Information and Resources

The Stroke Association is a brilliant charity. It gives people support on all levels;  that could be befriending, that could be anything. When a stroke survivor leaves hospital, my job is to go out and speak to them and I find out what support they may need. Now, a lot of people may not need support there and then, but they may do in future, so I leave them in my leaflet and with a number to phone me.

There are support groups and I encourage people to go to support groups, but then again, not everybody wants to go to support groups. People don't want to sit and have a cup of tea and have a chat. It might not be in their thing. So you have to look at other options. There’s art groups, but not everyone wants to do art. But it is not about the art, it is about getting out of the house, it is about meeting people and it is about having fun.

We have things like Aphasier groups, where we meet once a month. And it is for people with speech problems that can come along. They can go and ask for their own coffee. Generally, it’s about being in the company of other people that fully appreciate and understand what they are going through. And that is quite successful, because often there is a tendency for others to talk for the them, and that really annoys them! Whereas when they are on their own, they are talking for themselves. It might take them a little while, but they get it out in the end. That is very good for that.

There are a lot of organisations out there that can also help. We have other agencies that can do long-term support for the whole family and that could be around housing, that could be around anything, so I refer on to them. It could be that somebody just wants to talk to you over a cup of tea. Now, if that is the sort of support that they need when they first come out of hospital especially if they come out on their own, it is very lonely out there and it's very frightening when you go home. You have been in hospital where you have had all these people running around, sorting out your medication and everything else, and then all of a sudden you have got to go home on your own and you’ve got to deal with it yourself. It could be that carers have been put in so that they can help you with your personal care and maybe meals, but it might be that you don't need that, but you still need somebody to talk to and you still need somebody to speak about your fears, because it is very frightening. You feel very isolated when you go home.