Navigation services

The charity was formed in 1981 by a group of parents, partners and other carers to provide support in the community post injury. The need for support & navigation continues today. In the early stages of a brain injury, people don’t know where to go for advice, how to request assistance and how to deal with a host of practical consequences.

Our Community Navigators are available to help you navigate this landscape and to refer you to expert advice. 

These may include:

• rehabilitation
• medical
• financial
• legal 
• relationship issues.

Some common navigation areas:

The health system and where to go

In the first instance, this will usually mean going to see a doctor. If your brain injury is an accident, then we would urge you to insist the doctor register your claim with ACC. You must lodge a claim about your injury to get assistance from ACC.

If your brain injury is the result of a ‘medical event’

That is, a stroke, aneurysm, tumour or infection, and therefore you have probably already seen a doctor. You won’t ordinarily be eligible for ACC but your doctor should refer you to specialist public health service at your local hospital.

Information about the effects of brain injury

Your doctor should be able to give you information about brain injury. You can contact Headway Brain Injury Auckland to speak with our Community Navigators for more information. A need for understanding what a brain injury is and the possible consequences often only becomes apparent after visiting the doctor. Headway Brain Injury Auckland is here to answer your concerns. If we can't assist you directly, we will endeavour to refer you to someone who can.

Ongoing advice and support

Brain injury can affect people in different ways. Some people have great difficulty in adjusting after a brain injury. In addition, their partners and whānau find that relationships can be difficult at times. An old adage… it is frequently said that there are not just brain-injured individuals but rather brain-injured families, because the whole family is affected. You can discuss these issues with our Community Navigators. It may be that attending a Support Group is useful for you at this stage - equally if you are the person who had the injury or are a partner/whānau/family/carer.