I didn’t know what to expect at first. My injury had affected me badly, but from the first visit I was made to feel relaxed and new I would now be helped. I was listened to and talked to in a way I would understand, and everything was explained about what my plans and goals could be to help me recover.

After seven or eight months of support everyone became my team! The service is really good and I would recommend them to anyone, they can handle anything regarding my injury. The skilled team adapted the service to my needs and understanding, but were also really realistic and to the point. I left hospital not knowing what was going to happen and was worried for the future and for my family but left the service understanding my condition, my brain injury and with hope for the future and I’m sure I recovered faster because of it.

My family felt on their own until we started work on my recovery, the service gave us hope that things could be different, it was going to take time and they explained that there would be setbacks but we could get help, things would improve and we could be a family again with me being as independent as possible with out my family having to do everything for me.

Before I met SCBIRT I thought my life was over. After working with the team I was immediately given hope of getting my life back. After a few sessions with the team my speech improved, I had adaptions done to my flat to make life easier and gained inner strength to carry on.

The Fatigue Management Course taught me how to adapt to my condition and with the team's help I have rebuilt my life. My friends have noticed the remarkable change since working with the team, they have said they have got their friend back. Thank you SCBIRT for everything.

SCBIRT helped me to understand how my brain injury affected me, and showed me that I wasn’t being paranoid. The groups helped me to understand that I wasn’t the only one and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Being able to share accounts with others makes it real, which I found to be really important for my recovery.

Overall, the team helped me with my phased return to work. Because people can’t see the injury, they don’t understand how it affects me. SCBIRT supported my employer to understand, which enabled me to regain independence, self-confidence and return to working full time.

My SCBIRT experience was a good one. Going into the first meeting I thought it was going to be daunting and a waste of my time, but the team made me feel very comfortable and I was even looking forwards to learning about my new self. They were also brilliant with my wife, as the brain injury didn’t only affect me - it affected us both. We learnt a lot in the meetings because she was invited also, which really helped us both adapt.

I was invited to a meeting for one and a half hours for several weeks talking to other people with brain injuries about fatigue. I wasn’t looking forward to it and thought it was a waste of one and a half hours of my time. But how wrong was I? I learned a lot about fatigue in those meetings and was made aware of the boom and bust cycle and how this affects me. I was taught to organise my day to manage my energy better. I also learned the skill of meditation which was initially against my thinking, but I found it very useful.

I felt weak and confused after my brain injury, despite my family doing everything they could to support me on release from hospital. We had little idea about my recovery route. SCBIRT expertly facilitated small group activity to help me understand the implications and plan personal recovery, avoiding common pitfalls.

Pacing activities to prevent neuro-fatigue was important for me. Two of the SCBIRT team met with my wife and me to review progress and examine actions. This improved our family understanding and joint planning. Following expert physiotherapy support, I have successfully improved my strength and balance.

I am hugely grateful to SCBIRT for the difference they have made to my recovery.