Opinion
Natalie Mackenzie and Eky Popat of brain injury rehabilitation service BIS Services on managing the cultural challenges in community rehabilitation.
Back in 2011 one of our team asked why there was a significant lack of consideration towards cultural differences within brain injury rehabilitation. It was not the first time we’d heard this question, but it further sowed the seed for a topic that is persistent and pertinent within our working practices at BIS Services, and a matter for discussion and change that must continue throughout the field. Most certainly, recent years have seen an increase in consideration and discussion regarding cultural competency and its importance in rehabilitation, which is reassuring, although the se are still challenges that we must continually consider.
By Rae Hughes, clinical psychologist and Pete Fleming, clinical tutor and consultant clinical neuropsychologist.
Adjusting to life after a brain injury involves coming to terms with, and adapting to, changes, which often span multiple areas of a person’s life, such as hobbies, employment, and interpersonal relationships. Understandably for many individuals, their life following a brain injury can look completely different to before.
Clinical psychologist Célia Demarchi has been involved in helping shed light on brain injuries in children. Here, she talks about her recent research into how brain injuries affect this growing demographic, and why it’s important that research continues.
Outcomes following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are difficult to predict and NICE guidelines have emphasised the need for UK-based research into predictors of long-term conditions after brain injury. Advances in medicine mean that more and more young people are surviving catastrophic injuries each year, but this does also mean that we now have a growing number of people with needs that aren’t always being met.
Consultant clinical neuropsychologist Dr Keith G Jenkins and Dr Jenny Brooks, consultant clinical psychologist on how to sleep well during the pandemic.
Consultant clinical neuropsychologist Dr Keith G Jenkins and Dr Jenny Brooks, consultant clinical psychologist on how to keep a routine during the pandemic.
Consultant clinical neuropsychologist Dr Keith G Jenkins and Dr Jenny Brooks, consultant clinical psychologist on how to stay social during the pandemic.
Consultant clinical neuropsychologist Dr Keith G Jenkins and Dr Jenny Brooks, consultant clinical psychologist on how to keep on top of your mental wellbeing during the pandemic.
Consultant clinical neuropsychologist Dr Keith G Jenkins and Dr Jenny Brooks, consultant clinical psychologist, on how to manage the pandemic guidelines.
The admissions team invest a lot of time in developing our contact base of social workers, solicitors, case managers and other professionals who can refer people to our homes. We accept people from across the whole country, so we’ve created a national network over several years. This is enabling us now to reach out to as many people as possible who may need our support. Richardson Care was established over 30 years ago and the provision for adults with acquired brain injury has increased significantly in the last seven years. It has taken some time to build up our network of contacts but our aim is to grow at a sustainable rate.
Goal setting is always a hot topic in neurorehabilitation – it has, in many ways, become much more than the sum of its parts and, as a concept, it is saturated with literature. There is frequently new research evaluating components of goal setting or describing emerging ideas in the field, and this can be difficult to navigate, even with all the time in the world. As clinicians, however, there is rarely ever any spare time at all. If we listen to what we are told about how important goal setting is for our service users and teams, we need to know exactly what it is, why it matters, and how we can do a good job of it.
