Our recent Action for Brain Injury Week campaign aimed to recognise the Unsung Heroes of childhood acquired brain injury. This saw our blog posts being shared far and wide and helped us to raise awareness of this often hidden and often misunderstood condition.

These blog posts also provided inspiration a little closer to home. Our very own Child and Family Support Team decided to honour someone who makes a huge difference to them and to the families and professionals they work with: Gordon Waller, the driving force behind our Helpline.

If you email helpline@cbituk.org or call 0303 303 2248 (at a local call rate) it will be Gordon who answers your query or passes your details on to the relevant support worker closest to you. Here’s what the team had to say about him.

“He’s our Hero because he is there for us as well as the families.”

“He has gone above and beyond to support parents of children with acquired brain injury, thereby supporting the child themselves. He is empathetic, calm and thorough. He also supports the Child and Family Support Co-ordinators, allowing us to work more effectively.”

The team described the actions that support children and families:

“Gordon helps a child with a brain injury by providing support to the parent who calls him, reducing her/his stress and explaining about the services that the child and family support project in their area can do for them. He provides support and information about local services to families who don’t yet have a Child Brain Injury Trust project in their area. Being the first point of contact for families who call the Helpline he is professional, supportive and a listening ear for parents who are probably at the end of their tether. This is a lifeline for many families.”

“Gordon is always there. He is calm, even tempered and consistent. He is able to be juggle many balls and is always calm, collected and accommodating. He is very knowledgeable with a wealth of experience and he approaches every task he undertakes with thoroughness and strives to do everything to the very best of his ability. Gordon is always professional and is able to be objective and see the bigger picture about everything. He often shares information that makes tasks easier for his colleagues and he is always keen to support staff and families wherever he can.”

Unsung Hero GordonWhen describing the difference Gordon makes to the life of children, the team said, “Parents are more informed and better able to cope. This can have a direct positive impact on the whole family unit.”

“Signposting to relevant information on our website, services and support in their area, helps parents take control of their lives at a time when they are ‘all at sea’,” and “By supporting parents they feel more able to support their child and find the services they need to maximise their child’s potential.”

“Gordon provides frontline support to families. He is often the first point of contact that a parent will encounter at time when they are often stressed and feeling like they have no one to turn to. He provides calm, consistent and individually tailored support to families. He has a wealth of knowledge but he often goes above and beyond to answer questions and provide far reaching support to families across the whole of the UK.”

Everyone at the Child Brain Injury Trust is proud to recognise the hard work and dedication of Gordon and thank him for continuing to deliver this excellent service to families in need.

If you’d like to donate to help us keep our Helpline running, please click here to find out how. If you’d like to read more about Action for Brain Injury Week 2015, click here.