Headway Ireland - Latest News

Limerick Man Gets Flavour of Life on Air

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:21:00 +0100

Job Shadow Day, organised by the Irish Association for Supported Employment (IASE), saw hundreds of individuals with disabilities throughout Ireland take the opportunity to shadow a workplace mentor as they goes through a normal working day.

Brian Hogan, a Headway client from Ballykeefe, Limerick, spent his Job Shadow Day behind the scenes at RTÉ’s Mooney Show. Brian, who is hoping to develop a media career, spent the day with the show’s production team, getting a close up look at what’s involved in a career in radio broadcasting.

Brian, a University of Limerick graduate, had been working in England as a quantity surveyor for nine years. However, on July 19, 2009, Brian's life changed forever. He was assaulted during an unprovoked attack which left him partially paralysed and blind. Brian is working with a Headway job coach in the hopes of getting back into employment.

Find out more about Headway Vocational Services here

Dublin to Welcome Pioneer of Supported Employment

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:25:00 +0100

Some of the world’s leading experts in the field of employment and disability have been confirmed for the European Union of Supported Employment (EUSE) Conference taking place in Dublin next month.

The EUSE conference, hosted by the Irish Association of Supported Employment (IASE), and sponsored by the Rehab Group, takes place in Croke Park Stadium and Conference Centre, from June 11^th to June 13^th.

One of the original founders of supported employment and an internationally recognised and honoured expert in the field, Dr. Paul Wehman, will be speaking at the conference. Dr. Wehman has spoken to audiences around the world, addressing professionals, parents, advocates and businesses on transition and employment for people with autism, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other developmental disabilities.

Find out more about the conference here

Living in the Community - New Report Highlights role of Support Organisations

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:12:00 +0100

The resources and supports that enable people with disabilities to actively live in the community in Ireland are often hidden from view, according to a report jointly published last week by the DFI and Not for Profit Business Association. Minister of State Kathleen Lynch launched the report: Living in the Community: Services and Supports for People with Disabilities in the Mansion House.

Headway was one of fifteen disability support organisations to be interviewed for the report whose key findings showed:

In relation to ‘value for money’, participating organisations have worked to achieve maximum efficiency, though they are deeply concerned about the potential impact on services of any further reductions in their income.
In addition to efficiency in relation to the costs of services, they can provide demonstrable examples of how the supports and services they provide to people with disabilities save substantial amounts of money for the State.
Voluntary sector organisations (in contrast to private, commercial provision) bring added value to the services they provide on behalf of the State in many ways, such as their co-funding of services, their links to international expertise, the involvement of volunteers, the flexibility of their staff, sharing of their buildings and generosity in contributing their knowledge and expertise.

You can download the report here

A celebration of Life After Stroke

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:19:00 +0100

Headway will be in attendance at "A celebration of life after stroke". This is the title of an event planned for Friday 26th April in the Gibson Hotel, Dublin 1. Speakers include Dr. Tony Humphreys, Clinical Psychologist and Rachael Ahern, Stroke survivor. The day runs from 10am to 4pm and we look forward to meeting you there.

For further information about the event, you can download the poster here

Public Consultation on Mobility Allowance - Your last chance

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:45:00 +0100

You may be aware of the government's recenly announced changes to the mobility allowance schemes. There is a public consultation survey on the mobility allowance/motorised transport grant being conducted by the department of health here: http://www.dohc.ie/consultations/open/Mobility_Allowance/ The department is looking for people’s feedback on the two schemes.

The deadline for receiving consultation is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5pm, so don't delay if you want your view to be registered.

Road Safety Strategy to Address Serious Injuries

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:21:00 +0100

We are all used to the shocking statistics about road safety. Most of the figures quoted concentrate on the number of deaths on Irish roads. But in a welcome shift of emphasis, Leo Varadkar launched the government's new Road Safety strategy with a specific focus on dealing with serious injuries arising from traffic collisions. According to the recorded figures, there were 485 serious injuries on Irish roads in 2012, the majority of which would be head, brain or spinal cord injuries. The strategy aims to reduce that figure to 330 by the year 2020.

See the news article from the RSA conference on Road traffic collisions here.

May is European Month of the Brain

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:31:00 +0100

Each year, Headway has taken part in Brain Awareness Week. This is coordinated by the Neurological Alliance of Irealnd to highlight issues affecting the 700,000 Irish people living with a neurological condition.

