Brain Injury
Information

• The Brain
• Glossary of Brain Injury Terms
• Hospital Rehabilitation Staff
• Families Coping With Brain Injury
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Communication After Brain Injury
• Prevention is Better than Cure

Families - Coping with Brain Injury

People who suffer brain injury are often able to recover and lead relatively normal lives. However, in some cases the results of the injury can have a significant effect on the family. Brain injury can cause changes in personality, unusual behaviour and diminishment in the person’s ability to function, and family members have to take on new responsibilities to adjust to these changes. The family can also be affected financially if the person is no longer able to work or if someone must give up a job to become a carer. Family members can have difficulty coming to terms with the change in a loved one’s personality and adjusting to their unfamiliar behaviours. Outlined below is some advice to help you cope with the transition into living with brain injury.

Before leaving hospital:

• Get information: Find out as much as you can about the effects the brain injury will have on your relative and how you can deal with their new behaviours.
• Make your needs known: Contact healthcare professionals, social services, benefits agencies and voluntary organisations to assert your needs and gain support.
• Arrange your finances: Sort out your benefits before your relative leaves the hospital and talk to your bank manager for advice on changes to your financial situation.
• Talk to specialists: Contact organisations such as Headway who are experienced in dealing with brain injury and can help with any potential problems that may arise.
• Prepare to fill in for your relative: Ascertain what your relative will no longer be able to do and arrange for those responsibilities to be taken on by someone else. Allocate tasks to all family members so the load is lightened.

After leaving hospital:

• Seek support: Make sure there is someone, such as a friend or support group, with whom you can talk about any problems you might have. Ask family and friends to help you find solutions to problems, they may find one you hadn’t thought of.
• Plan: Consider the change in your situation and reassess your ambitions. Set new goals and take positive steps to achieve them.
• Keep up the things you enjoy: Do enjoyable things together when you can, but allow yourself a break too. Respite care can be arranged, and Headway will give advice whenever possible.