Traumatic brain injury statistics

A pioneering new project is seeking to improve support in the South West for those who have experienced a traumatic brain injury.

Each year, an estimated 1 million people in the UK go to hospital as a result of a head injury. Males are two or three times more likely to have a head injury than females and the age group most at risk is between 15 and 29 years of age. Most traumatic brain injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents but many result from domestic and industrial accidents, sports and recreational injuries and from assaults. The effects on victims and their families can be devastating.

A pioneering new project, part-funded by the European Social Fund and led by the University of Plymouth’s Institute of Health Studies aims to help empower brain injured people to live more independently, to integrate back into their communities and to enter (or re-enter) the labour market.

The £370,000 Education After Brain Injury project will work with a total of 400 brain injured people in Devon, Somerset and Dorset over the next two years. It is supported by the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, South and West Devon Health Authority, Plymouth Primary Care Trust and Plymouth City Council. The partnership also includes a wide range of voluntary and private sector organisations.

The project will investigate and develop innovative ways of assessing the needs and achievement potential of brain injured people in the South West. It will also seek to provide opportunities for learning and education in basic and key academic and life skills. Canadian research has shown that education is extremely effective in helping brain injured people to feel more involved in their communities, to develop skills and to make friends.

The project will work with organisations offering training and education to brain injured people in Devon, Somerset and Dorset in the development of a range of academic and life skills learning packages. It will develop a website which will provide up-to-date information on project activities as well as on the services provided by a local agencies and voluntary sector organisations. The website will also provide 'signposts' to sources of information about brain injury and will enable brain injury support groups across the region to disseminate information about their activities.

Camborne-based brain injury victim Richard Pearn has joined the project's Steering Committee to ensure that the views of brain injured people and their carers are listened to and acted upon. The former Cornwall Business School lecturer has also been sharing his own experiences with members of the project team.

"I am very happy that the University of Plymouth's Institute of Health Studies and members of the wider partnership have seen the need and possibilities for the Education after Brain Injury Project," said Richard.

"As someone who has personal experience of a life-changing traumatic brain injury I believe the project will be a genesis for better support and professional practice throughout the South West. I can also see it being a model for national good practice as it develops. From a personal point of view, after my accident I found the support services to be disjointed and difficult to access and understand. Hopefully this project will develop a one-stop system that includes assessment, direction and support for people with brain injuries."

People who have experienced a TBI generally remember their previous 'normal' intellectual state, as well as their social and creative skills. Consequently, they suffer extreme frustration, anger and low self-esteem. The past is often referred to in order to boost their self-image and achieve recognition of their underlying intelligence and latent abilities. TBI can range from a mild intellectual dysfunction to extreme physical disability. Most head-injured individuals, even those with minor injuries, have major difficulties re-entering the community.

Source - University of Plymouth

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