8 May 2025

Ahead Together Families after Brain Injury: Reclaiming Hope.

About the Ahead Together conference 2025.

What is the role of hope in the family experience after brain injury?

This question is at the heart of the next Ahead Together Conference. Family members and brain injury professionals will once again share the stage to bring you moving and inspiring narratives, the latest research, and practical resources.

Join us in May 2025 as we navigate the complexities of hope, and reflect on whether it is an overlooked asset in transforming families’ lives after brain injury.

Ahead Together 2025 speakers

Our line-up of speakers includes our regular experts who will bring fresh insights and new facets of their knowledge of the ABI field, as well as some new faces.

Our speakers:

  • Tracy Norris-Evans – Head of Injury, RWK Goodman
  • Dr Audrey Daisley – Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist, Connect Neuropsychology and OUHNHSFT
  • Dr Rachel Clarke – NHS Palliative Care Doctor and Sunday Times Bestselling Author
  • Dr Cliodhna Carroll – Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist and Specialist Paediatric Psychologist
  • Vicki Gilman – Chair of BABICM and Managing Director, Social Return Case Management
  • Dr Alan Gray – Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist
  • Dawn Greenaway – Mother of a brain injury survivor
  • Chloe Hayward – Executive Director of UKABIF
  • Dr Mark Holloway – Senior Brain Injury Case Manager and Expert Witness
  • Nicola Hughes – Business consultant & wife of a ABI survivor
  • John Keen – Father of a brain injury survivor
  • Dr John Ling – Nurse Consultant, King’s College Hospital Brain Injury Team
  • Dr Gaby Parker – Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist, Royal Free London NHS Trust & Allied Neuro Therapy Ltd
  • Dr Penny Trayner – Consultant Paediatric Neuropsychologist, DJ and radio presenter
  • Lisa Turan – Chief Executive Officer, Child Brain Injury Trust

Who should attend?

The conference is aimed at professionals in the field of acquired brain injury, including:

  • clinical neuropsychologists
  • clinical psychologists
  • clinical and health psychologists
  • counsellors and psychological therapists working in brain injury settings
  • doctors in neurorehabilitation
  • neurology and neurorehabilitation nurses
  • case managers
  • social workers
  • occupational therapists
  • speech and language therapists
  • academics
  • brain injury professionals within charitable organisations
  • rehabilitation nurses

Key conference details.

When
Thursday 8 May 2025

Time
09:00am to 17:00 – Download a copy of our full event programme here.
(The conference will conclude with a drinks reception taking place for all in-person guests at 17:00.)

Venue
The conference will take place at Rhodes House in central Oxford (South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RG)

Virtual guests
This is a fully hybrid event and guests have the option to attend virtually or in-person. For virtual attendees, the conference will be available via an exclusive live stream only. Please note that there will be no recording available to watch post event. Virtual guests will also be invited to participate in the post event reflections session.

Ticket price
Both in-person and virtual tickets are priced at £125 +VAT (£150 in total)


The Ahead Together 2025 Conference sponsored by...

PLG

Founded in 2012, PLG Consultants are specialists in accessible housing solutions for individuals with disabilities. Our journey began with two passionate co-founders and has since expanded into a dynamic team of experts in property, architecture, and accessibility, dedicated to delivering exceptional results.

Our mission is to support individuals living with disabilities in finding and transforming properties into homes tailored to their needs.

Transforming houses into homes

PLG are specialists in the provision of quality, accessible housing solutions for individuals with disabilities resulting from personal injury and medical negligence.

Based in London, Devon, and Leicestershire, we work wherever we’re needed across the UK, offering comprehensive services that manage the entire property process—from finding temporary rental accommodations to creating fully accessible forever homes. We take pride in investing the time to understand each client’s clinical needs and lifestyle, ensuring every home we create enhances their quality of life and provides a foundation for their future.