This year will be a little different. In May 2013, to coincide with the European Month of the Brain, NAI and its members will instead hold a month long series of events, aimed at promoting awareness of neurological conditions. European Month of the Brain is an initiative organised by the EU and you can find out more at the official website here

Events to take place during the month will be advertised here and on the Neurological Alliance website

Headway Clients at Leinster House

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 16:21:00 +0100

Headway Limerick clients Ray Keane and Tom Griffin (pictured with Staff member Richard Reeves) were part of a group of clients from all around the country who turned up at Leinster House on Wednesday. The day, which was organised by the Neurological Alliance (www.nai.ie) was intended to bring home the message to politicians about the state of services in Ireland for people with neurological conditions such as stroke and brain injury.

The group of Headway clients was joined by representatives from twenty other neurological groups and over thirty senators and TDs. You can find out who attended from your area here. The audience heard about how Ireland's neurological services are the worst in Europe. Professor Orla Hardiman from Beaumont Hospital spoke about the irony of Ireland hosting the EU Presidency and the European month of the Brain when our own services are in such a poor state.

You can read more about the lobby day here

Manifesto for Rehabilitation Launches

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:23:00 +0100

The Neurological Alliance of Ireland launched its Neurorehabilitation Manifesto in the Mansion House Dublin on 20th February 2013.

The manifesto calls for for urgent action by the Government to address the ongoing crisis in Ireland's neurorehabilitation services. 5 out of 6 people who need to cannot access specialist rehabilitation. The Government published a national framework for neurorehabilitation services in 2011 but so far no funding has been provided to implement it. Read more on the NAI website here...

If you suffer from chronic pain and would like to hear from some leading experts, read on

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:49:00 +0100

You might be interested in this free event on Saturday 23rd February for chronic pain patients. It is being organised by the Faculty of Pain Medicine, College of Anaesthetists of Ireland. Full details are here.

2012 - A Headway Year in Pictures

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 10:07:00 +0100

We hope you enjoy these randomly selected moments from some of the activities that have been going on in Headway during 2012. It's certainly been a busy year and we are looking forward with eager anticipation to 2013.

Headway Helping to Promote Road Safety

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 14:09:00 +0100

Over the last weeks, Headway have been proud participants in the series of "Roadsafe" Roadshows sponsored by various local county councils together with Axa Insurance. As part of our commitment to Road Safety under the European Road Safety Charter, Headway joined with representatives from the emergency services, HSE Accident and Emergency medical staff and bereaved relatives to try to put the safe driving message across to transition year students.

In three shows to over two thousand pupils, in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and Fingal counties, Headway client Tom McKiernan told the youngsters about the consequences of road accidents. He talked about his recovery since being hit by car when walking home from a meeting to celebrate a day fundraising for charity.

Calling his talk "Think before you decide" he emphasised how everything can change in a moment, as it did for Tom and his family. Thankfully Tom is making great progress following his injury, and we are very grateful to him for taking time out from his training course to speak to the audiences.

Axa Roadsafety, who sponsor the event, have a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AXA.ireland

New "Stepping Stones" vocational programme for Cork

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:18:00 +0100

The “Stepping Stones” programme began in December 2012 at Headway’s offices in Carrigrohane Co. Cork. This course is a six month vocational training programme run by Headway and funded by FÁS.

This course is aimed at clients with an acquired brain injury who wish to gain FETAC certification. The modules on offer are: Health and Fitness, Career Preparation, Health and Safety Awareness and Personal and Interpersonal Skills. Skill Sampling and Community Activities will also be considered where appropriate, giving clients an opportunity to work in the local community as part of the course.

Clients participating are hoping to use this course to get back on the job ladder, add a qualification to their CV’s and gain an understanding of what their options are following completion of their studies.

For more information contact us at www.headway.ie/contact

Headway Research Featured

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:38:00 +0100

New research undertaken by Headway in conjunction with Trinity College is just one of a number of projects funded by the Health Research Board to appear in their new publication, A Picture of Health.

The research focused on the problem of selective attention and the difficulty that some people experience following a head injury in paying attention to one thing if there are competing distractions or "background noise". The research put 17 people through a training programme designed to improve hearing attention. Clients performed tasks using headphones with increasing levels of competing noise. The results of the training showed positive effects on their memory and hearing comprehension.

The evidence provides an indicator of the benefit of this type of training as Suvi Dockree, Headway's Head of Psychological Services in Dublin says: "The findings provide evidence for including such a training programme in post-acute rehabilitation settings for people who have suffered a traumatic brain injury"

Although the initial indicators are positive, further research will be needed before this type of training is fully evolved and the clinical application fully developed. We will keep you informed of developments.

You can download A Picture of Health here

Neurological Alliance in Pre Budget Plea

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:52:00 +0100

The Neurological Alliance of Ireland (NAI), of which Headway is a member, is calling on the government to protect services and supports to people with disabilities in next week's budget. The NAI has contacted all TD's in advance of next week's budget to highlight the impact of the Government's economic measures to date on those with neurological disabilities and the hardship that will be caused by any further cuts.