The PAUL For Brain Recovery Centre offers a truly community-based support service to those with brain injuries across the region.
The facility, established by Hudgell Solicitors’ ambassador Paul Spence in the Wilberforce Health Centre, Story Street, Hull, will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-5pm, and Wednesday evenings from 4pm-8pm.
Whether brain injury victims are on the first step of a long road to recovery, or coming out the other end and, like Paul, looking for their next challenge in life, the new centre aims to accommodate and support all, offering state-of-the-art equipment to provide activities for body and mind. Here, we look at the wide range of services which are being provided, from people with first-hand experience of brain injury recovery.
Listening
The first and perhaps most important service offered is a simple one – but one which has been lacking in community for too long – listening. The centre promises to listen to each individual and offer a range of services to guide them through the long road to recovery. Paul understands the value of having someone to talk to, whether going through brain injury themselves, or supporting a loved one.
Guidance and encouragement
Being a brain injury survivor himself, Paul understands what others are going through and the problems they are facing. It is something only someone recovering from a brain injury can fully understand. Paul wants people to know that they are not alone, that there is a way forward and that they can achieve things they never thought possible. Providing guidance and encouragement at all times is key.
Inspiration and motivation
Using his own personal experiences, Paul will deliver talks at the centre to inspire and motivate people towards a brighter future. Other brain injury survivors will also be telling their own inspiring stories, highlighting how they too have been at the start of the road to recovery, and how they found the motivation to battle back from brain injury and start making progress towards a better life.
Family Support
First-hand advice and tips will be provided to families and friends of people affected by brain injury. The centre aims to be a place where brain injury victims can meet other families that have gone through, or are going through similar problems, providing a peer support network and allowing individuals and families to discuss issues surrounding brain injury and how to deal with them effectively.
Coping Strategies
Paul understands and has experienced the huge burden a brain injury puts on an entire family, and therefore recognises the real need for support to ensure that a brain injured person can successfully integrate back into a family unit. Advice will be provided various ways of coping with brain injury and learning which coping strategies can work best for the individual and their family.
Nutrition & Fitness
Whether its learning how to cook healthy and nutritional foods which best support body and mind during recovery, or providing light fitness activities to demonstrate the positive impact exercise can have during recovery, the centre will focus on helping brain injury victims towards a regaining a healthy body and mind.
Brain injury education
Interactive workshops will be aimed at helping people learn about the brain and how best to look after it. They will provide advice on what the different types of brain injury are, the impact they can have and how they can alter behaviour. Once people can understand the brain a little better they are more likely to understand how their own injury is making them react to certain situations.
Progress Portfolio
Every positive step in recovery is a huge achievement, and PAUL For Brain Recovery will assist people in setting some personal goals which are relevant to their own individual stage of recovery. Progress will then be tracked in a personal development portfolio, however big or small. Recognising and celebrating any progress is important and will be a key part of the support offered.
Pathways
The centre will place a focus on making the aspirations of people with brain injuries become a reality; whether this be in education, employment or simply via a hobby they wish to take up. Having a path to follow in life is so important to remaining motivated and positive.
Access to relevant brain injury therapies
Advice and support will be provided to help people access the most appropriate services to their needs. Through an extensive network of local associates, the centre will help in signposting people towards receiving holistic support throughout their recovery journey.
Read how Hudgell Solicitors’ ambassador helped Alison Heard and Giorgio Romano find positivity following brain injury, and learn more about PAUL For Brain Recovery.
