HEALTH MATTERS 111 brain injury
to overcome barriers. As she says, “Our brains are so complex, so clever, that an injury affects us all in completely different ways, but the good thing about it is that our brains seem to be pretty good at finding ways around just about any experience.” Fortunately, there are organisations to
provide a helping hand along the road. The Headway Information and Support service provides a listening ear and a vital source of information and signposts to other services for people at every stage of the journey following injury. The service is available throughout the country for the price of a local phone call on 1890 200 278 and is accessible also through the Headway website at
www.headway.ie
+ Headway Cork participated in a community boat-building programme organised in conjunction with Meithal Mara
solve and can hamper your insight and your ability to manage emotions. Everyday situations can be rendered almost impossible for some people with brain injury through damage to cognitive and emotional skills that the rest of us take for granted. The psychological impacts of ABI are
hard to overstate. As one of our service users put it: “It’s having to start again, your emotions, character, your whole makeup has to grow up again. For me, it was like somebody took your memory bank, your filing cabinets, and threw them up in the air, into the wind. And somewhere, five years on, I’m still catching things out of the clouds and trying to put them together.” And if one person is injured in a
family, the whole family experiences the turmoil and upheaval caused by such a sudden and unexpected event. A significant proportion of the services provided by our team of psychologists, including neuropsychologists and counselling psychologists, is aimed at providing support to families, through support groups, psychotherapy, counselling and information. Despite the obvious challenges dealing with such complex disabilities, our approach is positive and aims to
develop potential as far as possible. Taking each person's skills and abilities into account, our approach is to develop individual plans informed by assessment and latest research. Rehabilitation programmes then take place in Headway centres around the country and in the person’s own local community. Following his injury, Alan, one of our Community Integration service users in Cork, wasn't able to socialise or participate in any activity outside the home. Now, with the help of the service he works one day a week as a litter warden and attends his local gym. As he reports, "I can see the difference in myself now. My confidence has grown tremendously." Adjusting to life following a brain injury is a journey that does not end. But people do progress. Gilly is an artist. Seven years after being injured in a horrific car accident, she no longer thinks of herself as having a brain injury, just as a survivor. The years of painstaking rehabilitation and personal struggle to rebuild a life after the shattering event have taught her the value of persistence. “You have to live life, day by day, just working through the things you are dealing with now. You just do it.” Maintaining a positive attitude has clearly been of benefit to her in finding solutions
“for me, it was like somebody took your memory bank, your filing cabinets, and threw them up in the air, into the wind. and somewhere, five years on, i’m still catching things out of the clouds and trying to put them together".
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