Christmas is just around the corner and, in this episode, Jules and Mark explore ways to make this busy period a little easier and more relaxing.
'Tis the season to be jolly', as the saying goes! How do you feel at this time of year? For some it is a wonderful and supposed to be all festive, jolly, sparkling lights and parties, but with a brain injury it can be difficult.
There's the planning, organising, preparations and expectations which takes a huge amount of time and energy. The extra pressure can put a strain on you and your loved ones and fatigue can go into over drive and can leave you feeling exhausted even just thinking about it.
Planning and pacing is key, as is being honest with yourself and others around you. Seek out and help and support from those around you and build in quiet time to relax so that you can enjoy this time of year.
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In this episode, Jules and Mark talk about the differences between traumatic brain injuries and acquired brain injuries and how the level of severity may have bigger impacts on a survivor and their families.
Just under one million people attend Accident & Emergency with a head injury in the UK alone, and it's estimated that around 1.3 million people are living with a TBI. If you add in ABIs and multiply this around the world, that's a lot of people!
By having an understanding of the various types of brain injuries and the hidden side effects, it helps those affected to better function and live on a day-to-day basis.
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Join Jules and Mark as they discuss how roles in a relationship, at home and work, can change following a brain injury.
From managing the finances to doing the shopping or driving to preparing meals, a brain injury survivor may struggle to carry out tasks they once did without much effort or even a passing thought.
Role changes are common but they can put extra pressure on relationships and also lead to a loss of confidence and self-esteem for the survivor.
There is no shame in asking for help or offering it to a loved one if they're struggling. Communication and understanding is key to moving forward.
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Welcome! Here is a recording of our September 2025 Webinar.It's quite normal to assume that once a brain injury survivor comes home from hospital, everything will get back to normal, but more often than not, the effects can become more noticeable and problematic once they are home.
The partner usually is the one who notices these first, and informing the survivor can be difficult, mostly because they cannot see or understand the changes. Adjusting to these changes can be difficult for both the survivor and the partner.
In this webinar , we were joined by Jennifer Godber of Coventry University. Jenny is a former occupational therapist and now PhD student who has been developing a programme to support partners, focusing on intimate relationships after brain injury.
Here is the edited recording where we talked about the hidden disabilities and the pressure they put on your relationship.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark share some insights into how a brain injury can impact relationships and home life.
Jules said, 'Sadly, us partners can be hugely affected when a brain injury is sustained and it’s terribly frightening when they are in hospital and you’re not sure what’s going on.
Unfortunately, most of what we have learned about the recovery process and the hidden disabilities your partner can be left with has come a long time after his accident. '
Also, Brain or Shine is pleased to announce the launch of their brand new Fatigue Hub which you can join by going to https://brainorshine.com/fatiguehub.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark introduce a new fuction on this podcast and share a recording of the August 2025 webinar talking about day-to-day challenges within the brain injury community.
Processing is how we take in, make sense of, and respond to information. After a brain injury, damage to nerve cells can slow or disrupt this, making even everyday tasks difficult. This can affect:
It’s not about lacking intelligence; it’s about the brain's ability to keep up. For people like Mark who are high-functioning, this hidden challenge can be hard to explain and even harder for others to understand.
Tasks like driving or even crossing the road become complex when your brain can't quickly process what it sees and hears. Everyone’s experience is different, but awareness helps make life a little easier.
Also, Brain or Shine are pleased to announce the launch of their brand new Fatigue Hub. You can join it by going to https://brainorshine.com/fatiguehub.
Going forward, the regular audio podcast will be monthly (instead of every two weeks) and we will share the video recording of each monthly webinar.
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Join Jules and Mark in this latest episode as they talk about the challenges using executive functions following a brain injury.
Executive functions include using your reasoning skills, problem-solving and control over emotional impulses. This can also have a huge impact on your motivation, ability to plan and organise things as well as carrying out simple steps and, of course, your memory.
Also, Brain or Shine are pleased to announce the launch of their brand new Fatigue Hub, going live in August 2025. You can join it by going to https://brainorshine.com/fatiguehub.
That means that the regular podcast content will be once a month instead of every two weeks. There will be lots of new tools and content on how to live with fatigue to replace the extra episode.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark chat about some of the things that are no longer as straightforward following Mark's brain injury.
It's not always the big things that hidden disabilities affect, it's day-to-day things like shopping, both in store and online, driving short distances and even making a smoothie.
These affect both the survivor and their family and friends, sadly. Recognising these challenges helps you make a plan to move forward.
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Short-term memory issues are a challenge that Jules and Mark experience on a daily basis following Mark's brain injury. Here, they share tools and tips to help ease some of the frustrations it causes through your dya-to-day life.
Sometimes, it can be the little things forgotten that can cause the biggest frustrations too. It's not always about a major event or task, but small conversations or processes on a daily basis.
Using tools like mobile phone reminders, notes and keeping things in the same places are just some ideas to help you remember things that you need to do each day.
