Services

Care and Support Packages

What we do

  • Enable people to work towards regaining daily living skills
  • Work with people to stabilise mood and behaviour
  • Re-engagement back into the community with training and work options.

Where we do it

  • In your home and community
  • At our centres in Worcester, Stourport and Bromsgrove
  • At housing schemes in Worcester, Malvern and Evesham.

How we do it

  • Employ skilled care and support staff who are specialised in acquired Brain Injury across Worcestershire
  • Run programmes of activities at our day centres
  • Assist people to work through programmes and advice ‘provided’ by occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and other health professionals
  • Support social prescriptions, assisting people to become involved in local activities that help re-build confidence and a life after brain injury
  • Support family members and carers to improve the quality of home life.  This is done through facilitating carer support groups, offering flexible breaks and through counselling services.

Every brain injury is different and every brain injured person is different.  This means each package of care and support is tailored to meet individual needs.

For more information contact Mel, Tracie or Laura on 01905 729729.

Day Activities

Day Ops Worcester

Our service is run by a friendly and dedicated group of staff, volunteers and students.  We support service users to learn new skills and relearn skills they may have lost since having acquired their brain injury.  We are service user led and we aim to integrate people into their community as much as possible in the activities we run.  For example arts and crafts which are made during sessions have been exhibited locally in galleries, or sold in fundraising events.

Examples of other activities on offer include pottery, numeracy and literacy skills, community activities, quizzes and games.

Services users also benefit from a two course meal at lunchtime, carefully homemade by our cook Pat.  Please feel free to visit us and have a look around.

Helen, Day Service Co-ordinator

Day Opportunities Stourport and Bromsgrove

Our day opportunities centres in Stourport and Bromsgrove offer a comfortable social setting, where individuals with an ABI can meet like-minded people, make new friends, re-learn skills, and achieve new ones with the support of our dedicated staff and volunteer team. We work in a person-centred way to motivate and rehabilitate, offering a range of social and educational sessions to meet individual requirements.

Outreach Services

Worcester Outreach

Jenny says “I was in and out of hospital for two years trying to recover from two brain haemorrhages and a stroke, before considering facing life in the community again. I felt lost and bewildered and very uncertain as to what the future might hold for me.
Before my illness I had been an active person who enjoyed living in the countryside. I worked at a petrol station and I was married with four grown up children. When I was discharged I was unable to go back to my life and was temporarily housed in a home for the elderly. I felt like I didn’t fit in. I shared communal meals and had very little independence.
I was re-housed in February 2003 and I now live in a sheltered housing scheme in Worcester. It offers me the peace of mind that I need to be able to enjoy my life but also offers me independence. The Headway Outreach team support me with every-day tasks such as post, finance, social and emotional support and increasing my confidence. I also attend the day opportunities centre and love it – I particularly enjoy the art class that they run. My confidence has grown so much I now contribute to the Tenant’s Association meetings as a service user representative.”
Jenny feels without Headway “she would be stuck” and offers the following advice to anyone who has had a head injury “don’t panic. Headway is there for you.”

Malvern and Evesham Outreach

Stourport and Bromsgrove Outreach

Rehabilitation Services

Extended rehabilitation in a community setting requires patience, perseverance and progressive and creative solutions.  Our rehabilitation programmes are designed around the specific needs of each individual.  Through professional input we work with service users to agree a realistic and achievable plan of action.  To meet the needs of people with an acquired brain injury, we access a wide range of specialist services including neuro-psychology, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and family support and counselling. Many of these services are provided onsite by trained professionals.

Maria Riley, Reflexologist

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“In 2011 Headway gave me the opportunity to work as a reflexologist where to the present day, I have been able to use my knowledge in classic, cranial sacral and nerve reflexology to help the clients and some of the staff.   At the same time it had been helping me to gain a better insight of the brain – emotional and physical problems.

Some of the benefits Reflexology provides are the release of tension, sleep management, mood improvement, circulation and relaxation.”

Jane Guyll, Specialist Speech and Language Therapy

My role is to assess, provide therapy and strategies for ABI clients with speech (articulation), language (including reading/writing) and swallowing disorders.  Clients may be seen at home, Headway or ‘ABI’ college depending on need.  Our service is intrinsic to the recovery of clients with ‘ABI’.  I help the client and family to understand communication/swallowing deficit, to implement strategies and direct therapy as well as helping both the client and family come to terms with any residual difficulties.

Whilst I am employed by the NHS I am based at Headway in Worcester.  Being based at Headway is invaluable as it helps to join up services and provides opportunities to observe clients in a social setting at the Day Centre as well as observe during lunch to ascertain their swallowing ability.  The close working relationship with Headway provides significant benefits to the client because strategies/therapy can be supported and implemented by staff to ensure that speech and language is worked on in a consistent approach as well as continually throughout the week.

Employment Support at the Charity Shop

Headway Worcestershire is committed to valuing diversity and we are working towards breaking down barriers for people with acquired brain injuries (re)entering work.  As such we encourage any service users who are interested, to volunteer for us and we work with them individually to build their confidence and skills.  This service has proved to be really successful; Headway has gained valuable support from these additional volunteers and service users have benefitted from improved self-esteem and confidence.  Some have successfully gone back to work after finishing their volunteer placement.

For more information about the charity shop please click

Student Placements

Headway has successfully offered placements to students from educational institutions like the University of Worcester, Worcester College of Technology, Worcester Sixth Form and Kidderminster College as well as many others.  We offer a wide range of supported placements for students which can be directly or indirectly linked to course outcomes.  We take students from a range of courses and disciplines including health and social care, social work, graphic design, mental health nursing and we have even had a student who was completing an art degree.  Headway will work closely with each student and their tutor to make sure the placement is as rewarding and meaningful as possible.

Student placements with Headway help to contextualize theoretical and classroom based learning and Headway is proud to support local educational establishments to develop their students in an ‘action-based’ learning environment.  The student will benefit from an excellent range of course related activities and will experience working within the voluntary sector with a range of people from all walks of life.   To find out more about student placements, please contact Laura on 01905 729729 or email LHall@hwtl.org.uk

Rebecca Hatcher – third year student at the University of Worcester.

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“Studying art and design at the University of Worcester, with a work placement module was a great opportunity to get into the real world and identify opportunities for after my degree. I was given the contact details of Headway by a friend who was already volunteering with Headway.

This placement was a brilliant opportunity to experience an area of the art field I had not before considered.  I got to learn about brain injury and how service users would interact with art. I was enabled to facilitate art workshops and which centred around a variety of themes e.g., a jungle theme where service users were completing different pieces of art from 2D work to 3D sculpture out of a range of material such as fabric, card and paint. The workshops were also created to accommodate all levels of skill and interest of the clients. It was a very rewarding experience; I got to see behind the misconceptions of brain injury and how lovely and willing service users are to meet new people and learn more about art. The service users and the staff at Headway made my placement particularly enjoyable. I would say to anyone that is considering a placement with Headway that you can learn a great deal working within this well-knit team.”

Work experience

We also offer rich work experience placements.

Flora Little attended work experience at Stourport Day Services from the Worcester College of Technology

“I think that the service is really good and does exactly what headway are named for, the clients love going there and the staff are really down to earth which I found made the clients more comfortable.  The service welcomes lots of volunteers and makes everyone comfortable.  I felt extremely happy there and I am looking to become a volunteer there.”