Andy first moved to Maeres House, our specialist brain injury rehabilitation service in Cheshire, in 2022. He joined us after leaving another provider and, at first, seemed ready to take the next steps on his rehabilitation pathway.

But it wasn’t long until our expert team noticed Andy’s previous support had only scratched the surface of his brain injury and the needs it left him with. The events leading up to his injury had left a deep scar on his soul and Andy was unaware he was suffering from complex mental health issues.

Before his brain injury, Andy was homeless. Living on the streets, he’d become skilled at defending himself by hiding his emotions. Struggling with substance misuse, his identity and existence were rapidly consumed by a growing addiction.

From the moment he moved into Maeres House, Andy disconnected from the world around him. Defensive and in denial about his brain injury, his rehab progress halted.

As hard as he tried, Andy couldn’t conceal the troubles he carried around with him.

Our support team at Maeres House knew he needed additional mental health support, so he could progress with his brain injury rehab. Using specialist brain injury support, they engaged him with a bespoke therapy program.

A decision was made for Andy to engage with Dramatherapy – a form of psychotherapy – and his life completely changed. Supporting him to comfortably confront the ghosts of his past, he finally began to close the curtains on the things that happened to him, putting his future centre stage.

Cloak of courage

Growing up in northern England with his parents, Andy navigated a difficult start to life. As a young boy, he frequently witnessed domestic abuse. For many years, he felt powerless to help his mum.  

When Andy was a teenager, he absorbed the pain of his mum’s suffering. His heart flooded with guilt and regret. But as his confidence grew, he drew on fierce bravery and challenged his dad in the hope of protecting his mum.

Andy’s bravery came with consequences, and he suddenly found himself homeless. Physically and emotionally vulnerable, he desperately looked for ways to cope with life on the streets.

Trying to silence the traumatic memories creeping around his head, he turned to drugs and alcohol.

As time went on, he fell into the grips of addiction. Wrestling with the trauma of his early years, Andy turned down a dark path and went on to navigate thirty years of self-soothing with drugs and alcohol.

Life on the streets was tough for Andy. Just like when he was young, he constantly looked over his shoulder, unable to predict what was around the corner. Guided by his instincts, he lived reactively, desperately fighting to survive long, lonely nights filled with fear.

One day in October 2022, Andy found himself hiding behind a cloak of courage when he was attacked at a homeless shelter. Severely injured, he was rushed to hospital, where he lay lifeless in a coma.

Thickening the plot

When Andy regained consciousness, he was transferred from intensive care to a specialist neurological unit where his immediate needs were cared for.

Alongside his brain injury, Andy was diagnosed with several mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression.

As part of his treatment program, he received just one hour of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) each week, aiming to support him in overcoming his addictions – but Andy’s issues ran deeper.   

Even though his body recovered from his attack, his mental health was far from healed. Coupled with his brain injury, Andy was more vulnerable than ever. Andy was ready to be discharged but returning to his previous life on the streets wasn’t an option.

With support, he explored his options. Quickly, it was agreed a residential placement was his best option. This would give him expert support for his brain injury, setting the scene for him to establish a sense of freedom. With time, Andy would be able to take the next step on his rehabilitation journey.

Soon, Andy moved into Maeres House. Situated in a quiet corner of a close-knit community, he would receive the expert support he needed for a brighter future.  

Hidden chapters

Even though he’d received a small amount of support for his mental health struggles, Andy’s previous placement hadn’t prepared him for life outside the hospital. Fortunately, his new support team were specially trained to navigate the world with him. Emphasising holistic support, they focused on Andy as a person – not just his diagnoses.

Keen to discover who he was, Andy’s support team struggled to crack the surface. He closely guarded the intimate details of his life and wouldn’t express his thoughts and feelings. From the domestic abuse he’d seen, to his experiences on the streets and struggles with addiction, there were many unopened chapters of Andy’s story.

Living in fear from an early age, Andy had muted other emotions, slipping into self-preservation mode. He hadn’t made a true connection with himself and didn’t know who he was.

Quick to anger and becoming increasingly frustrated, his team knew this was a result of his rocky road through life.

Concerned for his mental health, they discussed therapy interventions that might help him rediscover who he is and tune into his emotions.  

Based on his struggles with his feelings, our team understood the importance of taking the spotlight off Andy and adopting a subtler approach to his mental health support. Dramatherapy was the perfect option for this.

Overcoming fear

At first, Andy struggled to understand why he needed therapy. Building a wall of resistance, his first few sessions were uncomfortable, and the air was thick with tension. Suddenly plunged into an unfamiliar situation, he was frightened and couldn’t express how he felt.

