Brain Injury Community Integration Service (BICS)

So, the Metro North Brain Injury Community Integration Service, otherwise known as BICS, is a Queensland Health funded program to deliver complex case management to those who have sustained and acquired brain injury of about a moderate to severe intensity.

So clients that are referred to the BICS service, we are able to visit them in their own homes because what we recognise is that care closer to home is more beneficial but also more individualised.

And this means being the big service.

We can visit you in your home to understand what it is that impacts on your recovery, what impacts on you getting out and about the community.

I lost confidence in my social skills, actually talking to people, going out, meeting people.

Just going out for a walk was always something that was a challenge.

Talking to you about ways to overcome that helped me gradually step out and do more.

Rehabilitation coordinators are allied health clinicians that range in various professions who all have experience in neurological rehabilitation.

Our goal is to be able to support our clients looking at all of their holistic needs, to be able to re-engage in the community with what is considered to be their leisure pursuits or anything that’s meaningful and important to them.

To plan a trip by public transport, because I couldn’t drive a car, because I had to go quite large distances with my rehab, was quite challenging.

I realised that I needed to know how long it would take me to get to certain places and talking to you about those things.

I’ve become quite confident in doing the public transport side of things.

I’d always wanted to do painting or sketching and you were able to provide me with some information there to get into a wonderful art class through Brisbane City Council and I go there one day a week and it’s something that I really look forward to.

It’s kind of, it helps me with my mental health.

BICS case coordinators have experience in neurological rehab, so we can provide targeted spot interventions that address some of those complexities that someone may have experienced after they’ve sustained an acquired brain injury.

This could be things such as fatigue management or understanding how to navigate getting back into the community using public transport, but it can also range from things such as talking with your employer about strategies to manage that graded return to work.

It could also be things such as knowing how to navigate the NDIS and knowing how to contact the right therapists or clinicians to build your capacity to be able to explore opportunities within the community.

BICS is a wonderful organisation from my point of view and I’d certainly recommend that to anybody.

It’s so good to know that it’s kind of like a security blanket to be able to have somebody there that you can talk to.

Maybe not have all the answers but you can talk about what’s going on.

It’s been so beneficial.