Towards the development of brain injury specialists

Brain injury presents a hugely complex, and sometimes daunting arena for th e rehabilitation professional. With disruption to a person's core sense of self being almost the sine qua non of brain injury, rehabilitation can cove r physical, psychological, social, philosophical and psychiatric realms. Th ose with brain injury can also be amongst the most vulnerable people in our society. Their rehabilitation has profound implications socio-politically, both in how we seek to understand disturbance in others, and also how we s trive to ameliorate it. Whilst both theory and practice have grown exponent ially over the last two decades, there is still no formal training or quali fication within the brain injury rehabilitation field. This paper discusses the need for such formal training at both a theoretical and practical leve l not only for clinicians but also for front line staff, families and prima ry care services. The difficulties inherent in providing co-ordinated and s tructured training in such a complex area are discussed, and finally a mode l that attempts to meet user needs is outlined.