Over the next eight weeks, Andy showed no sign of improvement. Disengaged, he left his sessions after only a few minutes. Concerned about his level of disengagement, his Dramatherapist Andrea regularly checked in with his support team, determined to find the underlying cause of his behaviour.

Soon, it became clear that Andy avoided engaging with most activities and other people at Maeres House. With insight into his background, Andrea suspected he was experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) – and he may have been suffering from it for a long time.

Andy struggled to identify with any feelings. He couldn’t communicate with Andrea what made him happy, what he was afraid of, or even when he simply felt any beats of emotion. Andy’s years of numbing his pain and blocking out the world around him had flicked off the switch for his emotions. 

With her broad experience, Andrea knew exactly how to help Andy break down his emotional barriers and learn to embrace who he really was.

Spinning wheel

Together, Andy and Andrea completed a special assessment tool – ‘BOD’ – to help him identify his emotions. Presenting him with a sketch of a neutral-shaped person, Andrea invited Andy to mark his emotions in assorted colours on the body, based on where he feels them.

Using this assessment tool, Andrea identified Andy had expressed angry feelings throughout the body. When this was reflected to Andy, he understood why his constant reactions of actions happened. He was frightened.

Unveiling this powerful information, Andy’s therapeutic work could begin.

Andrea gained greater insight into Andy’s complex emotions and the feelings of fear dominating his existence. Fearful of change, fearful of himself, he was stuck on a spinning wheel of emotions – but with Andrea’s support, getting off the wheel was in sight.

Building awareness

As time passed by, Andy became more engaged with his therapy sessions. Diagnosed with ADHD in 2023, his previous disengagement became clear and questions about his attention span were finally answered.

After Andy’s informative assessment, Andrea worked with him to set some goals for his Dramatherapy sessions. With support, Andy would learn to identify his emotions and express them appropriately, rather than simply getting angry. But his angry reactions were defence mechanisms, deeply rooted within him, and would take time to manage and overcome.

For a long time, Andy denied the vital role of emotions in his life. This caused him to turn to alcohol and drugs, attempting to drown out the noise of his feelings. Ignoring his emotions influenced Andy’s relationships with others. Constantly shielding himself, he couldn’t communicate constructively with other people, often resulting in conflict.

In his Dramatherapy sessions, Andy worked on his defensive reactions. Andrea talked to him about how his own feelings might be projected onto other people, and how he might absorb other people’s feelings too. By acknowledging his emotions and where they started in his body, he could accept them and choose how to respond.

Using art-based, creative pieces of work, Andrea supported Andy to visualise his emotions. Bringing them to life in colours and forms, they became real to him. Andy started to understand they were a natural, important part of him and should be embraced.

The ferocious lion

One day, Andy reached a turning point when he told Andrea a story from his childhood. When he was young, he and a friend were playing when they stumbled across something unusual. Bobbing in a dam near his home was a lion.

An extraordinary discovery, it was featured on the local news and in the papers. Since that day, Andy felt a strong connection to both the mysteries of the water and the majesty of lions!

As part of her therapy delivery, Andrea often presents clients with a range of models, objects and figures, known as ‘small world objects’. These objects are used as a form of projection to show people how they feel or how they – or others – see themselves.

During one therapy session, Andy selected a lion. A strong symbol of fierce courage, Andy didn’t instantly identify with the qualities of a lion. But Andrea knew he was brave and resilient, just like the lion.

Together, they looked at a lion’s characteristics. Drawing similarities between the lion and the events of Andy’s life, it became clear to Andy he had more in common with the mighty lion than he thought.

From that moment, Andy started expressing himself more freely to Andrea. Talking about life before his brain injury, they formed a close therapeutic bond. Now regularly attending his Dramatherapy sessions, he engaged fully and started to learn more about himself and his identity going forward.

The fog cleared and Andy’s personality shone through the clouds. By creating physical representations of emotions, drama therapy started to free Andy from the emotional chains that once held him down. He was finally free to be himself.

With his heart opening, he invited positivity into his life. He was now embracing creativity and self-expression, he turned his hand to writing poetry, which he would read to Andrea in their sessions.

Noticing how Andy responded to visual cues and symbols embodying his feelings, Andrea explored other creative methods to support him to make even more progress.

Mysteries of the water

Discovering the lion in the dam was a big moment in Andy’s life. Like any young boy, he was excited at the idea of an exotic beast once roaming the rolling hills of northern England. After he’d relived this moment with Andrea, she noticed he made many references to water. A keen swimmer, he’d regularly plunged into the dam where he found the deceased lion.

