Action for Brain Injury Week 2024
20th – 26th May!
Each year during the campaign week the Child Brain Injury Trust focuses on an important issue / topic to highlight the plight that families affected by childhood acquired brain injury have to live with. We use the week to raise awareness of the issues and to celebrate the achievements of families who find themselves in this difficult and life changing situation.
This year, as always, we are aligning ourselves with Headway UK and will focus on the same topic to ensure we are raising awareness on a wide scale.
The topic for Action for Brain Injury Week 2024 is
‘A life re-Written’.
This year the campaign week will focus particularly on how a brain injury can throw plans into disarray, change life goals, and even the sense of who you are. During ABI Week CBIT will be talking about how brain injury has changed the lives of children and their families. How a child’s career, hobbies, friendships and education often have to be ‘re-written’ on their journey after acquired brain injury.
Throughout the week, we will highlight the ripple effect that ABI has on others in the family and how family often have to change their future and plans after a child’s injury. We will shine a light on the impact ABI has on a child’s identity, as well as their parents and loved ones around them.
Throughout ABI Week we’ll be sharing some snippets of quotes from parents and young people. We will touch on some positive stories from families who have experienced an ABI, but they now feel that they have been able to successfully rebuild life after a brain injury, even if it does look different to how they had initially planned. We’ll also share stories from families whose experiences haven’t been so positive and their life re-written is still on going with change and challenges.
Our team in Northern Ireland worked in collaboration with Headway (NI), Cedar Foundation, Brain Injury Matters, Department of Health, and the Health and Social Care NI, to produce this video to let you know our support is available.
Using music to express ourselves
As a way of expressing feelings and emotions, we are asking parents, siblings, and children with ABI, to share lyrics from a song that means something to you or helps explain your journey after a brain injury. If you would like to be involved in this, please email to your chosen lyrics (this can just be a chorus), song title, artist and who has chosen these lyrics. Please send to: marketing@cbituk.org. With your permission, we will choose some to share on social media during the campaign.
Here is a really lovely example from a sibling…
I wanna carry all your burdens
I wanna put them up on my back
Beside the world I got on my shoulders
But don’t you worry, don’t you worry about that
Just let the light come on in from the curtains
Just let me love you like this forevermore
Act of Innocence -Picture this (chosen by Joeleen – sibling)
Zoom in on the map for a better look at the locations!
LIGHT UP FOR ABI WEEK!
For ABI week this year, we reached out to landmarks across the UK to ask if they will light up on Friday 24th May for the campaign week, to help raise awareness of Acquired Brain Injury and get people talking about it.
We are delighted that over 16 landmarks / buildings will be lighting up in support of the campaign. You can see where they are located on the map to the left.
If you are in the area or live locally to any of these landmarks, it would be great if you could snap a picture when it is lit up and tweet us (@cbituk) using the hashtag #LightUpForABIWeek – we will share any that you tag us in… let’s raise as much awareness as possible!
Keep an eye on our social media channels throughout Action for Brain Injury Week:
You can follow the content using #ABIWeek #ActionForBrainInjuryWeek
Twitter / X: @cbituk
Facebook: @childbrainjurytrust
Instagram: @cbituk