Partners' Corner
25 March 2026
In celebration of our partners promoting Brain Awareness week (March 2026) please see some articles submitted for your information
Raising awareness of acquired brain injury and ABI Ireland
Raising awareness of brain health is important but we must also raise awareness of acquired brain injury. So, what is an acquired brain injury? An acquired brain injury is any brain injury that occurs, usually with a rapid onset, during a person’s life and after birth. It can happen to anyone, at any age.
Every single year in Ireland, an estimated 19,000 people acquire a brain injury, resulting in life-altering, dramatic change. These injuries happen suddenly and are often traumatic, caused by road traffic accidents, stroke, assaults, concussion and viral infections like meningitis.
While every brain is different, and every brain injury is unique to the person affected, there are some common symptoms associated with acquired brain injury. This includes fatigue, challenges with memory, executive dysfunction and emotional and behavioural changes. These symptoms can have a huge impact on a person’s daily life.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer, Dr Karen Foley, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland (ABI Ireland) provides essential neuro-rehabilitation services and support to anyone impacted by a brain injury to help rebuild their lives. As Ireland’s leading provider of community neuro-rehabilitation for those aged 18 to 65, the organisation supports an estimated 1,300 people annually, as well as their families and carers.
It provides a range of expert clinical services and supports specific to the needs of each person with a brain injury, with individually-designed rehabilitation plans that assist them in reaching their goals.
Services provided include assisted living homes, clubhouses, in-home and community rehabilitation, case management, and family and carer support programmes. Through these nationwide services, ABI Ireland helps survivors to adapt to their new reality, regain valuable skills and live as independently as possible within their communities.
ABI Ireland believes that every brain injury survivor should have the chance to rebuild their life and live it to the fullest, and it will never stop campaigning to make that belief a reality.
You can find out more about Acquired Brain Injury Ireland and the life-changing work it does at abiireland.ie.
Headway Ireland
Brain Injury Services and Support Headway Ireland is an organisation offering support to those who have acquired a brain injury at some point in their life. An Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is any injury to a person’s brain that happens during their lifetime. The injury can be caused by a stroke, head trauma, a bleed in the brain, infection, a tumour or lack of oxygen. The most common causes of brain injury are strokes, falls and road traffic accidents. When a brain injury happens, it happens out of the blue and its consequences can be far reaching – and in many cases, long term. For some people, there are physical consequences leading to disability. For others, what changes is the way they think and feel, how they talk to, or get on with others, their memory, and how they experience the world. Some of these changes may only be obvious to close family and friends. This is why acquired brain injury is known as a ‘hidden disability’ and can bring an injured person and their family many hidden challenges.
Headway was set up initially to support families dealing with the long-term consequences of injury, once the person had been discharged from hospital or inpatient rehabilitation.