interact-ABI-lity

Learn how to interact more successfully with people who have a brain injury

interact-ABI-lity is a short, self-guided online course for family members, friends, support workers or anyone who interacts with people who have a brain injury. This free online course takes about 2 hours to complete and is designed for family members, friends, support workers, and professionals working in brain injury. This course was developed as part of a collaboration between The University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Brain Injury Australia and Changineers, with funding support from icare NSW. The course includes opportunities to:

• Hear from people with a brain injury and their family members
• Learn about communication changes
• Learn how to support people with their communication
• Gain a certificate of completion

Find out more about interact-ABI-lity and enrol in the course at the Acquired Brain Injury Communication Lab at The University of Sydney.

convers-ABI-lity

A program about having better conversations together after a brain injury

convers-ABI-lity is a 10 week online program for a person with brain injury and their communication partner (a family member, friend, or support worker) to complete together, guided by a speech pathologist. This program is currently being developed and tested as part of a collaboration between The University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, Brain Injury Australia and Changineers, with funding support from icare NSW. The course includes:

• Setting goals to improve your conversations together
• Learning about how to approach conversations after a brain injury
• Practising your conversations together
• Reflecting on your conversations with the support of a speech pathologist

Contact the Acquired Brain Injury Communication Lab for more information about this program, or if you are interested in participating as a research volunteer.

Positive Behaviour Support Information for Service Providers

icare has developed a framework for working with people with challenging behaviour following a traumatic brain injury using the positive behaviour support approach. The following information is provided to assist practitioners working with participants and injured workers of icare to understand our framework, our expectations of PBS practitioners working with us and what support is available through our organisation.

• Positive Behaviour Support
• Positive Behaviour Support Plan template
• Restrictive Practices Policy – AA

Be Pain Smart

Pain clinics for people with brain injury and spinal cord injury.

The Agency for Clinical Innovation has developed an integrated and multidisciplinary chronic pain consultative clinic for people with a Spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury and chronic pain – the Be Pain Smart Clinic. A monthly children’s service is located at the Children’s Hospital Westmead. A weekly adult service is located at Royal Rehab. Telehealth consultations are available for rural and remote people upon request. Further information can be found on their website: https://aci.health.nsw.gov.au/chronic-pain/brain-injury

TBI ConneCT

Conversation skills training program for people with a brain injury and their communication partners.

TBIconneCT is a program designed to help people with traumatic brain injury and their family members, friends or carers have better conversations together. TBIconneCT was based on the original TBI Express program but reduced in length and designed for clinicians to use with individual families. For more information please click on the links below:

• https://www.sydney.edu.au/medicine-health/our-research/research-centres/acquired-brain-injury-communication-lab/tbiconnect.html
• https://www.assbi.com.au/Sys/Store/Products/19608

Carers Way Ahead

An online program to provide family carers of people with brain injury specific strategies to deal with complex and challenging behaviours.

The Carer’s Way Ahead is an internet-based program specifically tailored for Australian carers and families managing someone with a traumatic brain injury. It is a step-by-step program teaching family members how to manage challenging behaviour in the home.

It is for adults aged 18+ who:

• Have a family member with a traumatic brain injury
• Find the behaviour of their family member challenging (i.e., they exhibit aggression, irritability, apathy etc.)
• Have access to a computer and reliable internet,

The program includes psychoeducational lessons on brain injury and behaviour, modules addressing specific challenging behaviours (i.e., disinhibition, apathy), and a module on self-care to assist carers/family members manage stress, low mood and other emotional states. Participants will be required to complete one module each week over a six-to-eight-week period. The program is free for research participants, and they will receive clinical support throughout the program by a clinical psychologist who is an expert in the field of traumatic brain injury and behaviour management.

For further information please visit our recruitment site: https://redcap.link/thecarerswayahead

Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact t.wearne@unsw.edu.au