Snaresbrook Lodge

“I left hospital with no memory of my accident and not even a pamphlet about how to deal with a brain injury. So, it really was a miracle that one day someone from Attend called me. I think my supervisor would have found it easier to fire me at that point if it weren't for Attend stepping in to help all of us figure things out."

The £5,000 grant will mean that Attend can carry on reaching some of the hundreds of thousands who are living with brain injury across the South East. The grant will help the charity show Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) survivors that their new life will be just as interesting and fulfilling as it would have been without their injury.

ABI Navigators receive referrals from a wide variety of community and healthcare sources including specialist neurological hospitals and units, job centres, GP surgeries and charities like Headway, as well as case management teams such as Sweettree or Coulthursts. Along with a team of 15 fully trained and committed volunteers, they help ABI survivors to come up with a "support plan" that outlines S.M.A.R.T. goals and the support required to reach them.

This technique has been proven to produce successful outcomes post ABI (Knutti, et al. 2022) and will be the basis of our tailored and sustained intervention.

Last year, 81 survivors were supported with their return to a previous role and a further 22 entered new employment while 84 survivors also started a volunteering role as a stepping stone to returning to paid work. We supported 7 young ABI survivors to make applications for university and 20 young adult survivors participated in a mock interview, where they were able to practice disclosing their injury and improve their interview skills. The success of Attend is in large part due to the  volunteers who spend time delivering training and giving 1:1 support to beneficiaries; The charity provides accredited training in coaching skills to new volunteers and has delivered coaching sessions to over 100 ABI survivors, as well as supporting 45 beneficiaries to apply for statutory benefits.

David Wood (OBE), CEO Attend said: 

“This grant from London Freemasons will mean that our work can carry on reaching some of the hundreds of thousands who are living with brain injury across the South East. You will help us show ABI survivors that their new life will be just as interesting and fulfilling as it would have been without their injury.”

Will Clayton, London Freemasons said:

“We are delighted to be able to provide support to Attend for the valuable work that they are doing to help those with acquired brain injuries (ABI) to better recover and re-enter the workplace successfully with support from trained ABI Navigators.  This is an amazing programme that is actively supporting those with ABI in our communities.“