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I am raising funds for family carers of our clients who do not have means of livelihood because they care for their disabled family members

by Onyinyechi Nancy Nwaolikpe in Ipswich, England, United Kingdom

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Family Carers Lonely, Unsupportive and Loosing Family Togetherness

Support for Family Carers programme is initiated and designed to take the needs of family carers who live with us in the community.

Family carers find that their lives change in an instance as a brain injury and stroke can happen without warning. They will have to give up employment and hobbies in order to care for their love one.  They will loose their friends as they will not understand the changes in their partner and may even find this frightening. Their role changes to that of a carer without any training. The person’s personality changes so they are not the person that they were. Headway Suffolk wishes to support families so that they stay together . 

Access to our mental Health nurse

Courses explaining what a brain injury is and what to expect

Day respite so that carers can rest 

CM’s story is one of our stories. CM has a brain injury, but his Mum who is meant to take care of him is on wheelchair and elderly. He cannot take his Mum out and around without support. CM’s Mum is going frail and cannot do more for herself. They cannot do the occasional shopping without help because of CM’s health. CM and his Mum  need a paid carer to support them.

SM sustained a brain injury after a motor bike accident. He became a very angry person who could not carry out his own personal care. His wife did not understand why he “ flew off the handle at the slightest thing” She attended a course on brain injury. She then had a better understanding and was given ideas on how to help SM with his anger and to avoid things that upset him 

Why? Family carers often get lonely, isolated and with less fund. Sometimes, there simply are not enough financial and emotional support to get them going. These conditions might cause them to become sick and not able to take care of their sick ones. You can help change this. You can help ease their loneliness, help them have enough food to eat and assist in having a sustained means of livelihood. Family caring for the sick is a life changing experience that no one prepares for. 

Your financial support will help family carers to have the help that they need

Headway Suffolk is a local charity affiliated to Headway UK. The charity offers support, rehabilitation, and care to any adult living in Suffolk who has a brain injury or neurological condition. Headway Suffolk is registered with CQC to deliver home care and is rated as OUTSTANDING. They have two neuro hubs in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds which offer a wide range of activities and training. Our therapists deliver physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and counselling. The Charity helps people to live at home, to regain independence, to enter volunteering and employment. As well as providing individual therapy the therapists facilitate groups and courses. They have received referrals from GPs, acute and community hospitals, and clinicians.

What We Do and What We Have Done

Headway Suffolk has two neuro hubs which offer day care and support to people with neurological conditions. At the hubs, clients are able to join in a wide range of activities such as woodwork, life skills, basic skills, art, drama, music, relaxation, and IT. From the centres clients also visit the local gyms and swimming pools. It is anticipated that these activities will help to stimulate the brain and lead to brain regrowth and thus aid recovery. Clients also benefit from peer support and knowing that other people are experiencing a similar condition to themselves. The hubs are open to anyone over 16 with a neurological condition. There is not an upper age limit nor is their attendance time limited. Headway is here to support them for as long as they need and require it. Some people attend the centre one day a week while others attend multiple days. 

Headway provides transport for clients who could not otherwise get to the hubs. All the drivers are employed by Headway and are first aid, and manual handling trained and have been given training in the neurological condition that we cater for.

Headway supports clients in the community. This is particularly appealing to younger people or people who feel awkward attending a hub however the service is open to anyone with a neurological condition. In the community, clients can be given support to undertake any activity of their choosing, at a time suitable to them. We operate during the evening, weekends and, bank holidays as well as during office hours. Clients have been supported to attend football,     church, to go shopping, to volunteer or to enter employment. We have helped one young mum to relearn parenting skills.

Headway Suffolk is registered with CQC to give home care. This service is delivered at a time to suit the client and their family. We aim to enable people to carry out tasks for themselves but if this is not possible we will carry out the task for them. We help with personal care, preparing a meal and giving medication. Staff are trained in the individual client to give peg feeds, suction, stoma and catheter care. It is important to Headway Suffolk that we offer a high quality service with staff not only being trained in care to NVQ 2 or NVQ3 level but also to understand the neurological conditions our clients have. Staff are given enough time to deliver the care and are told not to rush the clients. They are also given time to travel from one client to another. All our CQC reports have proven that we are delivering a high quality of care.

Headway is able to provide night staff to sleep at a client’s home. This can be on a permanent basis or to give the family respite. We are able to provide 24 7 live-in care.

The charity has also given palliative care to clients.

To provide an environment where individuals can learn, relearn and practise skills in the company of others with peer support and understanding of their needs.

To provide varied participative rehabilitation activities and services geared to the individuals’ needs, enabling them to reach their full potential.

To improve general quality of life

To provide respite for the relatives or carers, of people with a brain injury or condition. To improve their understanding of brain injuries and conditions.

To reduce the development of higher levels of dependency or deterioration in the health of service users.

To provide innovative and flexible services

Some of our  Clients and Families

We are looking for support to scale up to reach family carers in our community. 

We need to raise £5,000 to fund this project to:

If we succeed we not only give them support that will ease their burdens but help them to integrate more with their families and have beautiful family togetherness 

For more information, visit our website: www.headwaysuffolk.org.uk 

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