Jennifer Clayton
Kim Morris
In the first episode of Care At Every Level, Kim Morris talks to Emma Morris, CEO of Headway Derby, and Jen Clayton, expert witness and Headway Derby volunteer, about what a brain injury changes in daily life.
Brain injury is often seen as a hidden disability.
While a limb injury is usually clear for all to see, and the people involved adjust accordingly, an injured brain is a closed box. It can mean the support someone needs is underestimated.
Headway Derby has worked in that space for 34 years. Its mission is to improve life after brain injury, for the injured person and for their family. In 2026, it has supported over 200 people with a brain injury.
Kim Morris, Managing Director of Tessa Gough Associates, spoke to Headway Derby CEO Emma Morris and Jen Clayton, a Tessa Gough Associates expert who volunteers with the charity, on the first episode of our Care At Every Level podcast.
Jen described a baking session with Headway Derby's Happy Mondays Men's group — 16 people working in two teams, tasked with making cookies.
Participants had to follow instructions in order, remember ingredients, measure and count, keep track of time, and concentrate. They also needed fine motor control to hold, pour and stir without spilling.
Some of the men had cognitive difficulties, some had lost the use of a limb, and some had both. It meant everyone had to adapt to the task and use different strategies to complete it.
Emma added what she calls spoon theory: each person starts the day with a limited number of "spoons" of energy. For many members, a single activity like this is, in her words, "the limit that they have" for the day. Assessing what someone can do tells us more when it also covers what that effort costs them and the capacity they have left afterwards.
Emma pointed out that, in the early stages of a brain injury, families understandably feel relief that their loved one survived. The harder part comes later, when it’s clear how much has changed.
Jen explained that because the brain shapes so many parts of our individuality — taste, patience, humour, how we communicate — someone can “come home a stranger” after a brain injury.
Many relatives then grieve the person they knew, and feel guilty for doing it. The person with the injury may be grieving their old self too. Emma has seen relationships and family units break down under the strain, which is why Headway Derby supports relatives as well as members.
Emma described a pattern Headway Derby keep seeing: people are discharged from hospital and return to their community without the support they need. By the time those people find the charity, many are in crisis.
Headway Derby’s hospital liaison service is a response to that pattern, and it now aims to reach people earlier. Outreach work helps individuals live independently at home, and peer group sessions give them a fixed point of contact each week.
Referrals come from GPs, psychologists, case managers and litigation teams. Many people refer themselves by phone, by email or by walking in.
Emma recalled one member whose anxiety was so severe that on her first visit she came through the door backwards, to avoid being looked at. She went on to make friends, learned to swim and now leaves the house on her own every day. She no longer needs the service, which for Emma is the ultimate goal.
The full episode also covers how Headway Derby funds its work. October's Behind the Mask Ball raised £11,347, the most the charity has raised at a single event.
The charity also needs volunteers for everything from the allotment to DIY and events, including on evenings and weekends.
Des O’Neill explains how structured risk, clear goals and real-world testing reveal true support needs through Independent Living Trials.
Expert witness, Des O'Neill, explains why starting at the end of SMART is the best way to help people make progress with rehab.
Exercise, when introduced safely and at the right time, can play a powerful role in recovery - supporting pain relief, mobility, and mental wellbeing.
