About Us

General

The National Brain Injury Foundation is an Australian community based organization that was incorporated in 1989. The NBIF was established some 20 years ago by a small group of people in Canberra after they became involved in helping the families of two patients with severe acquired brain injury. After their injured family members had received acute care in hospitals, the families were told that there was little more that the healthcare system could do for them. Not wishing to abandon their family member to permanent consignment to a nursing home, the families had taken the patients home and sought to provide them with the best possible opportunity for cognitive and physical rehabilitation. To attempt this, the families were guided by the philosophy of Dr Ted Freeman and assisted in applying his ideas by those friends who were subsequently to constitute the NBIF. Dr Freeman’s approach to rehabilitation was originally spelt out in his monograph The Catastrophe of Coma.

In the 15 years since its formation, the NBIF has assisted many people with acquired brain injury (ABI), and their families, in many parts of Australia. The Foundation has several hundred members, many of whom have had personal experience of brain injury in their family. Apart from the distinctively ‘medical’ aspects of rehabilitation, people living with the aftermath of an acquired brain injury, of any level of severity, are likely to experience significant disadvantage in many other aspects of day-to-day life. Problems with accommodation, education, employment, relationships, substance misuse, finance etc., while not ‘clinical’, can nevertheless prove to be major impediments to a person achieving maximum potential for recovery and social reintegration. NBIF seeks to assist in all of these areas according to the needs of any specific individual.

Apart from the actual provision of services to, and advocacy on behalf of, individual people, the Foundation attempts to influence government policies in such a way as to benefit larger groups with similar problems. Given the reality that the most effective instrument to improve the life of a person recovering from a brain injury will be his or her family, much of the Foundation’s efforts are directed to providing support for the families, or carers, of those with ABI.

The NBIF receives recurrent funding from the ACT Government to provide an accommodation service to four people, and to provide an information and advocacy service. Apart from this money, allocated on trust to secure services such as accommodation, assistance with personal care, transport etc., the Foundation is not supported by recurrent government grants. ‘Core’ funding for the NBIF has always been sourced from within the community that it serves (with the exception of the use of the wheelchair accessible van and the hydrotherapy pool at the Dorothy Sales Cottages, all services are free). Funding comes from activities organised by volunteers and from direct donations.

Provision of Services

Within the limited resources available to it, the Foundation offers support in the form of:

• financial assistance
• help with equipment
• assistance with transport
• providing advocacy

It also provides:

• community-based rehabilitation programs
• weekly exercise programs
• hydrotherapy and massage
• monthly social gatherings

Another important service the NBIF is able to provide is the presentation of pre-driver education programs in ACT schools. It has also been involved for a number of years in the Diversionary Conferencing Program for people with drink-driving offences.

Tanderra Supported Accommodation

In 1983 the Foundation established the Tanderra Supported Accommodation Service for four persons with ABI. This service provides a supportive environment, on a medium to long term basis, for people who are relatively independent but for varying reasons, such as i mpaired memory or organisational skills, find it difficult to live on their own. This service is funded through the ACT Government and has a large volunteer network.

Dorothy Sales Cottages

The Foundation owns, and has landlord responsibilities for, an accommodation facility known as the Dorothy Sales Cottages which is located at 13A Wynter Place, Hughes. The Cottages accommodate eight people with severe disabilities who were previously accommodated inappropriately in aged persons nursing homes. In addition one room is set aside to provide respite care for people living with ABI in the community. The Cottages provide a more home-like environment for residents than their previous accommodation. Rehabilitation facilities are also provided, including a gymnasium and a hydrotherapy pool.

Funding for the construction of the facility was provided through a generous grant from the ACT Road Safety Trust. The care component is managed by Centacare with funding from the ACT Department of Health.

The hydrotherapy pool located at the Cottages is used by the residents under the supervision of a qualified therapist. Other organisations hire the pool for use by their clients.

Support Groups

The foundation operates two support groups on a monthly basis: one is for survivor of ABI, the other for carers. Both groups welcome members to share their experiences and offer mutual support.