Brain injury services

We pay for specialist brain injury support services for icare Lifetime Care participants and workers in the icare Workers Care Program.

 If you're interested in any of these services, talk to your icare coordinator or case manager.

NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program (BIRP)

Many icare Lifetime Care participants and Workers Care Program workers are treated through the NSW Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, which includes:

  • Adult inpatient teams
  • Royal Rehabilitation Centre
  • Westmead Hospital
  • Liverpool Hospital.

Paediatric inpatient teams

  • Children's Hospital at Westmead, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team
  • Sydney Children's Hospital, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team
  • John Hunter Children's Hospital, Kaleidoscope.

There are also metropolitan and rural and regional brain injury rehabilitation units, including specialist paediatric services.

The BIRP aims to provide best practice care for people with a brain injury to improve their outcomes for recovery from brain injury and participation in their community.

Vocational Intervention Program (VIP)

VIP is a new initiative designed to achieve better work outcomes for people with brain injury by supporting and strengthening partnerships between employers, people with brain injury, their families, clinicians and vocational service providers.

Returning to the workforce following a brain injury is an important step in your rehabilitation. VIP facilitates the coordination of services and support for people with brain injury who are either returning to existing work or those who wish to explore new employment opportunities.

Our goal with this new program is to enhance the collaboration and sharing of knowledge across health and vocational service providers to better understand and support the local community. VIP involves two pathways to return to work:

  • Fast Track – Assisting people following brain injury to return to their work with their employer.
  • New Track – Assisting people to explore future work opportunities through 12-week unpaid work and training placements and job seeking.

VIP has been successfully piloted in Sydney metropolitan area, North Coast and Mid Western region of NSW. VIP is currently being rolled out across NSW and should be in place in all areas by October 2018. The Brain Injury Rehabilitation Programs, your case manager or icare coordinator will be able to assist you to access this program.

Further resources, information and services

TBI Express and TBIconneCT (Sydney University)

The Acquired Brain Injury Communication Lab based at The University of Sydney is focused on improving communication between people with an acquired brain injury, their family members, friends and carers.

A brain injury can result in significant changes for the person as well as for their family and friends. Sometimes these changes can affect how the person communicates.

The Acquired Brain Injury Communication Lab has developed two sets of resources for communication skills training, to help families and friends find the best way to interact with the person with brain injury during everyday conversations.

  • TBI Express is a communication training program for people with traumatic brain injuries, their families, friends and carers.
  • TBIconneCT is a communication training program which may be delivered via Telehealth. TBIconneCT is an adaptation of TBI Express and includes new resources.

Support groups for brain injuries

The main support groups and associations for people living with a brain injury in NSW are:

Both of these not-for-profit organisations provide a range of information and support services.