Rebuilding broken lives (From Bury Times)

Rebuilding broken lives

9:44am Friday 30th July 2010

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A BRAIN injury expert is expanding the business she started on the kitchen table at her home in Bury.

Carol Collins’s first office was a converted garage.

Now, the business occupies two units at Brenton Business Complex, in Bond Street, and with a recruitment drive for new staff underway, a third adjoining unit will be occupied from next month.

Carol started Northern Case Management in 1997, having worked as an occupational therapist at The Priory Highbank Centre in Bury, which offers neuro-rehabilitation services.

She now provides services ranging from recruiting care staff to helping with benefits for people who have an acquired brain injury — as opposed to a condition they were born with. All her clients live at home rather than in residential care. Carol is also an expert witness for the courts.

Carol said: “I thought I found something I was good at, so I thought I would have a go. Working with people with brain injury becomes a drug — it’s fantastically complex and difficult. I found something that excited me.

“On one end of the scale there are people who are minimally aware and need maximum care and support, such as high-quality equipment and housing.

“At the other end you have the very misunderstood ‘walking, talking wounded’, who lead a chaotic lifestyle. These people suffer from dysexecutive syndrome — damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, which controls your executive decisions and alters their personality and behaviour. They require a lot of structure and support in their lives.”

The company’s clients include children and people of all ages, from those who sustained injuries during birth to those who survived car accidents, assaults or accidents at work.

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