Head Injury Support asks us to cast our mind's to new podcast     

ASKING us to cast our minds to their new podcast are the many wonderful men and women who make up Head Injury Support Newry.

  On the front line in helping those who have suffered a traumatic brain injury the eponymous charity serves as a vital lifeline to all those in the Newry and surrounding area whose lives have been impacted by head trauma.

From mental health support, outreach services and the profitable on site social enterprise shop which sells everything from greetings cards to knitwear with all revenue going back into the charity, HIS has something to offer everyone who is learning to live once more after sustaining a brain injury.

   However, where HIS does provide a vital service to those who need it the charity would be for naught if it were not for its eclectic cast of service users who have been afforded an opportunity to tell their stories first hand in the organisation’s newly produced podcast My History.

Comprising 10 episodes the podcast, which will soon be available on platforms such as Amazon, Spotify and Apple Music, lets each member imbue the experience of sustaining and recovering from a  brain injury with an insightful degree of verisimilitude as well as highlighting how the services provided by HIS worked to enable them to reestablish themselves in the aftermath.

   As Service Delivery Manager Shelagh Smyth explained the My History podcast was born out of a collaboration which Head Injury Support and their service users did in conjunction with Belfast based organisation Wheelworks Art.

Putting Heads together

“We work with a company called WheelWorks,  they have done lot  of podcasts promoting charitable things.” said Shelagh

“We got a bit of funding through the arts council alongside them. This is how it was funded. They came in to Head Injury Support and did different sessions with the guys.

“However when we discussed with all of our members what we would like to do a podcast was up there, it was something we had not done before.

“We run an arts social enterprise here. We would usually be doing physical art but this was a different approach to that and a different approach to getting their stories out there.

“It will be available from Amazon, Spotify and Apple Music. It will be released on a weekly cycle. It is called My HIStory  

“The podcast is around 10 episodes.  The first two  episodes are a general intro to the podcast and what it is about and then the other episodes are all individual stories about people who have had a brain injury, how it happened them, how their life changed and how things are for them now.

 “The podcast covers personal stories  with those featured telling people how they got their brain injury, what their experience was and how their life has changed.

“It is about how brain injuries have impacted their lives, what they have came through and what they have learned. It is very emotional as they are their own stories. There are different people who have had different experiences . Some people would have been affected by stroke, some would have had traumatic brain injuries through car accidents, some people have had brain tumours.

“To hear it in their own words, how their life has been affected. They are very inspiring, resilient and their advice to others is included in the podcast so it is very powerful.”

Casting wide support net

Whilst the stories of Head Injury Support’s service users are placed at the forefront of the My HIStory podcast, the project also serves as a fun and entertaining way to cast their net as wide as possible when it comes to informing the community about the services they provide.

“The podcast also talks about the services provided by Head Injury Support. It promotes the fact that those who are affected by Brain injuries are coming here, they are sociable and there is friendship alongside  the relationships they have built in here. 

“Given  that a brain injury is at times a very invisible disability we are just trying to promote this  as well as awareness that Head Injury Support is here to support people as well in this way. We know from research that there are more local people in the area that could be doing with our services. It is about trying to promote the charity alongside this.

 We also have outreach services that take place in Armagh and then they come to Newry from Armagh and also Lurgan-Craigavon area. These groups come once a week so they contributed as well. However the main people featured in it were from the Newry, Mourne and Down area