DASLS President, Paul Kelly has pledged to raise funds for Headway Devon & Headway Somerset by cycling coast to coast through Devon and Somerset.  His 53+ mile ride will take him through some of the beautiful countryside that our two counties have to offer and, given our local terrain, over some challenging hills as well.

 

Weather permitting (and depending on the wind direction) Paul will set off from Porlock on Saturday 28th May arriving in Dawlish later that day.

 

Paul is not a seasoned cyclist and will complete his challenge using a borrowed bike.  He will be supported by Stuart Bramley, a colleague at Tozers Solicitors, Exeter. Paul is now in training for this epic ride and he has said that he will soon be able to get rid of the stabilisers. 

 

 Support Headway with a donation today.

 

Please support Paul's ride through sponsorship. Each £ will make those hills a little easier.

To donate please go to Paul's fund raising page at https://headwaydevon.enthuse.com/pf/paul-kelly

 

The Route:

"It starts in Porlock and heads slightly west for just half a mile, then it’s the road that drops directly south through Exford, Hawkridge, Rackenford, Cheriton Fitzpaine and Efford. Then as it reaches the A377 we cross over that at Cowley and skirt the western fringes of Exeter to Alphington, then slightly south-west to Shillingford St George, slightly south-east to Kennford, Kenn and just before reaching Kenton we turn right and continue on the southbound road to Dawlish.  Google Maps suggests 54 miles though I tend to find that even a modest amount of two-wheeled weaving about adds another mile every 20 or thereabouts, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we cover 56 or 57 miles in total."

 

 

Why is Paul pedaling?

 

 

Our brains are amazing. They are faster than any computer with billions of intricate connections and circuits which control everything we do. But what happens when something goes wrong? When the part of you that makes it possible for you to think, talk, walk or even blink, no longer works properly?

 

“The last thing I remember was the lorry coming towards me.”  

 

Brain injury can happen to anyone and often happens suddenly. Our brains can be injured in many different ways, through illness, infections, stroke or physical trauma. How people are affected by an injury depends on which part of their brain is damaged and the extent of that damage. This ranges from short term difficulties to life-changing acquired disabilities. 

 

“I didn’t recognise my husband and five-year-old daughter. I could no longer care for my family. My teaching career was over. All the things that had defined me previously, were gone.”  

 

“the impact is huge, the man who left home to go to work wasn’t the same one who came back 18 months later, we were so excited to have him home again and then reality set in.  Without Headway Somerset I don’t know where we would have been”

 

An acquired brain injury goes hand in hand with making sense of a new you, of the things you find difficult, the things you can’t do any more and the help you’ll need to cope and adjust.  For many people with a brain injury this is a time of grief for the loss of the life that they were hoping for, of career, of earnings and of financial security. Families, partners, children are profoundly affected too and relationships are often strained as people take on caring roles they never expected.

 

A Common Problem

 

Over 200,000 people are admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury across the UK each and every year and a million people attend accident and emergency departments as a result of a head injury.

 

This means that every 3 minutes someone’s life is turned upside down as they, and their families, begin to recover and come to terms with the things they have lost and the challenges they will face to rebuild their lives.

 

Across Devon, there are more than 2000 people living with the consequences of an acquired brain injury. At least 1000 people will need care and support to live their lives well, with the majority of this care being given by families, friends and neighbours.  Across Somerset 3000 are admitted to hospital with a brain injury

 

“After surviving a major stroke, my mum sustained a brain injury and was in hospital for three months. Staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital were amazing. Mum made good progress and was finally discharged three months later. We were so excited to bring her home.

 

But reality soon kicked in. We quickly realised how much help and support we had had when she was in hospital. Three meals a day. Help to wash and dress herself and to use the toilet. And also the social support. Having professionals there to talk to and to cry on when I needed it, and talking to other families in the same situation as us. 

 

When we moved mum back home, all of that support had been stripped away. We felt totally lost and alone.” Emily, Torquay 

 

Headway Devon and Headway Somerset  are there for families like Emily’s. 

 

Although so many of our clients receive excellent support from the NHS immediately after their brain injury, the journey of recovery and adaptation is a long one for most people and carries on long after they leave hospital. It often means adapting to lifelong changes in what they can do and how they live. Health and social care services are able to offer some support at home but much of the work of coping, recovering and making the best of a very different way of life is done by the person with the brain injury and those close to them. This is where Headway Devon can step in, with practical support with day-to-day living, with emotional support, with help to maximise brain recovery and with support for carers, who can often feel forgotten or overwhelmed.

 

“I was living at home and my health took a turn for the worse. Without the support I received from Headway, I would have had no choice but to return to hospital. With the mounting pressures on the NHS and social care, I don’t think I would have been able to get the support I need. Thanks to Headway I have been able to stay in my home’’  

 

Living well after brain injury

 

We believe passionately that people can live well after brain injury. We meet amazing people every day who are trying to make the best of their new selves. 

 

Across Headway Devon and Headway Somerset over  400 individual clients and their families are supported.   We walk alongside them as they try to make sense of what they have lost as a result of brain injury. Our support often begins in the days and weeks after leaving hospital, in the short window of opportunity for rehabilitation and recovery as their brain tries to develop new nerve pathways in the first few months after their injury. We provide the skilled specialist support people need, enabling them to tackle practical challenges, meet emotional needs and overcome obstacles in all areas of life from finances and housing to education and employment. 

 

But we know there is so much more we can do to help those living with the lifelong after-effects of acquired brain injury across Devon and we aim to support many more individuals and their families in 2022. Our ambition is to make contact with everyone leaving hospital with an acquired brain injury within a few days of getting home.

