you have failed.
You deserve care, encouragement, and the chance to build a life that matters to you. Begin with the next step you can take today.
Two resources for this part of the journey
Information about early recovery and the support available through the care and rehabilitation process.
01 · Understand your care
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: What to Expect
Learn about early hospital care, changes in awareness,
and the professionals involved in recovery.
MSKTC · Read the resource →
02 · Find your bearings
Understanding TBI: The Recovery Process
Explore stages of recovery and why each person’s progress
and support needs can look different.
MSKTC · Read the resource →
Resources from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC). Links checked October 15, 2026. These resources offer general education; they do not describe every cognitive condition or endorse S&SS.
02 · Rebuilding everyday life
Personal experience · Jordan Slade
Finding My Purpose in Recovery
A few weeks after awakening from my coma, as I became more aware of myself and my surroundings, I began searching for what I could remember about my life.
It hurt to realize that so much of the life I had built was no longer accessible in my mind. Over time, I came to feel that the person I had known myself to be was no longer there in the same way. I was still here, but I was learning who I was now.
And I had two little girls, ages one and two, who needed their father.
For months, I worked to gather the strength to be the best father I could be while relearning how to walk and manage everyday activities—showering, using the bathroom, brushing my teeth, feeding myself, and learning which foods I could safely eat.
My children gave me a purpose to keep working toward. Even while I was learning how to care for myself again, I wanted to be there for them.
For me, finding that purpose helped move my recovery forward. Your purpose may look different. It might be a person, a meaningful activity, or one small goal that matters to you. It does not have to be something big, and it is okay if it takes time to find.
Recovery takes support, patience, and more than determination alone. But having something meaningful to move toward helped me take my next step.
Two resources for this part of the journey
For people adjusting to changed roles, emotions, and parenting responsibilities after traumatic brain injury.
01 · Parenting with support
Being a Parent With Traumatic Brain Injury
Explore practical suggestions for managing parenting
challenges, communication, and family responsibilities after TBI.
MSKTC · Read the resource →
02 · Understanding emotional changes
Changes in Emotion After Traumatic Brain Injury
Learn how brain injury and changes in independence or
family roles can affect emotions, and explore ways to seek support.
MSKTC · Read the resource →
Resources from the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC). Links checked October 15, 2026. These resources offer general education, not individualized treatment advice or an endorsement of S&SS. Jordan’s experience does not predict anyone else’s recovery.
Experience shared with care.
Personal experiences are not medical advice or proof that a strategy will work for everyone. S&SS provides non-clinical organizational consulting. This page does not provide diagnosis, treatment, or individualized medical guidance.
Personal experiences are not medical advice or proof that a strategy will work for everyone. S&SS provides non-clinical organizational consulting. This page does not provide diagnosis, treatment, or individualized medical guidance.
Sharing guidelines
- Share respectfully. Describe your experience without promising a cure or guaranteed result.
- Do not include private medical details, student records, children's names, or information identifying someone else.
- Do not submit medication changes, dosing instructions, dangerous practices, harassment, or advertising.
- Include sources for factual claims when possible. Disclose professional or financial connections to resources you recommend.
- S&SS reviews contributions before publication and may decline material that is unsafe, misleading, promotional, or outside this page's purpose.
Permission here applies only to this website. Separate permission will be requested before using your contribution in training, marketing, or other materials. To request a correction or removal, email Jordan@survivorandsystemsolutions.org. This inbox is not an emergency service.
From your experience to someone’s next step
After you send your contribution, S&SS reviews it, selects two resources related to the challenge, and checks your publication preferences. Approved contributions are added manually. Publication and a personal reply are not guaranteed.
Our Work and Our Direction
Current Work & Priorities
We are building S&SS carefully, with attention to the commitments we make and the people those commitments affect.
Preparing for a School Consulting Engagement
We are preparing a proposed school consulting engagement. The next step is to finalize the scope and the operating requirements needed to begin. The work would include staff training, communication tools, and follow-up with educators.
A Ten-Year Vision for Nationwide Reach
Over the next ten years, we hope to make this work available across the country. We intend to grow through experience, local relationships, and careful review of what each engagement teaches us.
We welcome conversations with people who can help us take the next step.
Help Move the Work Forward
Sponsor S&SS & Its Work
S&SS needs a sound foundation to begin delivering its work. If you believe in what we are building, sponsorship can help cover the preparation and operating costs that come before an engagement.
We will discuss the proposed use of your support, agree on any recognition, and explain how we will keep you informed.
Prepare the Work
Help cover essential operating needs, including insurance and project preparation.
Develop Practical Tools
Support the development of training materials, communication guides, and tools for the organizations we serve.
Support Implementation and Follow-Up
Help make time available for staff guidance, feedback, and follow-up after changes are introduced.
Professional services, useful resources, and introductions to potential partners are also welcome.
To discuss a contribution or an introduction, contact Jordan directly.
Let’s talk
What would help your organization?
Tell me what your team is facing and what you hope could be different. We can talk through whether S&SS is a good fit and what the work might involve.
For sponsorship, partnership, or questions about our work, you are welcome to reach out here too.
Email Jordan Slade
Jordan@survivorandsystemsolutions.org
Phone
(618) 334-2051
Please keep your first message general. Do not send medical or student records. Email links open your email app.
