Our story began in the 1980's and Headway
WM was officially registered in 1983 as
a support group for Head Injured people and their carers.
The group met for one evening every month at a few different
venues over the years and provided the opportunity for head
injured people and carers to meet and discuss problems, share
information and get practical and emotional support. Many
hours of support was provided via the telephone in those
days. In 1991 the Trustees and supporters
had raised enough money to lease a bungalow within the grounds
of Moseley Hall Hospital and adapt it to suit the needs of
disabled people. This was called Headway House and opened
2 days a week for Head Injured people to use as a day facility
with activities. In 1992 the structure of the group was formalised
through:
a. registering as a Private Company Limited by Guarantee
and b. registering as a Charity In 1996
our Headway House accommodation was almost doubled through
the building of an extension in order for us to continue
to meet the demand for places. In 1998 we ventured
into Community support work, but this lapsed after 6 months
due to lack of funding..
A
bid was successful for a 3 yr grant from Birmingham SSD
to extend our services to carers by 2000.
In the same year head injury
was changed to include all people with acquired brain injury.By
2002 we had raised enough funds to purchase our first Minibus
enabling us to help our users access activities in the community,
many for the first time following their brain injury. A
full
time Chief Executive was also appointed at this time and
new governance structure introduced, including changes in
job titles.
During
the last 6 years services
have continued to grow steadily and we now employ 32 trained,
paid staff backed by a team of 40 voluntary helper We provide
10 days of Social Rehabilitation
activities and have a strong Community
Service providing support to over 600 people each year.
In 2006 we also opened our first Charity
Shop
 We
now have two permanent centres in the Birmingham area. Headway
House is situated in the grounds of Moseley Hall Hospital,
south Birmingham and Leighton
House is within the grounds of Birmingham Great Park,
near Rubery.
Leighton
House is named in memory of our founder, Stafford Leighton,
who died in 1999. "Staff", as he was widely known,
was for over 20 years a dedicated and successful champion
of improved and innovative services for victims of brain
injury - an example which we still aspire to follow. Accordingly
these premises not only accommodate our core social rehabilitation
service for individuals with severe acquired brain injury,
but also constitute vital resources and the hub of our
expanding range of additional services - which increasingly
involve work out in the community supporting families,
carers and clients through the stages of hospital and home.
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