Day Service
Not just a service -
this is our community
Our Day Service in Hackney provides a supportive community that empowers people with acquired brain injuries to make the most of their skills, abilities and interests.
Based in Hackney, our Day Service is the hub for all our other services. It’s where our members can work in partnership with their own key worker to rediscover what they love doing, understand what they need, and find the activities, outings, therapies and support that are right for them.
Our members and volunteers make the Day Service a relaxed, welcoming, friendly, diverse and creative place. It’s a space to be ourselves, share good humour, do the activities we enjoy, and support each other.
We have a variety of activities to take part in, including art, music, food, writing, outings and therapeutic groups – including relaxation, yoga, dance and Pilates. Click on the right to find out more!
How can I access
this service ?
Becoming a member of our Day Service starts with filling out a Referral Form and having an assessment with one of our key workers at the centre.
We accept self-referrals and referrals from caseworkers, other professionals, families and carers.
All referrals are placed on our waiting list. Once a space is available, a member of staff will make contact to arrange a visit to the centre and an assessment.
If you meet the referral criteria and have funding in place, we can begin the assessment process for this service.
How does it work?
Our centre is open from Monday to Friday from 10am to 3pm, for 48 weeks of the year.
We offer activities, outings and therapies, as well as professional and peer support. All members have an assigned key worker who is responsible for their overall activity programme and personal plan.
All activities are encouraged but optional, and each day looks different as a result.
People remain members as long as they want and need to, and for as long as funding can be secured.
"I know if I’m coming to Headway I’m safe. So I can relax and take the weight off for the hours I’m here. I enjoy that part. And I’m involved in so many things"
Our Projects
Food
Our members work together to cook lunch for everyone at Headway, sharing recipes, skills and stories along the way. We also run our Headway Eats supper clubs, inviting friends, family and the wider public to an evening of food, music, storytelling and fun.
The kitchen is a creative space of our members and we pride ourselves on the high standard and wide range of food we make.
“Helping to cook, that’s one of the beautiful things about the Headway kitchen...the lovely experience of cooking with fellow members and feeling like you’re part of a team."
Art
Submit to Love is our very own art studio. It a unique space for creative expression and self-discovery, creating an environment that supports innovation, growth and exploration.
Art is a powerful means of reclaiming and reconstructing a sense of identity. It integrates physical, emotional and occupational development, as it requires focus, attention and building new skills.
Seeing tangible outcomes of their creative efforts gives our artists a real sense of accomplishment and self-worth. Together we discover gifts, connections and identities through art.
Music
Through music groups, one-to-one sessions and collaborative workshops we support our members to make music with their voices, instruments, percussion as well as accessible electronic devices.
These sessions have led to performances at the Barbican, Southbank Centre, Cafe OTO and more, as well as regular performances at our centre.
Our music sessions bring our members that unique sense of joy, freedom and satisfaction that is such a big part of the pleasure of making collaborative music.
Writing
Our members are keen to help others learn more about the impact of brain injury in their own words.
Our Creative Writing group works with story ‘Seeds’, a few words such as ‘Walking on the Ceiling’, to create pieces of writing to share with the wider community.
Our members have previously shared their stories in projects like Who Are You Now?, Matter magazine, and blogs.
Otherwise Engaged
When the plants needed feeding or the whole garden needed weeding, I always used to claim that I was otherwise engaged.
If the windows needed cleaning coz my wife preferred them gleaming, I’d say to her “Get someone in! I’m otherwise engaged.”
When the house was in a state, I knew that I should decorate – being a task I used to hate I’d say, “I’m otherwise engaged.”
When my brain exploded my girls’ lives might have imploded, and it’s so clear in my head but for them, I would be dead; not once has any of them said “I’m otherwise engaged.”
Now I’d love to be employed, with tasks I tried hard to avoid so many are a bridge too far. I’d even wash the f***ing car, they’re glad to let me off the hook and say “I’m otherwise engaged.”
by Ade
Who Are You Now? – telling the stories of survivors in their own words: who they were, what happened to them and who they are now.
"Headway has helped me communicate my story to other brain injured people, my family and friends, medical people and the wider world. People with a brain injury need to have their say because we all have something important to contribute on the question of what it means to be human."
More Info
If you need more information, contact the Deputy Day Service Manager Daphne Joseph at daphne.joseph@headwayeastlondon.org.
