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By Erin Cohn, November 2018

How GoodWood NOLA is using woodworking to help brain injury patients.

Established in Mid-City in the fall of 2014, GoodWood NOLA’s mission has always been to create beautiful and timeless pieces inspired by our unique city. While GoodWood is well-known for their custom furniture and architectural fabrication, in 2018, they added another mission: to create a low-impact woodworking curriculum that could act as a form of therapy for brain trauma patients. As soft therapy, it combines both physical and mental aspects without any pressure–fun that slowly yields improvements.

Michael Dalle Molle, owner of GoodWood NOLA, explains that the program is geared toward people with traumatic brain injury– specifically, those who have minimal or moderate control over their hands. GoodWood, and the neurorestorative clinic with which they’ve worked closely to develop this program, is hopeful that their curriculum will help to improve patients’ overall dexterity and coordination.

Their first patient, Pete, now six months into the program, is a young Air Force veteran who was injured during training. A former Air Force mechanic, Pete has not only gained dexterity through this biweekly therapy with GoodWood, but program leaders say Pete is happier and truly excited about each woodworking session.

“As of now, we are still in our trial phase, and have been working exclusively with one patient to gauge the outcomes and potential successes of the curriculum,” Michael explains, “So, we are not doing this for anyone and everyone yet; we are still in our “discovery” phase.”

As far as Pete’s personal progress, it can be measured in his projects, as well. During his time at GoodWood NOLA, he has made coasters, a cutting board, and his latest project; a series of poems burned into wood using a special pen– a process that requires Pete to hold the wood with one hand and write with the other.

Currently six months into a year-long program, GoodWood staff will meet with the neuro clinic at the at the one-year mark to discuss Pete’s progress and plans for the future. “Our goal is to expand the program to help more people,” says Michael.

Erin Cohn is an edit intern at Nola Boomers. She is a student at Tulane University.