In review: featured item and websites for books

In Pushing the Boundaries, David Guthrie describes the aftermath of brain injury from the perspective of being a husband, life-long partner and ‘reluctant carer’.  

 

The book chronicles the immediate events and more than five years of recovery after his wife Rita’s sub-arachnoid stroke, detailing their efforts to regain the life they knew. In this self-acknowledged ‘case study of one’, David shares their experiences of accessing rehabilitation and care services after brain injury and the challenges of advocating for his wife. 

 

David highlights many simple things we can all do to help families after brain injury, particularly in the way we communicate and share information. Their experience was of professionals being reluctant to share information and expertise, and of insurmountable resourcing challenges. He suggests signposting families to documents that outline national practice standards, like the National Stroke Guidelines and National Stroke Strategy.  

 

David and Rita stress the need to improve the transition from hospital to home, with many difficulties caused by not knowing who to speak to when things went wrong. They suggest that families need a point of contact, someone who can help families live practically with brain injury. 

 

Access to therapies and expertise is a predominant theme in Rita and David’s story. David identifies the importance of therapy to Rita’s eventual recovery but describes their frustration over what was offered on the NHS. He establishes a rehabilitation plan for Rita in South Africa independently, using local charities, private therapists and carers, and family networks. Eventually, Rita’s returning independence allows David to shift from carer back to husband. 

 

Teresa Clark is clinical specialist and professional lead physiotherapist, Brain Injury Services, the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability Frontline featured an article by David Guthrie in 2013. 

In 2010, young London lawyer Christopher Yeoh was badly hurt in a road crash as he cycled in France. This memoir charts his gradual recovery from brain injury, from coma through what he calls his ‘second childhood’ and rehabilitation. 

The National Osteoporosis Society and Royal College of General Practitioners have launched this free, hour-long online course to help frontline health professionals. Written by GPs for GPs and other primary care staff, it focuses on diagnosis and management and prevention of fragility fractures. 

Mindfulness is fashionable but can it help to control chronic pain? Dr Cheryl Rezek, consultant clinical psychologist and mindfulness teacher, presents evidence to show how guided meditation, and other tools, can reduce intensity of pain and allow people to live with it more easily.  

Cancer experts in Wales, along with the Velindre cancer centre, have developed a new support tool using an acute oncology service (AOS) app. It helps professionals to access instant information and protocols on unexpected cancer-related conditions, such as spinal compression, via a smart phone. It is free to download on the App Store for iOS devices. 

How to stand out post digital revolution? Top executive coach and psychotherapist Vassilis Antonas addresses this question in a book intended both as an A-Z for trainee coaches and also one that ‘engages seasoned practitioners in ... pushing the boundaries of leadership coaching’.