Heather thanks so much for saying this. It’s always refreshing to hear from someone you hasn’t got a brain injury themselves, but wants to help those who do. Yes you are right about compassion and understanding needing to be higher on the agenda, and I do hope that the more we talk about it, the better we can make the situation.

David it’s so difficult isn’t it. I’m glad you found new work but I can completely understand how that environment makes it hard.

What I did enjoy was during my outpatient rehab, each therapy session would start with the therapist steering me into a conversation with no pressure to start the therapy session. They would listen to what I had to say and let the conversation flow naturally. I guess that was as much a part of the therapy as was the actual therapy. It also didn’t hurt in the way it was enjoyable to be able to converse without pressure.

Family conversations tend to be carried on en mass and not one to one and therefore difficult to follow because of the overload of information. I often joke that I’ve been kept out of the loop over some situation and they will say that’s what we talked about last week at the restaurant when we all had lunch together.

I have a couple of neighbors who I converse with on a regular basis, so this seems to satisfy that part of life when a little chat is what’s needed.

Also there are my TBI, ABI pals on Twitter and their respective blogs, it’s those little tweets or reading their blogs that helps to make me feel like part of a community. Thanks Michelle, I’m sure your blogs are a comfort to many people with a brain injury, knowing that they are not alone

Jo you are absolutely right, I agree with everything you said! We have had an experience which is unique, and we are learning things that others have no idea about.

I used to attend a group with the charity Headway. They were all lovely people, but sometimes would get stuck in their own thoughts and issues. To begin with I found that hard, especially when I kept being told mine wasn’t as bad, like it’s a competition. But in time I realised that it was meant in a supportive way and they were trying to encourage me.
In a way I found it useful for it not to be all about my struggles for a bit, and like how I write this blog, I made my time there more about supporting them than me. When you know something you said or did helped in some small way, and feeling you get is irreplaceable.