Find out more
Lewis Reed Wav Ltd

Lewis Reed is a company specialising in manufacturing wheelchair-accessible vehicles. Their mission is to provide individuals with mobility challenges the freedom and independence they deserve. With over two decades of experience, Lewis Reed has established itself as a global leader in the industry. The company's commitment to quality, safety, and innovation sets it apart from the competition. Each vehicle is designed and crafted with meticulous attention to detail to meet the unique needs of wheelchair users, ensuring comfort, convenience, and reliability. Lewis Reed's vehicles feature spacious interiors, state-of-the-art wheelchair-securing systems, advanced technology, and cutting-edge adaptations. The company's focus on customer satisfaction is equally impressive, with a team of knowledgeable and friendly experts who work closely with clients to provide personalised advice and support to find the perfect mobility solution.

Lewis Reed has received numerous accolades for its excellence and has earned a reputation as the trusted choice in the industry. When it comes to wheelchair-accessible vehicles, Lewis Reed is synonymous with quality, innovation, and unparalleled customer service.

Find out more
Psychworks

Psychworks are UK’s only case management-led psychology and trauma-informed case management service in which there is a strong emphasis on belonging. As well as offering treating psychology and case management, their award-winning team also offer mental capacity assessments and neuropsychological testing.

Psychworks values are embodied into a clear promise to their clients and referrers: they only offer good-fit clinicians to support seriously- and catastrophically injured clients, using a systemic lens to also provide (often much needed) input to families and professional networks, such as therapy and care teams. Interdisciplinary approaches are then used to pull together a shared narrative of the client in their personal and cultural contexts. Their clinicians understand that a proactive approach of regular communication and flexible availability means a coordinated and responsive service is made available within a package and with referrers.

They pride themselves on their high quality, thorough, evidence-based reports which stand the scrutiny of time and audiences.

Find out more
The Silverlining Charity

The Silverlining Brain Injury Charity offers opportunities for all those affected by brain injury (Silverliners) to get involved in exciting and purposeful activities in the community. Our service users include the brain injured as well as their family members and friends, who are often overlooked despite the effects brain injury can have on loved ones.

Find out more

Poster competition.

Have you completed family-focused

  • research
  • service developments
  • quality improvement projects, or
  • developed family resources?

Ahead Together conference 2025 attendees are invited to submit abstracts describing projects that focus on innovations in the area of family experience of brain injury.

How to enter

  • Please submit your abstracts to [email protected] by 1 March 2025. We encourage abstracts to be written in a manner that is accessible to a wide audience. Abstracts should be no longer than 200-250 words.
  • All submitted abstracts will be reviewed by Ahead Together experts involved in the conference who will draw up the shortlist of 10 abstracts.
  • Authors of 10 shortlisted abstracts will be invited to purchase in-person conference tickets and bring along A1 posters to be displayed at the venue on the day of the conference.
  • The 10 shortlisted abstracts will also be included in the conference brochure that all conference attendees will receive on the day.
  • The winner will be determined by the vote of all conference attendees on the day of the conference.
  • The winner will be announced at the end of the Ahead Together conference.
  • The winner(s) will receive £250 worth of vouchers to spend at Blackwell’s bookshop as the prize. Please note that the prize is per submission, i.e. the total amount of vouchers will be shared among multiple authors, if applicable.
  • After the conference, the winner will receive the official certificate confirming their award.

Book your place.

In-person attendance

Join the conference in person to network with like-minded professionals. Includes tea/coffee breaks, lunch and post-conference drinks reception in the iconic Rhodes House.

Virtual attendance

Watch the conference via an exclusive live stream. Includes post-conference debrief session with other virtual attendees, led by Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist Dr Rachel Tams.

Book your tickets via Eventbrite here

Contact us.

If you have any questions or require additional information about the conference, please email us [email protected]

More about the Untold Stories of brain injury.

Brain injury remains little understood by wider society.

In our Untold Stories Hub we share some of the hidden issues that come with brain injury and demonstrate how they affect individuals and their families.

Read more on the Untold Stories

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