Community Support for every step of the way

Most people who know of Headway Essex will be aware of our centres, where people with an acquired brain injury (ABI) can take part in practical activities to help them relearn lost skills and aid in their recovery. The brain is a complex organ, and although our brain cells cannot regenerate after an injury, it is remarkably resilient and has neuroplasticity, meaning it is able to re-organise itself to an extent to regain some of its lost function. Our specialist support workers have extensive expertise in helping people through this recovery.

A brain injury can happen to any of us at any time in our lives. They can be caused by:

  • Trauma: Falls, slips, tumbles, being hit by a car, or violence
  • Strokes: A type of brain injury that can cause ABI
  • Brain tumours: Can compress surrounding tissue or grow outward and consume brain cells
  • Infection: A bacterial, viral, or fungal infection can cause inflammation in the meninges, the protective membranes around the brain
  • Substance abuse: Alcohol and drug use can cause ABI
  • Oxygen deprivation: Such as near drowning.

Coping with the consequences of acquired brain injury can be difficult for everyone, including family members. Life for a person after a brain injury can involve a variety of changes including physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional changes which can bring difficulties with planning, communication, mood swings, changes in personality and behaviour and fatigue. They may even be unaware that the difficulties they are facing are due to their ABI or because of their injury may lack insight and do not recognise that they are different to the person they were prior to their injury.

The hidden side of our support

Whilst our centres are the more the visible side of Headway, what is less seen is the community support work that goes on in the background. Our Community Support team work tirelessly to reach people in the community to offer support and advice around their brain injury and to provide a point of contact for their wider network of family and friends who are also adjusting to the impact of their caring role.

This can go beyond every day support if a person is facing crisis point due to the knock on effects of their injury. We are there to help people who may no longer be able to financially support themselves, who may be at risk of losing their jobs or are even facing homelessness. So as well as helping our clients understand the effects of their ABI it is important for us to be able to advocate for them and to give them agency to speak up about things that are important.

Community support in action

We caught up with Lucky who has been supported by our case worker Samantha Preston.

Lucky was referred to Headway Essex following a road traffic accident.  She had no support in place and was struggling with life, battling extremely heightened emotions, poor cognition, overwhelm from noisy situation and memory loss. She was trying to put her life back together and continue with her studies, and tried to hide her vulnerability. Without support she was finding keeping going hard and described the effects of the injury as like going upstairs with treacle on your feet.

Lucky now realises she lacked insight into the devastating impact of her injury but at the time she was finding herself getting evermore frustrated and distressed as she tried to pick up the pieces of her life and carry on. She was further held back by aphasia which is where the part of the brain that controls language, expression and comprehension is damaged. It does not affect a person’s intelligence but does affect their ability to formulate language. Lucky felt that she was communicating clearly and could not recognise that people were unable to understand her.

Lucky was in the middle of studying for a degree when she was told an assignment she had handed in was very well written but she had fully failed to answer the question she had been set. The penny dropped and Lucky recognised that she was struggling more than she has realised. This was a huge emotional set back and the catalyst for Lucky reaching out for help.  Her defence mechanism of hiding her vulnerability was causing her more harm and holding her back.

With support from Headway Essex and the neuro rehab clinic at her university Lucky was able to access help with psychological support, occupational therapy, physio therapy and language therapy. Through attending our Brain Injury and Me sessions she has gained a better understanding into her symptoms and learnt coping strategies to deal with fatigue.

Facing a crisis point

Despite making great grounds Lucky still had a way to go and found herself at a crisis point when her accommodation came to an end and she was unable to find a place to move onto. She was placed in temporary accommodation for ten days and the clock was ticking. Lucky didn’t have family or friends nearby to support her and with her fatigue, processing issues and sensory overload this became a mammoth task. During her contact with her Headway support worker Samantha it became clear that Lucky was possibly facing homelessness. Samantha worked with Lucky and not-for-profit housing association Peabody to find a solution. She was with Lucky every step of the way and attended meetings and was able to help Lucky to voice her concerns and to advocate for her. Samantha was able to secure a home at an ABI supported housing scheme that consists of eight bungalows.

Lucky is settling into her new home which is calm and peaceful with no distractions. She is able to start feeling more grounded and is learning to feel centred in a world of upheaval and shifting sands. She described it as moving into a white room after the overwhelming intensity of a highly patterned room.

She has regular contact with Samantha and is able to reach out at any time in the future. Our help is open ended.

Lucky’s takeaway from this journey is that ironically the crisis has been her saving grace By making her reach out for help she is now able to support herself and through her learnings she is hoping to be in a position in the future to help others.

She said “Being vulnerable is a strength not a weakness. When I met people who truly wanted to make a difference in my life, who wanted to be by my side through what I was going through, I felt I was safe to let go. I could fall and know that they would catch me and have my back”

Partnership working

We are helping people like Lucky who are facing difficulties on a regular basis. We can help to give them a voice and help their employers and other agencies understand the issues they may be facing. We can talk to employers to help them understand that fatigue, unlike tiredness, doesn’t go away with more sleep or that and we can help with managing energy levels around the working day which can make a big difference. Or that behaviours which may come from having an ABI such as poor memory function or inability to moderate emotions are not cases of bad time keeping, lack of care or even rudeness. We can step in and demonstrate how this is not the case and then help to create a platform where there is understanding.  We will be with our clients every step of the way, in meetings and on phone calls to ensure they have the best possible outcome.

By being able to share our expertise and knowledge we have built a good working relationship with agencies such as Adult Social Care, the Department of Work and Pensions and Peabody and together we can ensure that our clients can live a stable life without financial implications.

 

It is not an exaggeration to say that our interventions have helped keep our service users from homelessness, stop them from losing their livelihoods and to avoid financial crisis. We are there for them wherever they are in their life, for the ups and the downs and if they are at crisis point.

This is why our support in the community is so important.

Please call us on 01206 845945 or email abisupport@headwayessex.org.uk if you would like to talk to us.

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