Strengths-based strategies

These images depict the things, practices, and relationships that enabled men's recovery. These strengths-based strategies often drew on the men’s inherent values, skills and social dynamics and focused on leveraging existing strengths, such as resilience, determination, problem-solving abilities, and a sense of purpose. Through adopting different routines, lifestyle changes, intentional self-care or specific treatments offered by health professionals the men were proactive in addressing and alleviating their ongoing symptoms.

navigating the lights

We had the traffic light system. Red was snail, orange was turtle and green was rabbit. No-one told us this system, this was just something we learned because we never got any support about how to deal with what was going on.

wind trainer in the garage

That was my exercise. That’s the bike I fell off and that’s the wind trainer. Every second day, I do an hour-and-a-half on the bike and it’s boring as.

explanantions and support

It was the occupational therapist from the concussion clinic, she was able to explain to us what had happened with the movement of the brain and disruption of the pathways and that helped a hell of a lot to try and understand what was going on and why it was happening. She was good. To me that was part of the biggest thing having someone explain it to you.

my own hyperbaric chamber

There’s not a lot to it. But it really works. I'll just go in there and fall sleep for an hour pretty much and just breath in pure oxygen. It has a heap of health benefits that are meant to speed up recovery. If I use it first thing in the morning I can get up and get my daughter ready for school, get her lunch made and be so much more present than I otherwise would be.

brain injury support group

It's just talking to people that you can relate to. It's different to talking about it even to your closest friends who really care about you and understand. Talking about it with someone that's actually going through the same or similar things, it's just like a different level. You feel understood without having to say much. Everybody is dealing with the same sort of stuff. I find it very positive and uplifting.

list the fun stuff

Both my partner and my 17-year-old think I'm a little more forgetful. It's not something I particularly notice. I have two diaries at work so I never miss anything at work. But occasionally, I miss things at home. Maybe more now. So now I have a list with all of the fun stuff we're doing.

Post this bump it’s been much clearer to me that I need to eat healthy, stay in good shape. I've been particularly mindful of the fact I’ve got to be careful of the things old men have to be careful about. So you know, I can't really afford to have head injuries or other things. If you lose it, it's much harder to get it back when you're in your 50s. I'm definitely not invincible.

running shoes

bright lights

The occupational therapist said if we go grocery shopping or there’s bright lights, she said to keep the light out of your eyes, wear the cap inside the store. So many people are wearing them in the store anyway, so I don’t feel too out of place.

reducing caffeine

I have been using green teas for about six months after the first head knock, primarily to cut down on the amount of caffeine. The headaches eased a little bit with not so much caffeine going in and I felt a bit calmer.

learning to rest

I'm a very active person and I find it really hard to sit still. I’m an active relaxer. So I guess it was just giving into it, and I just had to learn to sit. I never sit and not think of anything, do anything, read something, have the radio off. I just had to sit. I did struggle with it. That summed up a lot of my first month, six weeks or so was trying to do as much of that as I could.

family stuff was really important

When I first had the injury there were all these things that I thought I’d never be able to do. This was the start of the rail trail, and it was like, we're here, I've made it, we've all made it. My son had an e-bike, and we made the pact that if I was starting to feel bad, I could just jump on the e-bike. I wasn't going to push myself and do more harm than good, then be a burden for them and spoil the holiday. I'd still be involved in some small part. I think this built a bit more trust that things are going to be alright, and I can do this.

one of the best things I had

When we went to a pub in the evening for dinner, I’d pop these in straight away. I learned not to put them in when I was getting a headache, and when the noise was really starting to affect me but do it as soon as I got into a noisy place, so I didn’t get to that point. But stupidly, it took me a while to work that out. It was actually my wife that pointed that out.

keeping to the routine on holiday

This is about taking your opportunities to keep in your routine as best you can. And if it doesn't fit your routine exactly, don't worry about it, just try and get a rest. So that was why I pulled the cap down, it's a bit darker. Earplugs in, so I'm hearing less. If I don’t, I’m going to pay for it later. I didn't have the discipline initially and then the OT made the difference because he legitimized the fact that I definitely had concussion.

exercise

It’s a struggle to get there, to have the energy and the motivation, but it does make a difference. Makes a positive difference. I think cardio is really good for mental health as well. I used to hate gyms, mountain biking was my thing. But I got to point where I need to do something. I've had too many injuries, I can't go mountain biking.

walking, nature and meditation

When I'm really down, and I don't always realise at the time, sometimes it’s like, ah, wait a minute you're going through a bad patch, this is kind of my rescue. Even though it's a real struggle to get there sometimes. I walk relatively briskly, but still not too quick that I can’t take it in, you know, that it's mindful but still exercising. There’s the kind of mindfulness part of this, which is kind of meditation.

doing good

This was a fundraising drive for the gentleman who also had a brain injury and was airlifted out by Search and Rescue. He basically walked from his hometown all the way down to the hospital where he was taken and treated. It was incredible and I walked that final leg with him. I just wanted to meet him because he was doing something good, and I wanted to show my support to him.

braving the ride again

Last Saturday, we went out on a cycle trail, not on the road, on a cycle trail. That was my first foray onto the road. I just felt like normal. ‘We need to go a bit faster, a bit further’ I said to my wife and she said I wasn’t allowed to do that. She’s quite nervous, so I’m taking her nervousness into account.

recovery in reflection

The accident actually brought up a lot of issues with me around substance, especially alcohol. The accident, it sort of initially drove that drinking into overload because I was very low and quite depressed. But then, once you remove the alcohol, you actually see kind of what the problems are. And I think the problem for me was that I was very upset where I was in life. And I sort of used the alcohol to change the way I felt.

missing out and doing what I had to do

They did a deal to put the whole family on the Shotover jet. Obviously, I couldn't do it which I was gutted about, but I could hear their screams when they started off and it was just a nice, warm, fuzzy moment. Even though I couldn't be on the boat, I was still a part of it, I was there. But it also highlights the isolation of it, you still miss out on stuff and it hurt.

good for my recovery

My day has changed. I spend probably two hours of my day looking after the dog and exercising it. It's rewarding. It gets me out, gets me exercising. You know it's amazing when you've got a puppy, how many people talk to you that don't even know you, that wouldn't even say hi, wouldn't even look at you if you didn't have a dog with you. I think it's been good for my recovery.

moving the desk

We work at home quite a lot like lots of people do. I had found it more difficult to work where I used to, which is on our large front room, is that because there's lots more stimulus? It's also very bright, brightly lit, I don't know. But I elected to move the desk, its much quieter and it's darker actually. It's easier for me to work there.