This new mobile app from Brain Injury Matters is a great way to learn, relate and support Acquired Brain Injury with Australian voices. A significant portion of English speaking knowledge about the injury comes from the USA or UK, but getting more of an Australian take on the experience is great. It isn’t an Australian only app and should be downloaded worldwide.
So let’s look at some of the sections within the app…
Weekly Tips
There are 43 weekly tips and all of them have a personal quality to overcome Brain Injury.
Exercise is mentioned a few times and I personally found this to be my main element of recovery (unfortunately I must say eating joined also – a yin and yang quality to mental health).
Keeping a journal or the use of post-it notes are great ways to record and focus attention with daily tasks. Journal writing can be important as many people suffer memory issues and this can be detrimental to share memories with others or reminisce about an experience.
I’ve found many people who write about their experience do it to explore their feelings. They may be unusual and the exploration of these emotions shouldn’t be ignored.
These little pieces of advice are important and changing with updates, for each person suffering a brain injury adapting information to their particular circumstance.
ABI Info
Speaking about the diversity of experiences is relatable for me as a Thriver of the injury, and we can all change from survivors to Thrivers. This section places experience at the forefront.
Fatigue mentioned by Helen is important and her general description of where she found a million questions about injury experiences. The end result of many questioning moments is blame and judgement from outsiders.
I found this myself and I’ve decided to make a later post about blame and judgement to explore this feeling further.
I adored the video by Larissa about the experience and speaking of identity loss with the healing qualities of years with a head injury. She speaks of isolation and exclusion but also of the teaching from years that healing brings with the level of unique and priceless experiences gained.
Stories
The videos are empowering in this section for someone who experienced a Brain Injury. There are written stories placed simply and clearly with a few more individuals shining light on Acquired Brain Injury understanding.
During recovery I felt that outsiders often treated me without consideration for my emotions or I met a swath of anxiety from people hearing my story or seeing my face. Seeing myself triggering deep anxiety was intense at the worst stages of the injury.
These stories put multiple faces to Brain Injury experiences. Eva’s story was great because I personally related to it, by looking at her use of study to overcome the challenges that Brain Injury (and in her case cancer too) has brought her. I looked at study from an early stage of the injury and I am completing post graduate work currently.
The diversity in the stories rings true. People aren’t incapacitated from contributing to society. They have so much invisible knowledge.
I liked Larissa’s artistic story about her perception of the world following Brain Injury, where her attention looked at a more unique worldview to take value in sometimes forgettable objects.
I end by repeating Troy’s very real quote that so many ignore during recovery, ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’
…or our injury perhaps?
What to do?
I think everyone, not only people with Acquired Brain Injury, should download the mobile app. The mentioning of changes to cognitive process but not a reduction in intelligence being a very important thing to understand and something I felt was what drove me to success in study, while being abused in the workplace often after my accident.
I could review every part of the mobile app but I feel the learning experience of downloading the app is better for everyone. Click a link below to upload when you can.
Like Brain Injury it’s an individual story 😀
Go experience the caring, sharing and learning group on Facebook to access more Brain Injury and Mental Health info.
Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.braininjurymatters.abiwise&hl=en
iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/abi-wise/id1453507116
Pablito...travelling mentally with you! 
thank you Paul, for this awesome review of the ABI Wise App. As one of the creators I am very touched. Reading this very insightful review has made me feel like it is my birthday, not yours. Happy birthday by the way!
One thing I will add is the Tip Library will keep growing, one tip a week, for at the least the next 2 years, and the best are still to come!
Thank you again!
Thank you!
It’s a good and very real app for the modern age!
I hope many download and maybe think of tips from the perspective of people who have not experienced a brain injury.