The Sheffield Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team (SCBIRT) is a specialist community team working with people in Sheffield who have had a traumatic or acquired brain injury.

We understand how big an impact a brain injury can have, and we ensure that carers, family and loved ones have all the support they need to look after themselves too.

Our aim is to help our service users to lead a life that is as full and independent as possible, and achieve their aims in life.

That means working with our service users to achieve a quality of life that is satisfying and meaningful to them.

We work with service users to help re-establish themselves back into their community after a brain injury or a minor head injury, and build a support network around them.

Your appointments with us may be at the Long Term Neurological Conditions Building in Upperthorpe. The team also work with people directly in the community, in their homes, place of work or study or in local leisure facilities. Appointments are also being offered via video consultation and telephone calls

Our team includes a range of specialists who all have experience supporting people with brain injuries, including Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Specialist Therapy Assistants and a Clinical Psychologist.

How is the service accessed?

Anyone aged 16 or over who has sustained a brain injury or minor head injury, or has been living with a long-term brain injury, and is registered with a Sheffield GP can be referred to our service by a health or social care professional. 

To make a referral just give us a call on 0114 271 1237 and one of our Referral Co-ordinators will help you fill in a referral form. Once you’ve completed your referral form email it through to sct-ctr.ltnc@nhs.net

You can take a look at our service selection and eligibility criteria here.

If you are not registered with a Sheffield GP, we advise that you contact your GP to discuss which head injury services may be able to support you in your local area.

Mindfulness and relaxation

Mindfulness can be a really useful exercise to help calm your mind and relax. Below you will find a list of Mindfulness exercises that you may find useful:

There are also some useful soundtracks that you can play on loop in the background to help relax

Working with our service users

Working alongside our service users and carers to improve the care we provide is really important to us and helps to enhance the quality of the care we provide.

You can hear more about our approach to co-production in the video below called 'Two Brains Are Better Than One' which was recorded at our Service User Engagement Group Roadshow in June 2021.

You can also see how we work with our service users to co-produce research in the video below.

 

Stories from our service users

Below are some stories from people who have used our service that you may find useful to read if you or a loved one has been referred to us.

Support for me and my family

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.

Adapting to my condition

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.

Understanding my brain injury

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.

Learning about my new self

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.

Making a real difference to my recovery

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.

Useful websites

If you or anyone you know are living with a brain injury in Sheffield, the following websites may be useful in providing information about the support available to you:

Sharing your feedback on Care Opinion

Care Opinion is an independent organisation that gives you the chance share your experience of using our services, to help us make changes that benefit everyone.

We want you to share honest feedback about our services. Good or bad we want to hear what you think.

You can choose how much detail you want to go into about your personal story, but if there’s anything we could improve on we want to know.

You can give feedback by filling in the form below.