John Hatten
Life Coach for Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury

John is a Rehabilitation Counselor who sustained a serious Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in 1973 due to a fall at a construction site in Fullerton, CA. In the 36 years since that accident, John has used his high native intelligence and fierce determination (some might call it hardheadedness) to learn and develop strategies that have helped him succeed despite his cognitive issues.

John completed his Bachelors’ degree at Cal. State Fullerton (learning some hard-earned lessons about trying to go back to school too soon); then went back some years later to earn a Masters’ in Rehabilitation Counseling at Bowling Green State University and even later to earn a Masters’ of Education (Counseling Psychology) from the University of Southern California. As he learned that his personal and cognitive issues were caused by his TBI, he began to study TBI and intervention. All this time he was testing and using various strategies to mitigate the effects of his TBI.

Besides working with Hope Beyond Trauma, John is working to reach as many TBI survivors as he can: he is active in the Brain Injury Connection Advisory Board and several TBI web groups: such as the circlegroup, the survivoracquiredbraininjury and the Traumatic_Brain_Injury Yahoo groups. At the Department of Rehabilitation, John was developing a TBI caseload and helping survivors with vocational counseling, training and placement. At the Rehabilitation Research Center at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (San José, California), John was the Traumatic Brain Injury Case Manager, helping over 350 clients with their issues and countless others via the phone. He also edited and wrote the chapter introductions for the Traumatic Brain Injury Resource Directory, a comprehensive compendium of TBI Resources in the Santa Clara Valley and beyond. At Casa Colina-Neurological Learning Center (South Pasadena, California), John helped people with TBI is all aspects of vocational counseling, from composing lesson plans and teaching job search classes through counseling regarding emotional recovery and cognitive retraining to developing jobs, placing and job coaching those with TBI.

Helping people with TBI to help themselves learn and practice the cognitive, emotional and vocational skills that work for them is what John does best and where his path has led him. He uses his professional empathy with his extensive knowledge of TBI to assist his clients to learn the skills they need to improve maximally.

John lives in San Francisco, California with his wife of 30 years, Shirley and their two cats, Samson and Delilah. John and his wife have volunteered for Rock Medicine, a branch of the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, for over 23 years, helping people who are suffering from crowd syndrome or intoxication to calm down. They have been favored with their daughter Amy and two granddaughters, Elizabeth and Ashley.

Please email john@hopebeyondtrauma.com for a free consultation.