On a wet, windy day, during one of his Dramatherapy sessions, Andy was set beside a window. The trickling rain piqued his curiosity, and he asked Andrea where rain comes from. Andrea sketched a simple drawing of the water cycle and Andy was instantly captivated. Through her explanation, Andrea helped Andy understand water is everywhere and the rain falling around his home also falls on the rest of the world.

Andy was visibly moved and expressed he’d never look at rain in the same way again. To him, it was magical. Since that moment, water has been a recurring feature of his drama therapy sessions.

One day, Andrea linked the theme of water and emotions, reading a powerful piece of writing to Andy:

Andy recited the words for himself. The words were powerful for him. He was deeply moved as he listened to his own voice repeating them.  

Almost immediately, Andy’s focus directed to the river’s fear. An emotion he strongly identified with. Boldly telling Andrea he was fearless, she invited him to think about the meaning of being fearless.

She explained ‘fear-less’ might not be lack of fear but could mean having fear, but less of it. Andy agreed. This then prompted him to share stories about when he’d been brave at school, protecting himself from bullies. Andy’s perspective had changed. He recognised that by protecting himself, he must have felt fear.

Through the theme of water and other mediums, Andy started to understand his emotions and their value in his life. He began addressing his past and making peace with what happened to him. His work with Andrea changed his perspective on many aspects of his life and the world around him. Focusing on the present moment and planning for the future, something exciting was just around the corner for him.

Meeting Mr P

For some time, Andrea encountered a homeless man on the streets of Liverpool. Living in a doorway in the city centre, he kept his spirits high and spread cheer with passers-by. Andrea was inspired by how he gifted positive energy to other people, even though he was in an unfortunate situation.

Mr P managed to turn his life around by the generosity of strangers and hard work. He found the true meaning of his life through helping other homeless people.  

Andy developed into a sensitive, compassionate man, and Andrea knew he’d benefit from meeting Mr P – they shared similar stories. So, when Andy expressed to Andrea he’d like to host a charity coffee morning for the homeless, she saw the perfect opportunity to introduce them.

Mr P and Andy met on the morning of the fundraising event, lovingly organised by Andy, at Maeres House. With a raffle, bake-sale, and fun games, Andy raised money for the local homeless community. During the events, Andy shared his own accounts of living on the streets and how he now felt blessed that his brain injury happened. It changed his life.

For Andy, his drama therapy sessions with Andrea had continued to nurture that change. Together, they rediscovered who he was, and rewrote the script for his future. Having chatted with Andrea about Andy, Mr P delivered a heart-warming speech at the coffee morning, celebrating Andy’s achievements that day, and with his therapy.

With the money he raised, Andy went along with Mr P to a homelessness outreach session. He bought brand new sleeping bags, hot drinks and food, and proudly delivered them to those sleeping on the streets. Andy was now officially part of Mr P’s outreach program, and he was determined to keep raising money and awareness for the homeless.

Ripples create waves

Andy’s still engaged with his dramatherapy sessions. After the success of his first fundraising event and his outreach work, Andrea introduced the idea of ‘ripples’ to him. Continuing the water theme, she demonstrated to Andy how each of the actions leading up to the coffee morning had a ripple effect, helping him to keep moving forward. And with each good thing he does, it influences another. Even though the ripples feel small, eventually they swell up and create a wave.

Andy’s proud of the achievements he’s made. Writing them down, his records reflect just how far he’s come since he first joined us at Maeres House. Even though his transition to his new home felt fluid, avoiding emotions presented him with big obstacles. Through his work in Dramatherapy, he’s discovered the value and power of his emotions both in the past and in the present.

By building awareness around his feelings, Andy made huge improvements in his relationships with his housemates and support team at Maeres House. Over the weeks, he repaired patches of friction and felt his personality change. Today, he’s more compassionate and empathetic to other people’s emotions. He’s developed a sixth sense for when others are feeling unhappy or frustrated, and eases tensions with a healthy dose of humour!

Gently breaking down the walls he’d built around him, Andy’s finding peace with his past. With every chapter he closes, a new one begins. One day at a time, Andy’s rewriting his life’s story and ensuring he, and others like him, have a chance at a happy ending.

Find out more!

If you’d like to find out more about our specialist brain injury rehabilitation support and how it could help you, a loved one or a client, fill out our simple form and a member of our friendly team will be in touch.

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• Brain injury rehabilitation
• Therapy