Acquired and Traumatic Brain Injury Service
Evidence-based, gold standard, NICE compliant, person-centred care
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury caused by a blow or insult to the head and brain which can lead to both short-term and long-term changes for a person. Such brain injuries may result from a direct trauma such as an accident of some kind, or be acquired through other means, such as the brain being deprived of oxygen during birth or after a cardiac arrest.
TBI can lead to physical, cognitive, personality, behavioural and emotional changes, which impact all aspects of day-to-day life. TBI not only impacts a person, but the friends and family around them.
Our clinicians are all specialists in providing assessment and rehabilitation for clients and their families and wider networks, following a TBI.
We accept self-referrals from clients, and referrals from family members or friends on behalf of clients
We also accept referrals from professionals including GP's, therapy and health professionals, psychiatrists, neurologists, social care staff, case managers, solicitors, Court of Protection teams and financial deputies and insurers.
Learn more about our personal injury and clinical negligence service here
Neuropsychological Assessment
At Psychologia we do not believe in a "one size fits all" approach.
When we receive a referral, we aim to discuss the client's background, injury, assessment and rehabilitation needs to provide a plan for a comprehensive assessment that is tailored to the person, useful and cost-effective.
Neuropsychological assessments can include all or some of the following services, and we can provide a bespoke costing that works best based on a client's needs and circumstances.
Clinical Interview
A clinical interview involves a meeting with a Clinical Psychologist or Neuropsychologist so that they can learn more about the client, their personal background, their injury, the strengths and difficulties experienced following an injury, and to understand a client's personal goals for rehabilitation and support.
A clinical interview typically lasts between 1 and 1.5 hours and might be conducted alongside further cognitive ("thinking skills") assessment and/or gathering of information from family, friends, and other professionals.
Cognitive Screening
Cognitive screening involves using gold-standard assessments called "cognitive screening tools" to broadly assess whether there are any areas of concern from a cognitive perspective.
These tools can be administered in around 20 minutes for most clients and as part of an initial clinical interview.
Cognitive screening tests are not used to diagnose difficulties but can help provide an indication as to whether further comprehensive assessment would be beneficial
Cognitive Assessment
Cognitive assessment involves meeting with a Clinical Psychologist or Neuropsychologist, who will work with you to administer a range of pen-and-paper and computer-based assessments.
These are gold-standard assessments designed to evaluate different "thinking skills," helping the assessor to understand a person's strengths and weaknesses.
They can provide diagnostic information, offer insights into where an injury might be impacting the brain, and inform rehabilitation approaches.
Informant Interview
We know that brain injuries have far-reaching consequences for clients and their families, including their parents, partners, children, extended family, or close friends.
It can often be useful to have a short interview as part of the initial assessment process with a friend or family member.
This interview has two main goals:
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To find out more about the changes that the friend or family member might have noticed in the client.
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To learn more about the impact of a brain injury on those caring for a client, to inform recommendations about support for them.
Mental Capacity Act (2005) Assessment
Following a brain injury, a client's decision-making can be impacted by cognitive, emotional, behavioural and awareness changes.
We provide patient-centred and neuropsychology-led specialist Mental Capacity Act (2005) assessments for a range of decisions and have specialist expertise in completing assessments for the Court of Protection and Court of Protection legal teams.
Neuropsychological Assessment Reports
Our clinicians are routinely commended for the quality of the neuropsychological assessment reports that they produce, including clinical assessment reports, cognitive assessment analysis and reporting, and MCA assessment reports.
We work with referrers, including self-referring clients with brain injuries, as well a professionals referring on behalf of clients (e.g. case managers, solicitors etc.) to ensure that reports are person-centred and inform rehabilitation recommendations.
Neuropsychological Interventions
Acquired and traumatic brain injuries can vary in their severity, ranging from suspected to mild, moderate, or severe. Clients also have unique circumstances in which they will have sustained an injury. It may be that they have lived with a brain injury since birth or childhood or that it has been newly acquired through an accident or medical event in adulthood.
Brain injuries impact every client differently, and neuropsychological interventions and rehabilitation need to be adapted based on the client’s unique brain injury presentation, journey, and needs.
Following an assessment, we will provide recommendations for ongoing support, including neuropsychological rehabilitation and therapy. In reality, holistic neuropsychological interventions involve elements of different types of intervention at various stages.
Brain Injury Education
Following a brain injury, it can be a difficult and confusing time. Early stages of recovery are often marked by difficulty in receiving and understanding complex and distressing information about a brain injury. It might also be unclear in the early stages what life might look like once recovery has continued.
We offer clients who have experienced a brain injury person-centered information about their injury, where it is located in the brain, what this means, and why they might be experiencing the difficulties that they are.
Brain injury education sessions can be critical in supporting clients to make sense of the issues they are experiencing and can be offered as a one-off session or as part of a broader intervention.
Cognitive Rehabilitation
Following a brain injury, depending on the location of the injury, the type of injury, and the networks of cells in the brain impacted by the injury, clients might experience particular difficulties in certain areas of their cognition or "thinking skills," including:
Memory and learning, executive function abilities (decision-making, planning, flexibility in thinking, inhibition and initiation, problem-solving, reasoning, etc.), attention and concentration, processing speed, visual perception, language (word-finding, reading, writing, etc.), and numerical processing.
Cognitive rehabilitation involves using an understanding of a client's cognitive strengths and weaknesses to provide strategies and training to improve or compensate for the impact of cognitive difficulties on their day-to-day functioning
Our cognitive rehabilitation are tailor-made and all adhere to the INCOG 2.0 best practice evidence-based guidelines.
