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Planning the way forward

Lives are changed in an instant with an acquired brain injury.

Sadly, these injuries have an impact on both the survivor and their families and caregivers.

From leading full and vibrant lives, survivors of a stroke or accident are faced with a long road to rehabilitation and recovery.

And their caring families have to learn to cope with the impairment of mental faculties, paralysis and loss of speech in their loved ones.

We are here to help.

Headway Natal offers a range of unique services in the form of therapies and counselling to help survivors and their families best deal with the disruption to their lives.

Our services are available to individuals over the age of 18 who have sustained an acquired brain injury.

Have a family member who needs help?

Our Intake Procedure

Family members are invited to make contact with us following an injury/disability to their loved one.

We will then invite the family and carer to visit Headway where they can view our facilities, meet our staff, and can be shown the resources we have available.

It is recommended that the family bring along any medical information they may have pertaining to the person’s injury/disability.

An initial assessment time will be set up by the relevant therapist, to access and determine the best course of action for the patient. Thereafter regular weekly appointment times will be made available to the family.

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How We Began

In 1979 in the UK, a gentleman named Sir Neville Butterworth placed an advertisement in a national daily newspaper asking for holiday accommodation for his brain-injured son.

His advert was answered by a reader called Dinah Minton who also had a brain-injured son. Together they set out to discover what resources existed in the UK for the survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) once they had left hospital. They found only two clubs in the whole of the British Isles!

Realising that there was a huge need, they formed an organisation to work for the benefit of brain injury survivors and their families – and this was how Headway National was established.

Since its inception, Headway has become an international association with centres in various parts of the world, including South Africa which has four centres.

Headway Natal was started in 1981 by Aubrey Marrs. In 1998, a house was purchased in Westville and a centre established to provide rehabilitation for brain injury and stroke survivors and their families and carers.