The NRC Medical Experts team meets annually to choose our festive charity for December. Instead of sending Christmas cards to our stakeholders and partners, we take the opportunity to learn about, celebrate, and share a different charity supporting people with neurological injuries and disabilities.’
This year, we’re supporting SameYou, a brain injury and stroke charity created in 2019 to provide essential emotional and mental health recovery for survivors.
Emotional and practical support for brain-injured people
Created by actress Emilia Clarke and her mother, Jenny, Same You works to develop better recovery treatment.
Emilia, who suffered two brain haemorrhages whilst working on Game of Thrones, describes the charity’s purpose to ensure that ‘brain injury survivors feel they haven’t lost the person they were before.’
In a recent interview with NR Times, CEO Jenny Clarke shared:
“Survivors and their families need to see that they are being listened to. There is a clear gap between what’s currently available and what people tell us they urgently need to accelerate their recovery. I think it needs to be a coordinated national approach, and the obvious but hard-to-achieve focus is that we must collaborate. None of us can make this huge change by ourselves.
“The system currently is so fragmented, and pathways inconsistent. There is a real and urgent need to focus on rehabilitation and recovery for people with brain injury.
“We have a stroke pathway, but after acute care and hospitalisation, people tell us they feel abandoned. And without holistic rehabilitation strategies in place, this will not change. With traumatic brain injury, there isn’t even a pathway. And we very much need to have a clear pathway forward, to make sure all brain injury patients can have the same essential care they need.
The Untold Story of Brain Injury
In a recent report, The Untold Story of Brain Injury: Voices from Survivors, 1400 people shared their brain injury experience. This fascinating insight explores, in people’s own words, the journey of a brain injury, from the trauma of the injury and illness to the impact of the injury, the road to recovery and the new path their life takes.
Available online at sameyou.org, the report also highlights the importance of ensuring all survivors receive the right rehabilitation through personalised, high-intensity, long-term care.
How can you support SameYou?
The 12 Miles of Christmas
Between 1 December and Christmas Day, supporters are walking 12 miles to raise money for SameYou’s ambitious aims. Supporters can complete the challenge individually, with friends, family, or colleagues, and either walk the 12 miles in one go or break it down during December.
Cycling for success in 2023
SameYou is partnering with two London hospitals to create a SameYou centre and online platform which will focus on emotional and practical recovery.
The charity is fundraising for a pilot programme to kickstart the project, with a special fundraiser – Cycle Ibiza – taking place in April 2023. Those who participate will cycle either 200 km or 140 km across the island, with a fundraising target of £1500 per person.
Learn more: Cycle Ibiza for SameYou.
Medical expertise for brain injury & neurological disabilities
NRC Medical Experts provide legal teams and case managers with medical experts specialising in neurological rehabilitation, illness, injury, and disability.
Our Expert Witnesses – Consultants in Rehabilitation Medicine, Neuropsychologists, Neuropsychiatrists, Neurologists and specialist neurotherapists – assess individuals, and provide court reports and expert witness testimony.
In addition, through NRC Clinical Practice, our experts provide expert medical opinion and clinical expertise to direct individual rehabilitation programmes to ensure those with neurological injuries achieve the best possible recovery.
More about our Expert Witness service>>
More about our Clinical Practice service>>
Brain injury rehabilitation explored>>