From Summer 2023 in Glasgow for the Neuropsychological Rehabilitation Special Interest Group of WFNR, a poster that invited interaction on the topic of how neuropsychology community interacts with social work to support people with brain injury. Part of the NIHR funded Heads Together study at the University of Essex

1. Aim
Heads Together is funded by the National
Institute for Health and Care Research
(NIHR) under its Research for Social Care
(RfSc) Programme to measure, collate and
develop social work education resources to
be used pre and post qualifying across social
work in the UK.
Social work and Brain Injury
Time for Neuropsychology to get involved!
Andrew Bateman
Introducing the Heads Together Study
@prof_a_bateman a.bateman@essex.ac.u
Question for the audience:
Internationally, nationally, case by case or at a system level
can you provide examples of good practice in linking
neuropsychology provision with social work?
Examples of challenges you’ve experienced would be
welcome too!
Ideas for resources used for shared work with SW would be
very welcome!
-… post it notes on here or on the padlet
Activities so far
Launch event with DoN on Mental Capacity
Survey to SW educators developed to capture knowledge and curricula inclusion
Interviews with Social Workers, Managers, Commissioners
Pilot workshops
Especially exciting workshop with theatre company after preview performance of
“Making Headway” play by Pete Barratt with Packing Shed Theatre company
Narrative synthesis review (submitted, awaiting peer review)
Survey of SW educators (Bald and
Amadiegwu, 2023)
Survey thematic review found four themes (R=66):
1) Acknowledged gap in ABI curricula inclusion in initial social work
education – including that of the educators themselves
2) Significant number of respondents had personal experience of brain
injury (either self, family member or close friend)
3) Majority viewed ABI should be mandatory for all pre-qualifying social
work education courses
4) There are pockets of good practices often prompted by personal or
local interest
5) No mention made of interprofessional learning
Reflections
Brain injury social work
is social work.
Confirmed curriculum gap
Challenge of pressured if flexible
curricula design and content
Significance of personal
knowledge
Need to accessible range of
content and knowledge including
interprofessional learning
https://www.scoop.it/topic/neurorehabilitation-and-outcome-measurement
Heads Together is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
under its Research for Social Care (RfSc) Programme (Grant Reference Number NIHR202980). The views expressed are
those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.