Headway Salisbury and South Wiltshire is a registered charity that supports adults who have sustained an acquired brain injury for example through stroke, trauma, infection or hypoxia, amongst others, and their families.

The impact of an ABI is often both sudden and devastating, and the effects can be physical, emotional, and cognitive. It can shatter families and leave survivors in desperate need of practical support. A brain injury and its consequent impacts can last a lifetime, change every aspect of an individual, and leave them with physical, cognitive, and/or sensory disabilities.

As an often ‘unseen’ and misdiagnosed condition, that frequently presents challenging behaviour and social difficulties, survivors of ABIs and their families are often isolated and socially excluded. This can lead to depression, mental health problems, individuals becoming dependent on drugs and alcohol, breakdown of family relationships, withdrawal from the community and loss of employment.

As a charity we offer a number of key services to support the survivors of brain injuries and their families. These services focus on slow stream cognitive and social rehabilitation alongside peer support. There are many more brain injury survivors living within Salisbury and South Wiltshire than we currently have contact with and our strategy is to increase this proportion considerably. We have designed these services through constant dialogue with those most affected by ABIs.