 

We are working closely with family doctors, hospitals and social care providers to ensure that this year everyone who needs support after brain injury knows about Headway in Devon and in Somerset

 

"When I came home from hospital, six months after my brain injury, I felt terrified. I didn’t think I could cope. But Headway Devon was there for me. They were my rock.  I can’t thank them enough. Without Headway Devon, I don’t think I would be here today.”  

 

What we do 

 

We offer a range of support and activities to those living with acquired brain injury, including:

• Providing an in-person lifeline by visiting people in their own homes. Our specialist workers provide practical support as well as companionship, a listening ear, advice, signposting and referral support

• Promoting peer-to-peer support:

• For clients: Our Day Centres provide a safe space for clients to enjoy the company of others living with a brain injury, learning from and supporting each other and allowing a welcome change of scenery

• For families: Our programmes enable families to receive emotional support from those who are in similar situations

• Improving life skills, communication and IT skills. We use a range of practical and creative projects like pottery, gardening and woodwork to help with dexterity and problem solving deficits as well as reducing social isolation and raising self-esteem and confidence through group activities

• Providing an innovative and very successful carers service. Carers come together with one of the specialist Headway team members to share stories, support each other, get expert advice and insights and feel less alone

• Offering support during office hours to anyone who calls us for advice, help, sign-posting or to help them understand what an acquired brain injury is and what it might mean for themselves or someone they are close to. We plan to develop this service into a dedicated online system by the end of March 2022

“When my sister Sarah came out of hospital following a bike accident, she was 38 and had lost the use of the right side of her body. We thought it was game over. Her life as she - and we - knew it, had finished. Headway Devon helped us see that life was still worth living. It wasn’t game over for my sister. We just had to learn to play a different game.”  

 

Changing lives, one day at a time

 

The clients we work with come from all walks of life and backgrounds and from towns, villages and cities across Devon. But they all have one thing in common: our work makes a difference to them and their families. 

 

We are proud of the impact our work makes and of our reputation as a trusted provider of a specialist service, because 

• Our support is personalised: No two brains are the same and every person who has sustained a brain injury is affected differently. This is why our services are carefully tailored to the specific struggles, disabilities and strengths of each person we support. We don’t do the ‘one size fits all’ approach. Every person we support centres receives a 1:1 assessment and sets their own personal goals. We keep robust data on how people are doing so we can know with confidence that we are making a positive difference

• We are ambitious: We want the very best for the people we support andwe believe in their potential to improve. We will do everything we can to help each person make progress and move forward in their lives

• We believe in our clients. Each person we work with has their own unique talents and Our support builds on these strengths, skills, passions and resilience to add value to their new life after brain injury

• Our approach is rehabilitative: Brains have a remarkable ability to adapt and heal so we do everything we possibly can to help people recover as much as they can. Rehabilitation often means adjusting to a new, and often changing, situation, learning new skills and ways to compensate for ones they have lost. In striving for rehabilitation, clients, staff, volunteers and family members work closely together to co-create shared action plans

• We are experts: Our centres employ speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists; and we work in partnership with seconded therapists from NHS services. We use established monitoring and evaluation systems across all of our services, including the internationally recognised standard in brain injury monitoring: QOLIBRI

 

Governance and Co-Production

 

Headway Devon has an active and engaged Board of Trustees who both delegate day-to-day leadership to but also work closely with the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Leadership Team. The Trustees and Senior Leadership Team regularly convene with the Client Committee and Staff Forum to ensure that all strategic decisions take into account all aspects of the Headway Devon community. 

 

Trustees are elected by our membership, which is made up of members of the public and Headway Devon clients. Nominees are selected based on their skill sets in order to produce a balanced board, and all Trustees are provided training on acquired brain injuries as part of the induction process. Furthermore, two of our current Trustees are living with an acquired brain injury and one has been affected by or work with those who are living with an acquired brain injury - such as a family member or a carer. 

 

Funding and finance

 

We all know that councils are facing huge financial challenges and struggle to provide much-needed social care for many people, made worse by staff shortages and the impact of Covid-19. So, we are very grateful that Devon County Council funds some of the work we do, contributing to the cost of homecare visits and day centre attendance. But much of our work isn’t covered by council or NHS funding. This makes it hard to expand and reach other families affected by acquired brain injury in Devon who currently get no specialist help at all.

 

This is where you come in. Supporters like you allow us to make a positive difference to the lives of hundreds of people through support at home or in day centres.

 

We have been able to continue outreach services by transitioning to one-on-one online sessions and group work, and providing phone-based help to people searching for information about brain injury, when they are often at their most frightened or distressed. You help us run our invaluable carers service. And with your help we know we can do better and more, to reach many more people, to provide more support groups, to nurture peer support and to develop a much more versatile service, using technology to provide much better support to people in rural areas and to begin to address particular needs for people, such as those living with the consequences of more minor injuries or concussion and those coping with the long- term effects of stroke or speech and language problems. 

 

Help us make life worth living

 

The social care system in the UK is something to be proud of and it's right that there is a safety net for the vulnerable. Headway Devon provides much more than a safety net. We don't want our clients to survive, to exist after brain injury; we want them to thrive.

 

For almost everyone affected by an acquired brain injury, life will never be the same again. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t be possible for them to recover some skills, learn new ones, adapt and grow. We will help them make the very best of their new normal and rebuild their lives. With your help acquired brain injury is the start of a new and different chapter; not the end of the book.

 

Your support will ensure family and friends can feel secure when their loved one is discharged from hospital. There will be a listening ear when the heart needs it.

 

Your help means peer support, new hobbies, new friendships, someone being there on the anniversary of the traumatic brain injury, a space for families to be honest and not worry about how that sounds, ensuring not that the family can not only cope but can find joy in becoming the best version of themselves. 

Give the gift of a joyful life after brain injury. Support Headway Devon with a donation today.

 

 

  

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