Gather – Check – Practice – Decide – Talk
An important part of coping with your parent’s brain injury is to understand what happened as it is common to have friends, teachers, family members and other people ask you about it. Understanding everything that has happened can help you to tell your version of the story. Remember:
- It is up to you to decide if, when and how you would like to share your story
- You don’t need to tell people your story just because they asked
- You may decide you only want to tell parts of your story. You can pick and choose the parts
In this activity you can bring all of the information together that you have learnt about your parents brain injury and practice how you may like to share your story.
Gather
Use the table below to gather information about what happened.
| Who is the story about? | |
| When did the injury happen? | |
| Where did it happen? | |
| What happened to them? | |
| How do you feel about it? | |
| Where are they now? | |
| How could people help you? | |
| Other important parts: |
Check
Now that you’ve listed details about what happened, you can check the information with your family, or staff at the hospital. Checking helps to fill in any gaps or make sure you have the correct information. If your story includes other family members, like brothers or sisters, it is good to check if they are comfortable with you sharing any information about them. Remember, not everyone may like to share the same amount of information and that’s ok. As time passes, your story may change as you learn more about brain injury, the changes to your parent and your family, and what it all means for you.
Practice
Talking about your parent’s brain injury can be really hard. Practice telling your story with people you trust. That way, you may feel more ready when people ask you about it.
Decide
It’s always good to have people to turn to that we trust. Have a think about the people in your life that you trust. You might trust these people with your safety, your worries, to share in your good times and the harder days.
Talk
Remember it is up to you to tell your version of the story, whenever you are ready and feel ok to do so. You may find the same questions come up, and others may be surprising. If you are not sure what to say, you could say:
“I wouldn’t like to talk about that at the moment”
“I’m not ready to talk about that so I can let you know when I am”
“That’s a hard question, let me think about it”
“Can you ask me later?”
“Thank you for asking. I’m still working through it all right now”
“I’m keeping that information private”
What else could you say?_____________________________________________________________________
