Mission Statement

Healing Brainwaves Foundation’s mission is to help individuals heal from brain injuries and reclaim full, thriving lives.

At Healing Brainwaves, we help people navigate brain injuries by connecting them with practical tools, emerging therapies, and real support. Our programs focus on access to care—like hyperbaric oxygen therapy—as well as education, prevention, and long-term recovery strategies. Through our education and advocacy, we empower individuals to protect their brains and understand their options after an injury. Guided by research and lived experience, we aim to make recovery more straightforward, more informed, and more accessible for those who need it most.

Our goal is simple but powerful: protect brains and support healing.

Awareness Protects. Knowledge Empowers. Access Heals.

The Idea & Implementation

Audrey Lambidakis, the founder of Healing Brainwaves Foundation, discovered that after her brain injury in 2011, the treatments suggested by fellow brain injury patients were more effective than those prescribed by physicians. Her exposure to big wave surfing and the subsequent brain injuries she saw on the water as a surf photographer further reinforced the need for greater education on brain health. In 2018, she established this website, and the platform's popularity led to the founding of Healing Brainwaves Foundation as a nonprofit in 2020. Our website is an ongoing forum where brain injury patients recommend and rate treatments based on their experiences. Medical professionals review the suggested treatments and provide additional information (see Patient Contributors and Contributing Specialists). Healing Brainwaves also provides programs to help people heal from brain injuries: personalized guidance through our recipient program, hyperbaric oxygen therapy access, and educational resources to support recovery and prevention (Our Programs).

Board of Directors

Medical Director

Jay Pennock, MD

is a board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician with over 25 years’ experience in the Emergency Department. In that capacity he has witnessed what happens to patients when their choices over time work against their own health. “Dr. Jay” created Rejuvenate Medi-Spa & Wellness in 2015, in Santa Cruz, to create an environment where the functional medicine approach is all about the experience.  Empowering people to change their lives and make better decisions about their health is really what it’s all about.  After more than 10 years, the approach of this practice has led its clients to much healthier lives, and improvement or reversal of their medical conditions, and reduction or elimination of their medications.

Functional Medicine focuses on sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress reduction along with hormone balancing and inflammation reduction to optimize people’s health.  Clients also see Dr Jay for weight loss programs and Alzheimer’s’ prevention.  Continually gaining medical knowledge and insight through ongoing education, Dr. Jay has developed new, effective, patient-centered medical care. This approach will create an interactive and “wholistic” approach to living longer, healthier lives.

Media

  • Surfline - "The Dangers of Surfing Big Waves and Brain Injuries" - Link to the article.

  • Surfline - “Surf Concussion is Real: A Way To Re-Set” - Link to the article

  • Santa Cruz Sentinel & San Jose Mercury - "Big Thrills, Dangerous Spills: Local Nonprofits Provide Treatment Options for Surfers Who Suffer Brain Injuries" - Link to the article.

  • Stab - “The Brain Injury Preparation and Prevention Guide" - Link to the article.

Appearances

  • Mavericks Safe Summit 2021-2025

  • B.W.R.A.G. via Greg Long’s presentation est. 2024

  • Mavericks Festival 2023

  • Mavericks Brain Injury Clinic 2021