Awareness Interventions
Following a brain injury, it is not uncommon to experience difficulties with awareness, where a person struggles to notice the impact of their brain injury and that they are experiencing difficulties. This is sometimes referred to as "lacking insight."
This is a common symptom following a brain injury and can be frustrating for both clients and family members, causing conflict in relationships and disagreement about what the key difficulties are and how to manage them.
Neuropsychological interventions to support clients, their families, and professionals working with them to manage changes in awareness are critical. We work with clients, families, and professionals to understand and adjust to these changes, as well as providing bespoke direct interventions to clients to support them in the recovery of changes in awareness.
Adapted Talking Therapies
Following a brain injury, it is common to experience changes in emotional wellbeing, these might be due to 'organic' brain changes disrupting emotional regulation, a an emotional response to the impact of a brain injury, or a combination of both.
Talking therapies include:
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Compassion Focused Therapy
Narrative Therapy
Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
There are all NICE recommended therapies for emotional changes, and require specialist adaptation for clients who have experienced a brain change, in order for them to get the most out of therapy.
We offer specialist adapted for brain injury talking therapies for clients with brain injuries.
Supported Decision Making
For adults following a traumatic brain injury (TBI) who may experience challenges with decision-making, supported decision-making offers a framework to maximise their autonomy. Guided by the principles of the Mental Capacity Act, this approach focuses on providing individuals with the necessary information and support to make their own decisions, wherever possible.
The aim of supported-decision making is to empower individuals to maintain control over their lives, even when facing cognitive difficulties, by exploring all practicable steps to facilitate their decision-making capacity rather than assuming incapacity.
Supported-decision making interventions can often be followed by Mental Capacity Act (2005) assessment where needed to ascertain whether an individual has decision-making capacity.
Behavioural Monitoring and Intervention
Recovering from a brain injury can be a challenging and uncertain time, often accompanied by behavioural changes that are difficult to manage and highly distressing for the client, their family, and the professionals working with them.
Through structured behavioural monitoring and analysis, it is possible to learn more about why behaviour might be challenging and to provide interventions, including support for clients, behavioural management guidelines, training for staff, and Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) plans.
By integrating evidence-based strategies and behavioural support plans, we provide a person-centred approach and aim to create supportive environments that empower individuals in their recovery journey.
Empowerment Behaviour Modification Approach (EBMA)
Following a brain injury, clients may find themselves living and functioning back in their community but with increased support from professionals around them. This can lead to clients feeling disempowered and lacking control in making decisions about aspects of their life, as well as their recovery and rehabilitation.
Our team specialises in the Empowerment Behaviour Modification Approach (EBMA) to support individuals recovering from brain injury. This evidence-based framework focuses on equipping clients with the tools and strategies needed to understand their behavioural changes, develop self-regulation, and regain autonomy in their daily lives. We foster a collaborative environment that prioritises empowerment, stability, and meaningful recovery.
Vocational Rehabilitation
We provide expert neuropsychology-led vocational rehabilitation to support individuals recovering from brain injury in returning to meaningful activity, work, or education.
Our services include comprehensive neuropsychological and cognitive assessments, skills-to-job matching, CV development, interview coaching, cognitive interventions to manage the impact of difficulties on work tasks, and supportive interventions to assist clients with emotional adjustment in the workplace and to plan for key issues such as how to disclose a diagnosis.
We collaborate with employers to implement reasonable workplace adjustments, ensuring clients can access the required support for success.
For Professionals working with clients with Acquired Brain Injuries
We offer a number of services for professionals working with clients and families following an acquired or traumatic brain injury
Case Consultation
Case consultation is a collaborative process where teams working with individuals can seek specialist neuropsychological input and guidance when complex clinical issues arise. It involves both sharing knowledge and providing space for multiple perspectives to be heard and considered.
Case consultation can be a cost-effective way of working with hard-to-engage clients who may often incur high costs through non-attendance.
At Psychologia Ltd, we pride ourselves on our ability to support teams in developing clear, overarching formulations of the range of factors contributing to difficulties or barriers to care and devising psychologically informed, solution-based approaches that can be delivered by a wide range of healthcare professionals and care staff.
Training and Teaching
Psychologia Ltd. has provided a range of training and teaching to professionals on a wide variety of topics, including case management teams, legal teams, Court of Protection teams, trainee clinical psychologists and other student groups, charities, rehabilitation assistants, support worker and carer teams or agencies, and allied health and medical professional teams.
We offer bespoke and tailored training or teaching in workplaces, clinic spaces, and at conferences and events.
Examples of training: Understanding the neuropsychological needs of clients, psychologically informed MDT rehabilitation, risk assessments, managing emotional changes and adjustment post-TBI, mental capacity, and supported decision-making. We welcome enquiries regarding additional topics that might be required by your organisation.
Clinical Supervision
Working with clients with cognitive, emotional, and behavioural difficulties can be rewarding and challenging in equal measure. Despite this, many clinical professions are not afforded formal time to reflect on clinical challenges, learning points, and the personal impact of working in highly emotive settings, despite evidence that it can contribute to reduced staff burnout and turnover, increased understanding and empathy towards clients, and consistent care across teams.
Psychologia Ltd is able to facilitate individual or group clinical supervision to support worker teams, wider MDT members, case managers, and solicitors who would benefit from a reflective space to consider the neuropsychological needs of clients and the well-being of staff.
Let me know if you need any refinements!
Main Clinic: 10 Harley Street, London, W1G9PF
Telephone: +44 (0) 7930243127
Email: Enquiries@Psychologia.co.uk