To work with someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment, workers need to have a good understanding of this disability.

The following provides some more information about Acquired Brain Impairment. Also included is an outline of some things workers may need to do to help someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment. The main topics covered are:

• Early identification of Acquired Brain Impairment
• Developing a case plan
• Relating to a person who has Acquired Brain Impairment

Acquired Brain Impairment - what it is and what it isn't

Acquired Brain Impairment is damage done to the brain that has happened after birth. Acquired Brain Impairment happens as a result of specific things, including:

• Head injury
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Stroke
• Infection, e.g. meningitis
• Brain tumour
• Lack of oxygen, e.g. through overdoses

Acquired Brain Impairment is different from an intellectual disability where the brain has been injured from birth. Nor is it the same as a psychiatric illness that is not caused by a brain injury. Acquired Brain Impairment is different from dementia (a worsening of mental abilities usually associated with old age). Dementia affects all areas of the brain, whereas Acquired Brain Impairment can affect a small area of the brain.

Acquired Brain Impairment can cause cognitive impairment. This means that it will affect people's thinking and memory. Symptoms of cognitive impairment include mood changes, changes in how the person behaves, and problems with short-term memory. Acquired Brain Impairment can cause physical problems too, including poor balance, coordination and paralysis in the case of a stroke.

Acquired Brain Impairment affects different people in different ways, depending upon the part or parts of the brain damaged, and how the damage happened in the first place.

Early identification of Acquired Brain Impairment.

One of the most important things a worker can do is to help identify whether or not a person has Acquired Brain Impairment, at the earliest possible stage. By doing this, workers can enable people to get the medical treatment and other kinds of help they need.

A major aim of working with people with Acquired Brain Impairment is rehabilitation. This means teaching people new skills that will help them cope with the problems caused by their cognitive impairment. An example of this would be teaching a person with Acquired Brain Impairment how to use a diary so they don't forget to keep important appointments.

So, the sooner the Acquired Brain Impairment is picked up, the sooner the person can learn how to cope better with day to day life. The most reliable way of establishing whether or not a person has an Acquired Brain Impairment is for them to have a neuropsychological assessment. Once this is done, you, the person and whoever else is involved with them can make a plan of what needs to be done.

Making a plan

People with Acquired Brain Impairment can have a lot of different problems happening at the same time. For example, they may have legal problems, money problems, relationship problems and medical problems. Because of this, working with someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment may also mean working with other people from a range of health and welfare agencies, in and outside the Koori community. This is called taking a multi-disciplinary approach. It may also involve educating non-Koori workers about our people and how we help each other out. When making a plan of how to help someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment, it is worth checking out the following things:

• What sort of memory and thinking problems does the person have?
• Does the person have problems with walking and co-ordination?
• Does the person have any other medical problems, for example diabetes?
• Does the person have a drug or alcohol problem?
• Does the person have a mental health problem?
• Does the person have support from workers in other agencies? If other workers are involved, what are they doing? What services are they offering?
• Does the person have family to support them?
• Does the person have somewhere to live and enough of the right kinds of food to eat?

Getting along with someone who has
Acquired Brain Impairment

When someone has Acquired Brain Impairment, they will have problems with their memory, how they think, plan and organise things. Because of this, it is important that workers don't add to the confusion that the person may already feel.

When talking to someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment, workers should be careful not to overload them - that is, talk about or do too many things at the one time. Workers should repeat information if necessary, they should discuss one point at a time, and tackle one problem at a time, in a step-by-step sort of way.

When someone has Acquired Brain Impairment, they can suffer from something called a Disorder of Awareness. What this means is that they have not got a really good idea of what's happened to them. This lack of insight means that they may think, and, feel that nothing much is wrong with them and that others around them are making a big deal about nothing.

They can become angry when people tell them to stop drinking, or make suggestions about how they could cope with their cognitive impairment. Working with someone who has Acquired Brain Impairment requires some patience, and a lot of time to get things done. It is also important that the worker does not become judgmental, and treats the person with the dignity they deserve.