Public engagement and campaigns

Working alongside our membership to tell their stories and experiences through interactive creative projects & partnerships.

Part of our work at Headway East London is to support our members to explore new things; to develop new skills and talents. Our public partnerships and campaigns not only help to facilitate and drive this forward, they also provide a platform for our membership to raise awareness of brain injury with the wider public.

Public Engagement

We have a specialist team working directly with our members and in recent years we have partnered with a number of institutions including the Wellcome Collection, Science Museum, Whitechapel Gallery and Southbank Centre.

Activities & outputs

With each of these opportunities we aim to co-produce activities which not only suit the interests of our community, but also provide new opportunities for them to share with a wider audience. Some of the types of things we’ve been involved with include:

Member talks about their lived experience
Creative workshops facilitated by members
Panel discussions and Q&As
Exhibitions and film screenings
Digital video & audio projects
Live drama, dance, poetry & music performances

Barbican Centre- a Community Collaborator partnership

Since 2019 we have been involved in a creative collaboration with the Barbican Centre – a relationship which involves working on a range of projects that encourage two-way exchange, collaboration and learning. Over this time our membership have partnered with teams across artforms, showcased their talents through events, screenings and performances, and been commissioned to create content, provide consultation support and deliver workshops. Read more about this work on the Barbican website here.

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“The collaboration between us has been a really valuable experience from our perspective and I know that many people who came along to the events felt that it was a privilege to gain personal insights into what it can be like to live with brain injury"

Events Officer

Wellcome Collection

Campaigns & press

Amplifying our members’ voices is particularly important to us as the general awareness levels of brain injury remain incredibly low. Not only this, but the narrative around it can also be quite sensationalist and detached from the people living through the experience.

We work closely with our communities to develop content, campaigns and press opportunities which focus on the issues most pressing to them. This can cover film, writing, or audio – we try to keep our activity flexible and broad to engage with different members and audiences. Every year we run a campaign during Action for Brain Injury Week in May which is co-produced at Headway East London. Our intention in the coming year is to begin developing our social justice voice and engaging with policymakers to directly support more people affected by brain injury.

In recent years our work has been featured in the likes of the BBC, Guardian, Boston Globe, Independent, Telegraph, VICE and Evening Standard.

“It gives me a sense of pride in my achievements, a boost to my wellbeing. It's always amazing to feel that you have helped the wider brain injury cause; breaking down barriers and stigma”

Dave

Headway member