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Join Jules and Mark as they share tools on how they get a grip on unpredictable emotions following brain injury.
In the previous episode, the theme was around challenging negative thoughts. We're going to take this a step further by using the judge and jury technique in order to remove some unnecessary worry and anxiety.
Over 90% of the negative things we worry about don't actually happen. If we can create some perspective on these worries, it will help us to have a calmer and more productive day.
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Positive mindsets have been key to Jules and Mark in the world of brain injury. Find out how they challenge negative thoughts and focus on how to overcome daily challenges.
Emotions can be seriously affected following a brain injury and it can be all too easy to feel hopeless, helpless and useless.
The language you use can become negative with phrases like, 'I'm not very good', 'I'm a failure' or 'I can't do that any more'.
The more we say negative things, the more our minds will believe that those statements are true.
By challenging those thoughts and changing the negative language to positive will not only boost self-esteem but it will help you to move forward in daily life.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark talk about the effects a brain injury has on emotions and share some tools on how to calm them and manage anxiety.
Sadly, following any form of brain injury, a survivor may experience some changes to their emotional processing and responses. The mood can go from calm to angry, anxious, upset, frustrated or helpless, just like that.
By taking a moment to stop and assess the situation and recognise the triggers, this will help to manage those emotions and prevent things like high anxiety.
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Join Jules and Mark as they share how setting boundaries has been a game changer in the day-to-day living with brain injury.
There are two types of boundaries: those you set with others and those you set with yourself.
By helping others to understand your limitations means that they have a better chance of accepting that you're unable to do everything or that you may need to leave the room for a rest from time to time.
Likewise, setting boundaries with your own daily and weekly tasks and events helps to avoid pushing too far and crashing to the dreaded fatigue.
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In this episode, Jules and Mark talk about the importance of working on personal health and well-being following Mark's brain injury.
This is paramount whether you have a brain injury or are the carer of a survivor.
The main key components are self-care are sleep, hydration, exercise and diet. By following a simple acronym, SHED, can help you to function and live well following a brain injury.
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In this episode, Jules and Mark share their lived experiences of how behavioural and speech difficulties have challenged them following Mark's brain injury.
Emotions and behaviours are closely linked and, sometimes, after sustaining a brain injury, these can be hard to control.
Aphasia is one of the many conditions that affects speech and is prevalent among brain injury survivors. This can also lead to frustration, anger and loss of confidence, which in turn can affect emotions. It can be a never-ending loop.
By gaining an understanding and acceptance, it can really help survivors and their families move forward and cope with these challenges.
Don't forget to listen to the previous episode, which covered two other major factors, cognitive and emotional difficulties. These are also strongly linked.
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Join Jules and Mark as they share lived experiences around the cognitive and emotional difficulties they've experienced following Mark's brain injury.
Cognition refers to the mental processes that take place in our brains and allow us to think and learn. After a BI, these could be seriously impacted and cause an individual to struggle to remember what they've already learnt and progress with new skills moving forward.
Likewise, this can also play havoc with emotions and lead to low mood, sadness and depression.
There is good news though. It is possible for individuals to recall and relearn new skills following their injury. Also, by gaining an understanding and triggers of emotions can help to regulate mood.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark talk about the effects a brain injury can have on relationships.
Navigating life after a brain injury isn’t just a challenge for the individual... it affects the whole family! That ripple effect also extends to friends, work colleagues and, in Jules and Mark's case, people they met through their business.
By gaining an understanding of the hidden disabilities and changes brought on by a brain injury, it can help each circle to move forward and cope with the future.
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In this latest episode, Jules and Mark talk about the benefits of tackling the hidden disabilities of a brain injury together.
There are many long-term after-effects of a brain injury, which include post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), memory issues, cognitive impairments, headaches, migraines, problems with speech, spatial awareness, emotions and, the biggest of all, pathological fatigue.
By understanding these as a family or within your friendship and work circles will help everyone to move forward with coping mechanisms together.
It took Jules and Mark a long time to really understand hidden disabilities, and once they were offered knowledge and support, they managed to get their life back on track.
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Join Jules and Mark to discover how they implemented some simple techniques to help manage fatigue following brain injury.
The last episode talked about the dreaded F word - fatigue! There simply can't be enough tools in order to help live with this chronic side effect that affects the lives of so many brain injury survivors and their families.
Planning and pacing will help to structure your days ahead. That will hopefully remove some of the pain, as long as you rest and don't push through and avoid procrastination too!
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The dreaded F word - fatigue! In this latest episode, Jules and Mark talk about the affects of fatigue and share how much they've progressed in the last year by getting more understanding from the brain injury community.
Fatigue isn't going to go away but there are ways to learn to live with it. By gaining more knowledge and experience can help to understand the potential effects it can have on the survivor and their families.
Don't forget to join us in the following episode for part two where we'll explore further tools on how to help manage fatigue.
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