BrainTrust Canada to host 40th anniversary conference in Kelowna

Published 5:30 am Sunday, August 23, 2026

BrainTrust Canada will be diving into conversation about the overlapping pressures with healthcare, homelessness, mental health, substance use and justice during its 40th anniversary conference.

To be hosted at Metro Hub in Kelowna on Oct. 21, the Pushor Mitchell LLP West Kelowna Brain Injury Conference will bring together clinicians, researchers, housing partners, service providers, caregivers, policymakers, families and individuals with lived experience.

The conference theme, “Beyond Treatment: Reimagining the Future of Brain Injury Care Through Community, Innovation and Collaboration,” is expected to dig into why brain injury is often treated as an isolated issue and what needs to change.

“These are not separate populations moving through separate problems. Too often, they are the same people moving between systems that were never designed to work together,” said Amanda McFarlane, Executive Director of BrainTrust Canada. “Brain injury can affect memory, judgment, emotional regulation, communication and the ability to complete complex processes. When systems interpret those effects as non-compliance instead of disability, people can be excluded from the very services intended to help them.”

BrainTrust has hinted that a major announcement is expected to be made at the conference regarding the future of brain injury care, but no details have been provided.

Anyone interested in attending the conference can find more details or register at braintrustcanada.com.