Outreach

Headway East Northants has successfully provided day services to brain injured people for over 25 years. Based in Irthlingborough the centre offers a range of activity based services to people from the East Northants area and who are able to attend. Although there is still capacity for new referrals to be made to the centre the charity believes that there is a need to offer a community based service to reach more people and to provide services at a much earlier stage. We also recognised there is a growing need to support brain injured people, their families and carers at a much earlier stage and within their own communities. As a result we applied for and won a funding contract, with the Northamptonshire County Council, to develop a forward thinking pilot to provide ABI outreach support for Northamptonshire. The project will cost £140,000 and will be funded for 18 months. This will enable us to reach further into communities with our work.

The outreach project will involve a Family Support Worker, a Volunteer Coordinator and a team of Volunteer mentors. Through the intervention of a Family Support Worker who can offer timely information, practical advice, and act as a gateway service, the role will potentially lead to a larger number of people with a brain injury to achieve their maximum level of independence. With effective support from a Volunteer Mentor, and backup of the Headway day service, brain injured people and their families will receive practical and emotional support. This aims to prevent the withdrawal of family support and subsequently the breakdown of relationships. This will ensure a reduction in the numbers who have to return to hospital or lose their independence by moving into residential care. Within the arena of brain injury substance abuse is a key issue, whether prior to or following the ABI. With this in mind, supporting individuals and families to receive adequate advice and signposting, should also ensure a reduction of costly hospitalisation helping to ensure people with ABI can live as independently as possible while still effectively supported within the community.

East Northants Headway is a Registered Charity Number :1085311 and a Company Limited by Guarantee Number : 03788049

Registered address 61 High Street, Irthlingborough, Northants, NN9 5PU