Neurological rehabilitation

When young adults experience a brain injury following a stroke, the rehabilitation services available to them are rarely designed to meet their particular needs. A patient under the age of 40 is likely to feel isolated during rehabilitation as a result of their age, as well as their injury.

In 2018, the RCN Foundation received funds raised by a CAF America campaign fronted by the actor Emilia Clarke. Working in partnership with SameYou, the brain injury charity founded by Clarke and her family, the Foundation implemented a programme of research and education designed to meet identify and meet the needs of young adults with an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI).

The programme began with a stakeholder forum to elicit views and feedback from nursing staff, academics, charities, and people with lived experience and their families, about the key issues and priorities that needed to be addressed.

Since then, the RCN Foundation has supported:

• A research study by the London School of Economics published in 2020. This showed that training specialist nurses to help young people who have experienced brain injury could result in significant cost savings for the NHS. Download the LSE research study (PDF).

• The Young Adult Rehabilitation Network Scheme (YARNS) study by the University of Edinburgh. The study mapped the lived experience of neurological rehabilitation for patients aged 18 to 40, following a brain injury. Read the YARNS study.

• The development, funding and delivery of the UK’s first-ever Postgraduate Certificate in Neurological Rehabilitation and Care, at the University of Edinburgh. 

• A forthcoming feasibility study into psychological interventions for young people recovering from brain injuries.