Brain injury and homelessness was the focus of the inaugural conference organised by the Brain Injury Social Work Group (BISWG) and the Head Injury and Homelessness Research Group (HIHRG) on 11 September, 2024.
Held at Sheffield Hallam University, more than 120 delegates attended to hear from those with lived experience of brain injury and homelessness as well from those working to improve the lives of people living with an acquired or traumatic brain injury. As well as social workers, professionals from the fields of health, care and justice were also in attendance.
Caroline Bald, Chair of BISWG, and Steph Grant, Chair of HIHRG opened the conference with a very clear message – “every social worker needs knowledge and understanding of brain injury”.
The morning session, chaired by Professor Nathan Hughes from the University of Sheffield, opened with Steph Grant sharing his personal story of life after an acquired brain injury and he praised the conference for putting brain injury survivors at the front and centre. The lack of support following his brain injury led to years of chaotic living. He says his life was saved by a specialist Brain Injury Social Worker who refused to leave when he turned down her support. She gained him access to specialist NHS neuro-assessment and rehabilitation.
Addressing the delegates, Steph said: “I am just so pleased that the social worker didn’t just go away that day. She was sensitive and brave enough to know I needed help and she didn’t just leave me there.”
Associate Professor Alyson Norman, from the University of Plymouth, delivered a moving presentation, ‘Surviving Brain Injury Without Support’ telling the story of her brother ‘Tom’ who received a traumatic brain injury from a road traffic accident. Dr Norman has been a researcher in the field of brain injury for two decades with a focus on the experiences of family members. She talked about the lack of support her brother and her family received and the years of trying to get the right help. Her brother sadly took his own life and she continues to work with others to build family centred expertise, information and research.
The impact of brain injury and its role in housing and homelessness was the focus of Dr Mark Holloway’s presentation. The social work qualified independent brain injury case manager has worked with individuals and families affected by acquired brain injury since 1991. He spoke of decent housing being central to well-being and how maintaining a home can be incredibly difficult for people with an acquired brain injury. He said: “Keeping a home is a matter of resources, abilities and skills. It is vital the impact of a brain injury is recognised, because as we know many people will look unimpaired but their injury will mean they may state they have no difficulty in doing something, but then may not act in accordance with that.”
The work being carried out in Sheffield to improve the lives of the City’s homeless population came under the spotlight for the final two morning sessions. Breaking down silos and better supporting people experiencing homelessness and brain injury was discussed by Sally Conquer from the Sheffield Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team (SCBIRT), Andy Rodgers from the Homeless Assessment and Support Team (HAST) and Jennie Martin and Rachel Grellier, both brain injury survivors and members of HIHRG.
They explained that most of their contact with service users occurs out in the community, and about the work HAST does to support homeless people in Sheffield.
The final morning session, ‘Two Brains are Better than One’ highlighted the culture of co-production within the Sheffield Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team (SCBIRT). Specialist Occupational Therapist, Jessica Hill and Specialist Physiotherapist Jess Kay, spoke about how their work is people-centred with both peer support groups and family and friends groups. David Cliff, a brain injury survivor, is a regular attendee at the peer group called Brains of Somewhere. He said it had helped him enormously following his brain injury when he ‘was grieving for his former self’. He added: It has been incredibly helpful to have that peer support – it really does make you feel better.”
The afternoon programme, chaired by Clinical Professor in Emergency Medicine Fiona Lecky, was opened with a fascinating presentation from Dr Matt Colbeck. Entitled ‘The tyranny of the comic plot: The cultural and media (mis) representation of brain injury and coma and its socio-political impact’, the researcher talked about the way comas are depicted in books and films. He said: “Coma in popular culture is shown as someone just sleeping and then waking and having no issues whatsoever.” He explained that this misrepresentation adds to the lack of understanding of the lasting impact of brain injury and can add to the blame culture and invisibility surrounding brain injury.
Caroline Bald, who is also Research Fellow at the University of Essex, was joined by brain injury survivor and independent case manager, Kate Mellor to talk about Heads Together, the first UK brain injury social work training programme now hosted by BISWG and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
“Every social worker needs to be a brain injury social worker as part of basic decent practice,” said Caroline. “People still think of brain injury as niche but it is in fact the leading cause of death and disability in the UK for those aged 0 to 40.”
Mental Capacity within the Multiple Exclusion Homelessness (MEH) populations was the focus of a presentation given by Jess Harris, a Research Fellow from King’s College London. MEH is the overlap of homelessness and other severe and multiple disadvantages. She talked about the two and a half year study currently being carried out on the issue of Mental Capacity and MEH with the aim to improve understanding, support and outcomes for people experiencing MEH.
The power of hearing from people with lived experience was very evident in the final session of the conference. Molly Dooley, commissioning officer at Changing Futures in Sheffield, was joined by Helena Lovel and Alan Millar, both Co-production Associates at Changing Futures. They are part of the research study being conducted by Changing Futures and HIHRG looking to improve the lives of people with multiple disadvantages including domestic violence, substance misuse and homelessness. Alan and Helena spoke about their personal experiences with brain injury and how working with Changing Futures meant lived experience was at the core of its work.
The conference was sponsored by Irwin Mitchell Solicitors and delegates were able to chat to exhibitors from a range of specialists including Headway Sheffield, Voyage Care, Anchor Point and the British Association of Social Workers.
The conference discussion continued beyond the programme end with planning begun on a follow-on event in the coming year. The aim is to curate a lived experience-led national, annual event bringing experts by experience, practitioners and academics together to grow the community of brain injury practice, build stronger services and support people living with brain injury and their families.
A recording of the conference is available at www.biswg.co.uk
Please consider joining as a member. Membership is open to all professions working with brain injury. BISWG welcomes corporate membership.
