2016 Headway Portsmouth AGM - 30th anniversary

[Matt2584]

youtu.be/AuH7JXo63Bc(Not working as expected?)

[HJ10HMO]

Thank you for that Matt, we are local and coming under Portsmouth despite living in Locksheath. Its been 5 months since Ians accident and he has had his first visit this week from the outreach OT, was good to see her face on this video. Want to get him involved in this but at the moment he has said he does not want to go out of his comfort zone and wont go out unless he is with me or a very good friend. Do you know where the local meets are held. Thanks Mo

[Matt2584 in reply to HJ10HMO]

Hi Mo,

The main offices for Headway Portsmouth are located at the Mountbatten centre in Portsmouth and they have outreach centres dotted around the South East, there is one in Petersfield and their is one in Gosport, which is the one I go to every Friday morning. I'm not sure if there are any more outreach centres currently or not.

You say you are from Locksheath. Just to let you know there are a couple of members that go to the Gosport outreach that live in Locksheath.

I can understand about Ian not wanting to go out and about and staying in his comfort zone. I joined Headway Portsmouth in 2007 and for about six years before that I spent most of my time at home not knowing what I wanted to do with myself.

I lost a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation and I was very anti social as well.

Headway has turned my life around for the better and I believe in time they could do the same for your Ian :).

[Matt2584 in reply to HJ10HMO]

Can I ask who the OT was, it was a lady from Headway was it?

I assume it was Cailey, the lady with staight, shoulder length, black hair.

She is a nice lady and she is the lady who runs the Gosport outreach sessions.

[HJ10HMO in reply to Matt2584]

Hi Matt no it was Amy from QA brain injury OT outreach, she was in the video, we have only just started to get some help and been seeing Tracy the neuro psychologist at QA rehab centre for a couple of weeks. So far they have been very helpful and are suggesting things that we had not thought of, they want Ian to go to Headway meetings but he says he is not ready yet. He has been finding it difficult coming to terms with the BI and thought it would heal quickly like bones. Its new to us both and I dont know that I am a lot of help, I look things up on the internet and try to absorb as much information as I can. What day do they do the outreach sessions in Gosport. I think Amy will give us that information she is coming again next week while I am at work. She also said she would talk to SAAFFA for us as Ian is ex forces so I guess we are only just starting to get the information through on what help he can get and who to talk to. So far it has just felt like we have a brick wall in front of us and we had to keep chipping away to try and get some light. Anyway I am waffling a bit and sure you dont need to know all this. Hopefully we will get to meet Cailey in the near future. Thanks for you comments. Take care Mo..

[Matt2584 in reply to HJ10HMO]

I know that Cailey has been in touch with QA hospital quite a bit and there were some of the staff at Headway's AGM on Wednesday evening too.

Some of the service users of Headway Portsmouth know the nurses and OTs from QA.

I don't really know many of them really because my operations took place in Southampton so some of them can be quite new to me.

I was first affected by BI when I was 11, nearly 12 and was trying to get through school as well. I've had further operations down the line and had to go through school and hospital. School and hospital. I was back and fourth like a fiddlers elbow :).

So when I was a teen it was difficult for me to accept my disability... Or I could call it my new ability :).

I did a little college but left a bit early in 2001 and from then on I did not know what to do with myself so I stayed at home with my parents. I had no intentions of getting a job and later found I wasn't fit for a job anyhow. This lasted for about six years until I knew of Headway. But I think one of the things being at home is that I could accept my disability, what I could and could not do and pace myself.

From what I have experienced, a brain injury is for life or would take a very long time, years, to recover.

A BI is not like getting over the common cold.

People have said before how their BI has altered their personality. I have a friend who was quite extravert pre BI. Post BI they have become more introvert and they have even given themself a new name for this new personality :).

Also, Headway not only support people with BI but can also support their carers and family as well.

In Portsmouth, they do offer a carers and family meetings too on one day of the week, I think.

So the Gosport meetings take place on a Friday morning and I am a service user mentor there as well. Part service user, part volunteer :). I make the drinks for the rest of the group. There is usually a quiz as well at these meetings.

The carers group is in Portsmouth. I think you would have to get more information from Cailey about the carers group though.

Would you like me to pass on Cailey's email?

Cailey is one of the support workers for Headway and there is another support worker called Helen who is a nice lady too and then there is Deborah Robinson who is the manager.

[angelite]

Matt that was lovely to watch - thanks for sharing : ) x

[Matt2584 in reply to angelite]

That's no problem and I'm glad you enjoyed it Angela :).

[razyheath43]

Keep gping all over the country! Headway you ALL rock! And as i often say i would have gone quite quite quite mad without you! ( Peterbourgh)

[Matt2584 in reply to razyheath43]

I think I can agree with you there, Heath :). If I never knew about Headway then I would probably be stuck at home doing next to nothing :(.

There were other disabled groups I got in touch with but they were not the same as Headway. Headway understand a lot more about the brain and how people can behave.