Lifestyle
- for carers
If carers are to be able to continue in their caring role, it is essential they are able to take care of themselves. Quite often carers are isolated and unable to access direct services due to the responsibility of their care role.
Every caring situation is different and every carer is an individual with their own specific needs.
People new to caring generally have many barriers to face such as lack of support, changes in financial situation, change in life and roles, lack of training, lack of time for themselves and isolation to name but a few. However, carers of a brain injured peson have more difficulties as they have to face many unique problems related to a lack of understanding of brain injury within the family and wider community.
- inappropriate behavior that can be sexual, aggression, social deficits and much more
- the ‘hidden disability’ problem – many people can not see the problems they have and do not understand the many issues around memory, lack of reasoning, receptive dysphasia, lack of tolerance etc.
- unpredictable changes in moods, personality, emotions etc
A ' breaks service' is one, which actually gives the carer (the unpaid care giver) a break from direct responsibility of supervising or care giving for the relevant person. A Headway Lifestyle Support Worker will enable a carer to:-
- Access services related to maintaining & improving their health
- Make the transitions into training, courses, volunteering and employment
- Pursue hobbies and interests of their own
- Improve their well being and manage stress
- Attend social activities and events
- Learn how to understand & manage the person they care for
- Simply have ‘me time’ – go shopping, meet friends, relax in the bath etc
People with an acquired brain injury have very diverse problems and needs and it is often difficult if not impossible for carers to find someone who can take care of the BIP, due to the specialized skills, understanding and knowledge required. This is why Headway are looking at devising a service that can ensure carers are able to take much needed ‘time out’, safe in the knowledge that there loved one is in good hands.
Lifestyle
- for brain injured people
Lifestyle is about enabling brain injured people to live a more independent life in the community, where they still may need support to do so. It is difficult of find support from care agencies and this often fails due to the ‘hidden’ problems that BIP often have, as they are not understood and therefore people not trained in BI find they are unable to cope with the problems presented by the BIP. This is where our specially trained Support Workers can help.
Lifestyle Workers can:-
- Work on individual goals
- Help people access physical activity and sport
- Meet specific individual needs/requests
- Help with transference of skills into the home/community
- Help BIP access other community activities that they could not access without support
- Help people get to appointments, go shopping, visit the hospital
- Help people go on holiday
- Help with travel training
- Assistance in attending social and leisure activities
- Assist with going to college or a voluntary placement
Within the Lifestyle Support Service, we would not be offering a domiciliary care service and therefore clients would need to be able to do basic personal tasks and only require support. (eg. Toilet, weight bear, transfer etc)
The service would offer:-
- A confidential home visit to assess the BIP and their needs
- A care plan giving details of the type of support to be offered, times, schedules, allocated worker etc.
- Service User Guide
- A flexible service offering choice
- A carer ‘break’ – details to be discussed and agreed according to need
- A trained Lifestyle Support Worker in BI who can enable the BIP to maximize their skills and independence both at home and in the community
- Regular contact and updates
- Access to any of the other HWM services including support, information & advice at any time
- 20 years of experience working with brain injured people and their families
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