After a life-changing injury, such as acquired brain injury, it can be tempting for the injured person and their loved ones to want to ensure that they get as much of the best quality rehabilitation that the state can provide or that money can buy, writes Irwin Mitchell’s David Withers.
This is because it is generally accepted that the greatest recovery is made in the first few years, particularly in the case of acquired brain injury.
When an individual sustains a traumatic brain injury, there are a range of disciplines that may need to be involved including, but not limited to: physiotherapy; occupational therapy; neuropsychology; neuro-psychiatry; neurology; neuro-surgery; dietician / nutritionist; speech and language therapy; personal trainer; counsellor; and support workers. The injured person’s passion for rehabilitation is absolutely vital. If and when that goes, it can be very difficult to regain that motivation. Mind-set in rehabilitation is critical.
A case manager’s role is to co-ordinate the rehabilitation. This includes introducing therapists at the right time. An injured person’s goals and aspirations must be identified.
The case manager and the injured person and their family must then formulate a rehabilitation strategy, focussing on what will make the greatest difference.
In the author’s experience, achieving a major goal will build momentum, leading to smaller goals being achieved rapidly thereafter. If a case manager overwhelms the injured person with too much rehabilitation, they will become disengaged.
Every rehabilitation programme will be different, rightly so as it should be tailored to the injured person’s needs. However, generally speaking, it is often sensible to rehabilitate the physical limitations through physiotherapy and the cognitive and emotional changes through neuro-psychology initially.
After progress has been made, an occupational therapist can be introduced, potentially to assist with returning to work or identifying strategies to maximise independence insofar as possible.
Another important factor is ensuring that the rehabilitation feels like it is part of “real life”. An injured person may have spent months in hospital. Although there is of course a time and a place for rehabilitation at home or in a clinical setting, in the author’s experience, injured people generally want to be able to return to some sense of normality insofar as possible quickly after discharge.
This means that the rehabilitation specialists need to fit around that person. Effective rehabilitation is about identifying goals, creating an exciting plan, monitoring progress and achieving them. This leads to momentum, motivation and the desire or passion to keep getting stronger. If rehabilitation is likely to be a long-term need, the integration of the package into real life is particularly important.
The author has experience of representing a severely injured person who was interested in pubs and bars. He had the capacity to make these decisions. The support team, working with the speech and language therapist, facilitated him being able to go.
They were able to educate him about the risks of consuming alcohol (again, which he had capacity to make decisions about), and work with him, in real-time, on his engagement with others.
He was able to return to doing something that he was passionate about. This made him more engaged in the less “real-life” rehabilitation sessions that he was having at the time.
David Withers is a partner and solicitor-advocate at Irwin Mitchell LLP, leading a team specialising in life-changing injuries including severe traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and amputations.
