Familiy/Carer Support Services
We are here to support carers & families from the hospital stage through to many years post injury.
Headway Birmingham & Solihull is a Delivery Partner of Birmingham Carers Hub, a free service offering a range of support to unpaid family carers in Birmingham. You can access support if you only provide a couple of hours care a week and you don’t need to be in receipt of carer benefits.
To start the registration process with Birmingham Carers Hub, hear about carer information and events or subscribe to Birmingham Carers Hub’s newsletter. Call 0333 006 9711 or email info@birminghamcarershub.org.uk to check if you are already registered. We can also register you by call the Headway helpline.
The Birmingham Carers Hub partnership is managed by Forward Carers CIC and funded by Birmingham City Council, and Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board who are integrated with the Birmingham Children’s Trust.
You can still access our many services whether you are registered with the BC Hub or not, and if living in Solihull.
At Headway, we understand that everyone is different and will need different support at various times during the brain injury journey. Whether you wish to have a chat with someone, ask for practical support, would like to meet with other people who are on a similar journey to yours or need some guidance and direction because you don’t know where to turn, please give us a call.
Our staff can help by listening and offering tailored support to your circumstances. Please call us on 0121 457 7541 Option 1 during our enquiry line times and we will do what we can to help you.
We define a Carer as: Someone who provides unpaid care to a friend, neighbour, or family member due to frailty, age, physical illness, mental health condition, addiction or any other reason, who couldn’t manage without support.
ENQUIRY LINE - Mon-Fri 10.00am - 3pm
Simply call us for any enquiry and we will point you in the right direction
0121 457 7541 Option 1
HOSPITAL LINK WORKERS
We have a number of Hospital Link Workers who can support you if you know someone who is located in the Brain Trauma wards at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham or other wards o Hospitals across Birmingham & Solihull. The Hospital Link Worker will be able to help you at the early stages of brain injury and give guidance and specific support. The Hospital Link Worker can also help you apply for funding to help with some of the costs (e.g. parking) if the person is in hospital for an extended period of time, as well as supporting you back home.
FAMILY SUPPORT WORKERS
We can provide a Family Support Worker who can meet with the family to discuss what support you would like to help you move forward with your life again. We can help put services in place and offer practical support. We can offer Statutory Carer Assessments including Carer Wellbeing Payments. We can advise on our internal support services as well as look at other external services and referral to other organisations.
We also have dedicated BME support worker to support with language and cultural needs, languages covering Punjabi and Hindi and some publications.
EVENTS FOR FAMILIES
We run a Carers Support Group once a month as part of our Lunch Clubs. Details can be found by phoning our helpline above. Carers can meet with other carers, share experiences and give support to one another. Being a member of Birmingham Carers also entitles carers to attend the events that they put on throughout the year. All families are also welcome to attend Headway Services For All activities. We are happy to support you to an event for the first visit. Please contact us on 0121 457 7541 Option 1 for more information.
TRAINING FOR FAMILIES/CARERS
We offer training for families around understanding brain injury, as well as other relevant topics that may be requested/arise.
COUNSELLING
We are able to offer counselling sessions. We can offer face to face and telephone counselling for both carers and those that are brain injured. One to one sessions start at £45 for 6 sessions. Further counselling services which are currently on offer are:
Pre Bereavement/Bereavement Counselling (open to carers only).
Couples counselling (open to cared for and carer)
Group counselling (open to carers)
These are chargeable services but at a low cost. If you require further details, please contact us on the telephone number above.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT/FAST TRACK
We are able to offer a quicker turn around on support with finances. This is open to carers and also to those who have an acquired brain injury. We can offer a one off consultation for no cost. If further support is required, such as practical support, this would be £30 for up to 3 case sessions. This would apply to benefit applications such as Personal Independence Payment, Universal credit etc. Please contact us for more information about this.
RESPITE
We can refer and signpost carers for respite which enables carers to have time for themselves for health and wellbeing.
We are able to refer you to our new Services for All programme where we will provide a variety of services for both the family and brain injured people. READ MORE
Overall, Headway Birmingham & Solihull offer a number of services above that families/carers can access mostly FREE of charge (unless otherwise specified) and to meet different needs so call
0121-457-7541 to find out how we can help you.
OTHER PRACTICAL SUPPORT for the whole family affected by brain injury.
REFER ALSO TO OUR PAGE ON WORKING CARERS
Across the UK, it is estimated that there are as many as half a million people living with the long-term effects of brain injury. Some of those people have disabilities so severe that they need specialist care in a residential setting, but the vast majority live at home, with partners and parents and other family members who take on the additional role of carer. It is therefore crucial that carers get the right support to help take on this role and that they also address their own health and get 'time out', if they are going to be able to continue in this role.
So, if someone close to you has had a brain injury and you are their closest family member/now their carer,
it may be helpful to know that there are many people who have faced the same uncertainties and anxieties that you
may be feeling. You are not alone and there is information and support available.
Family/Carer Support Services working in partnership with:-
and supported by:-
