What is an acquired brain injury?

There are two types of brain injury:

Effects of Brain Injury

Almost all of those who survive a brain injury will have a normal life expectancy and many individuals will have no lasting physical disability. Prior to their brain injury most would have expected to have many years of potential employment ahead of them. However other less obvious problems may continue to have a major effect on an individual's life, e.g.:

Employment Issues

After a head injury there are often problems in returning to work. However there are several strategies, which can be used to help promote successful outcomes.

In this section we have provided case studies to demonstrate the practical way in which we work with clients and employers. (these will act as links to the more detailed info below)

JAMES - How Intowork's Social Skills Group assisted James to move from Telford College, via Ikea to Scottish Gas

ANDREW - lack of confidence had been holding Andrew back until he came to Moving Intowork.

MARK - a road traffic accident left Mark unable to see that he could still hold down a job. MIW helped him along the way.

JANE- after a viral infection that damaged her brain, Jane was unable to cope with her current job. Working with her employer, MIW were able to assist Jane to stay with the company but undertaking modifies duties.

CLARE - A road traffic accident left Clare with anxiety and memory issues. She was unable to return to her job but MIW helped her gain employment in a similar field.

JAMES

James was referred by Telford College special needs extension course in October 2000. His initial progress was slow due to major anxiety about change. We worked through a vocational profile during the transition from college to work in June 2001, preparing him for this journey.

James accessed the Moving Intowork Social Skills Group in May 2001. Feedback from James' psychologist was extremely positive, she saw major progression and felt able to reduce his medication. Other feedback from health professionals has observed and demonstrated the need for direct teaching of social skills and saw measurable gains, not least in self-awareness, in comparison to others, a notable problem in Autism.

James has been with the service 2 years, progressing at his own pace. Having accessed a work placement with Ikea, which improved his self-awareness and confidence, he recently secured paid employment and works as a data input assistant with Scottish Gas. James is building up from 16 hours per week and has come off all his benefits. Moving Intowork has helped him access Disability Tax Credit and still support him at the worksite.

ANDREW

Andrew was referred by the Young People's Unit in May 2001, having suffered a breakdown at 16 years old. As well as attending Moving Intowork, he had regular contact with an Occupational Therapist. As his confidence grew and he became more focussed he saw the Occupational Therapist less and less; he no longer has any contact with the Young People's Unit. Andrew attended meetings weekly covering sessional work on awareness, body language, insight, conversation skills etc.

Feedback from Occupation Health has been good, his confidence has grown and he has been able to access two paid employment jobs through Intowork. He worked in the stockroom at Virgin Megastore for 3 months and is currently working for Jenners, doing evening work in stock replenishment.

MARK

Mark was involved in a road traffic accident resulting in physical injuries, as well as a brain injury that affected his memory and concentration. He had worked as a fabrication fitter with an engineering company and was determined to return to this work on a full-time basis. However he lacked the insight to see how his situation had changed. Mark was referred to our service from a psychologist in the Health service who expressed severe reservations about whether Mark would be able to sustain any employment in the future.

For Health and Safety reasons, his employer also had doubts about Mark returning to work. However, as Mark had retained a lot of technical expertise and knowledge, Moving Intowork negotiated with his employer who agreed to provide an office based position where his skills could be put to good use in writing training instructions. He returned to work on a gradual basis and eventually came to terms with the fact that he no longer had the physical stamina to cope with full-time employment. He was given advice on how he would be able to work part-time and continue to claim some appropriate benefits.

The psychologist who had initially referred Mark wrote to thank Moving Intowork, stating that he did not believe this successful outcome would have been achieved without our intervention. Moving Intowork supported Mark intensively over a six- month period and, nine months on, continue to provide aftercare and Benefits advice as required.

JANE

Jane was referred to our service after community rehabilitation following a severe attack of viral encephalitis. She was very keen to return to her position as a Training Co-ordinator with a large catering company but her cognitive skills had been permanently affected by the illness. Medical reports indicated that she would not be able to function at her previous level, stating that it would be highly unlikely that she would be able to return to her previous job as she now lacked both the mental ability and social skills necessary for work.

Moving Intowork negotiated with her employer to secure a six-week work based assessment period and provided continuous support in the workplace during this time. Although she was not able to cope with all the demands of her previous position, she proved that she had a lot to offer and could still be a valuable employee. It was agreed that part-time work would be in her best interests. New terms and conditions of employment were negotiated and Moving Intowork advised her on how to access appropriate in-work benefits.

Unfortunately Jane was later made redundant as part of a large-scale redundancy programme. Moving Intowork continued to support her in finding a new job and gave advice to her new employer. The service had provided intensive support for six months and worked with her over a period of eighteen months in total. Jane was very pleased that she had managed to return to work and was appreciative of all the support she had received, feeling that she had exceeded all expectations.

CLARE

Clare was working as a hairdressing assistant when she sustained a head injury as a result of a road accident in January 2001. We met Clare on a weekly basis for 15 weeks. During this period of vocational profiling, we concentrated on Clare's confidence, anxiety and memory issues. We also helped her prepare a CV and discuss possible career options.

Clare was unable to return to work as a hairdressing assistant as the reactive, physical nature of the work was no longer suitable. However, Clare remained interested in gaining employment which would allow her to demonstrate her skills and knowledge in this area.

After a period of marketing, we assisted Clare in gaining an interview with Sally's Hair & Beauty Supplies, We coached Clare before the interview and encouraged her to share her extensive knowledge of hair products. Clare was successful at interview and we negotiated with her employer for a gradual build up of hours to allow her stamina to increase gradually.

Clare is now working 40 hours per week, earning £5 per hour and is currently in the process of organising the Christmas night out for several branches of the store. Clare's confidence has increased immensely since returning to work and she is now regarded as a valuable member of staff within Sally's Hair & Beauty Supplies.