The winners of the annual UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) awards have been honoured at this year’s Time for Change summit.
The Awards include the UKABIF Film Award, the Mike Barnes Award for Innovation, the Stephen McAleese Award for Inspiration and the UKABIF Poster Award. The Awards were kindly sponsored by Elysium Healthcare.
Nicola Leyland won the UKABIF Film Award for her moving film titled ‘A Freak Accident’. The animation tells the story of her son who sustained a brain injury aged eight years and documents the trauma they both went through and his journey to significant recovery. You can watch the film here
The Mike Barnes Award for Innovation, went to MyAbility created by Dr Andrea Pickering, Consultant Clinical Psychologist of Recolo; Fran Sephton, Emma Bowers and Niki Dutton, Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapists of ATtherapy. They will receive support from the National Institute for Health Research to advance their project and mentoring from Dr Penny Trayner of Goal Manager.
Anita Pascoe received the Stephen McAleese Award for Inspiration. In July 2000, Anita Pascoe’s 54-year-old Mum, Ann, collapsed following a brain hemorrhage and she remained severely brain injured until her death earlier this year. For 20 years Anita fought to get her Mum properly supported. Accepting the Award, Anita said: “I have been inspired by so many people who have survived acquired brain injury and overcome huge challenges. We had to fight so hard over the years and that is just not right. You should not need to have someone fighting your corner in order for your needs to be met.”
The UKABIF Poster Award was won by Lead Neuropsychologist Dr Henk Swanepoel of Cygnet Health Care for his project ‘Implementing a Study to Compare Diagnostic Accuracy of Cognitive Screening Instruments: A Weighted Comparison Approach in Acquired Brain Injury.”
Chloe Hayward, Chief Executive of UKABIF, said: “Our Awards are our small way of recognising the amazing people and organisations who are doing their bit to improve the lives of those affected by acquired brain injury.
“These awards are held every year so we would encourage people to nominate others so we can celebrate the unsung heroes and recognise the great work being done across the country.”
