Nathan’s history

In 2019, Nathan* was admitted to Cygnet Heathers, a 20 bed inpatient neuropsychiatric rehabilitation service for men with an acquired brain injury or neurological injury.

He was sadly hit by a car driving at approximately 50mph and sustained several injuries 4 months prior to his admission to Cygnet Heathers. He was intubated/ventilated and needed several neurosurgical procedures to be completed during the admission process.

When Nathan came to us

Following his recovery from ICU, he struggled with several cognitive difficulties such as poor memory and delusional thoughts.

Nathan’s behaviours changed as a result of his brain injury; he showed signs of physical aggression to others, suffered from a lack of insight to his situation and was non-compliant to treatment. Nathan also suffered neurotic symptoms, preoccupations with trivial things and mental processing. This in turn led to Nathan attempting self-harm, threatening suicide and poor frustration tolerance.

Nathan’s care

On admission, Nathan was aggressive, non-compliant and at times became violent. He threatened to assault staff several times, damaging property in the process. He was initially managed with DoLS (Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards) but was placed under section 3 of the Mental Health Act.

The interdisciplinary team at Cygnet Heathers formed a collaborative approach and began to help Nathan by implementing a structured environment for him as well as a well co-ordinated therapeutic plan, which was put in place by doing reflective practice through regular case-based discussions. The team also introduced neurobehavioural interventions using a psychological approach, as well as general nursing to help Nathan.

Over the next few months this enabled the team to form a therapeutic alliance with him to help have a positive impact on his level of functioning and quality of life. This helped Nathan become calmer and enabled him to engage positively with his peers and staff within a few months of admission.

Nathan today

Within 9 months of admission into Cygnet Heathers the team were able to safely transition Nathan from Heathers into our local step down facility – Meadows Mews. This is an enhanced community residential service for men with neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative conditions.

Nathan’s eventual discharge back into the community began as an informal patient during the pandemic in 2020. After speaking with the team at Meadows Mews, Nathan requested to isolate at home. This was done in a safe way with Nathan receiving ongoing support from Meadows Mews in the form of daily contact and psychology input. The transition proved to be successful with the work of the team at Cygnet Heathers and Meadows Mews.

After 14 months Nathan was discharged into the community and continues to progress. We would like to wish Nathan well for the future.

*Name has been changed to protect his identity