Family Experience of Brain Injury

This important book gives a voice to family members of people with a brain injury, who can also be severely impacted by the experience. Changes to behaviour, to personality and to functioning may render the injured person entirely different and the involved relative is left loving a stranger, often with very little specialist help.

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Brain Injury not only affects its victim, but those around them. In many cases, relatives are often overlooked despite facing many obstacles accepting and adjusting to a new way of life. Family Experience of Brain Injury showcases a unique collaboration between relatives of brain injured individuals and professionals from the field of neurorehabilitation. Family members from all different viewpoints tell their story and how the brain injury of a loved one has affected them.

This book provides a space for those hidden and marginalised voices, the people who are in for the long haul, often dismissed by services and left to cope in isolation. By combining expert commentary with real life experiences, this book points towards sources of support, normalises the experience and provides a context for understanding the grief and losses of family members. Not only will the hard-earnt knowledge and wisdom evident in this book help educate health and social care staff, it highlights how love, commitment, hope and perseverance, against a seemingly unbearable grief, can remain.

It is essential reading for individuals and families touched by brain injury and will give multi-disciplinary professionals, such as medics, nurses, psychologists, therapists, social workers, rehabilitation practitioners and clinical supervisors, a greater understanding of their role in helping the affected family.