When a brain injury happens, individuals and families often feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to turn. The role of the Case Manager is designed for these times of distress. ABII Case Managers are brain injury experts who act as a single point of contact, listening to the families’ needs and identifying resources applicable to their situation. Through its Case Management service, ABII helps to provide a clear pathway to support an individual’s transition from hospital to home and link them to a variety of services.

Home and Community services deliver one-to-one brain injury rehabilitation to support individuals to achieve their goals at home, and to encourage integration back into their community and family life. Often people have experienced some rehabilitation in hospital, but further skills may need to be re-learned at home after discharge. ABII’s Home and Community Rehabilitation services ensure those individuals continue to make progress on their recovery and maximise their potential after brain injury.

Clubhouses provide vital peer support to enhance independence and encourage learning of new skills. Attendees benefit from group and cognitive rehabilitation in a supportive and welcoming environment. These services create a space for survivors of brain injury to socialise and develop new relationships, as well as helping them to explore new interests that build on their strengths and capabilities. Clubhouses and Day Services are particularly important to support individuals working on goals such as building self-esteem, independence, community involvement and personal growth.

The transitional living service bridges the gap for brain injury survivors as they prepare to return to independent living at home. The service provides intensive rehabilitation and support in an assisted living setting Monday to Friday, for a period from six weeks up to six months, depending on a client’s needs. Currently ABII operates one Transitional Living Unit in Sligo and continues to seek funding to grow this much needed service.

Acquired brain injury doesn’t just happen to the individual – it happens to the whole family. Delivering support to families individually or in groups is integral to ABII’s work. Through its On With Life Programme the organisation provides a range of supports including information and education events, peer support networks, listening services and parenting skills training as needed. The Case Managers and Local Service Managers are important points of contacts to families who need to access these supports. They may also refer cases on to other members of the clinical team, including psychology and social work.

ABII provides vocational assessment and individualised planning and support for people with an acquired brain injury who wish to return to work, training or education. The programme engages with services all over the country, as well as reaching out to individuals and families not currently accessing other services from Acquired Brain Injury Ireland.