Escape room simulates brain injury challenges

An escape room has been created to highlight the realities faced by people living with a brain injury.

It was recently launched at the Ipswich headquarters of Headway Suffolk, a charity that helps people with neurological conditions.

The activity has been tested by clinicians and features six stations that simulate how a person with a brain injury perceives the world.

Chief executive Helen Fairweather said the idea came from a staff training session involving an escape room, which the team found useful.

She said: “They’re all tasks you might find easy if you hadn’t had a brain injury.

“What we’re then doing is giving equipment like gloves, which will make it hard to do a drawing or dish out a deck of cards, so people are understanding of what it’s like when a loved one or a colleague goes through a brain injury.”

Fairweather explained there were six tasks to complete that would simulate poor vision, difficulties using your hands and more, along with a “twist” at the end.

She said people with brain injuries often suffered from frustration in everyday life.

She added: “This is what we’re trying to simulate in these tasks, just how frustrating it can be if you know how to do something, but your body can’t do it, your hands can’t do it, because your brain is not giving the messages to your hands.”

Steve Foley, who helped to develop the escape room with Fairweather, said the stations were challenging and had received a good reaction.

He said: “Some were very positive in the fact they understood how our clients feel every day, they were only feeling that for a brief 10 minutes and they found it quite powerful.”

The escape room is open to everyone, at a cost of £25 per person, which will go towards the charity.