TFC Wales Meet the Team

julie smith

Julie Smith is a founding director of Case Management Cymru, a specialist case management company established in 2015. The company focuses on supporting children, young people, and adults who have sustained brain or other catastrophic injuries across South and West Wales. With over two decades of experience in the field, Julie’s career began at Headway Cardiff and South East Wales in 2004, where she initially served as the Administration and Development Manager before advancing to the role of General Manager.

Since 2017, Julie has been an active committee member of the South Wales Regional Acquired Brain Injury Forum (ABIF). She welcomed the opportunity to extend her involvement to the Time for Changes Wales group and collaborate with other professionals to address inequalities and improves services for individuals affected by acquired brain injury across Wales.

Cari Sowden Taylor

Cari Sowden-Taylor is the Joint Head of the National Serious Injury Team at Hugh James which has offices in Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton and Plymouth. Cari is a solicitor and partner and specialises in representing clients who have sustained life changing injuries such as traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and limb loss. Hugh James is continuously recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a Band 1/ top tier law firm and works closely with charities such as: Headway, Spinal Injuries Association, Limbless Association, UKABIF, Back Up Trust, Child Brain Injury Trust, Brake (The Road Safety Charity), Roadpeace, 2Wish and Ronald McDonald House. Outside of her day job, Cari is the Chair of Trustees for Headway Cardiff and South East Wales and is a founder member of the South Wales Acquired Brain Injury Forum.

Cari enjoys working collaboratively with clinicians, therapists, experts and charities to achieve the best possible results for individuals and family members who have suffered life changing injuries.

Jakko Brouwers

Jakko trained and qualified as a physiotherapist in the Netherlands in 1995. From qualification onwards, he has been specialising in neuro-rehabilitation.

 

Clinically, he has continued to build his wide experience within specialist rehabilitation at an expert level working in the Bath Head Injury Unit, and from 2002 to 2013 as the Superintendent Physiotherapist for specialist rehabilitation at Rookwood Hospital (Welsh Regional Spinal Cord Injury and Specialist Neuro Rehabilitation Unit) and the therapy lead for neurosciences.

 

Jakko setup the Wales Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Neurology (Wales ACPIN) and served as a Board member at the International Neuro Physiotherapy Association and the UK national ACPIN Board. He still a Trustee of ACPIN and has a role as the former chair.

 

He leads the Morrello team of specialist Physiotherapists, SLT’s, Occupational Therapists, Sports Therapists, therapy technicians and personal trainers making up the 16 strong team at Morrello, and provides clinical teaching both in Wales and externally.

 

In his private time, Jakko enjoys spending time with his family and outdoor activities around the coast and mountains of Wales.

Ffion Jones

Ffion has worked for the third sector for nearly 20 years and with Headway UK since 2016 as the Network Engagement Lead for Wales. Prior to this, Ffion was an Education Social Worker for a Local Authority.

Her role within Headway includes working closely with the network of Headway groups and branches to support their work with survivors of brain injury, their families and Carers. She supports them to improve the services they provide and raise the profile of the amazing work they do. She also works with a wide range of health and social care stakeholders and partners to improve pathways and services for people with brain injury, their families, and carers.

One of the most satisfying parts of her role is having the opportunity to meet such courageous survivors and their families and carers.

Claire Williams

Dr Claire Williams is an Associate Professor at Swansea University and an applied researcher specialising in acquired brain injury. She is particularly interested in emotional functioning post-injury, neurobehavioral legacies, and perceptions and knowledge of brain injury. Additionally, she explores the interface between acquired brain injury and the criminal justice system.

Her most recent research addresses the underexplored area of how individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury may be are perceived and evaluated in the context of the UK magistrates court. Her work emphasises the pivotal role of educational interventions in promoting fair and responsive treatment of individuals with traumatic brain injury within the criminal justice system.

She also co-developed the ‘St Andrew’s – Swansea Neurobehavioural Outcome Scale’ (SASNOS) which has had a demonstrable and wide-ranging impact on clinical practice and patient care. Available in eight languages and used on an international scale (18+ countries), the tool provides health professionals with a unique basis for treatment planning and evaluation.

Further, Dr Claire Williams is also the Research Impact Lead for the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Science at Swansea University. In addition to coordinating the Faculty’s impact submission to the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework exercise, she is playing a pivotal role in driving impactful activities and initiatives that empower researchers to maximise the reach and significance of their work.

Emma Hale

Emma is Director and co-founder of Totus Neurorehabilitation Ltd. Emma has worked in the field of adult neuropsychology for 20 years, obtaining her Clinical Psychology doctorate in 2003 and qualifying for entrance onto the Specialist Register for Clinical Neuropsychology in 2007. She held her most recent NHS post as Clinical Lead of the Head Injury Therapy Unit in Bristol for 7 years during which time the service was shortlisted for two Exceptional Healthcare Awards in 2016 and 2019. Emma holds a certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy and is registered as a Cognitive and Behavioural Psychotherapist with the BABCP. Emma is an External Examiner and Honorary Lecturer for the Postdoctoral Certificate in Applied Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Bristol.

Eleanor Bryant

Eleanor (BSc [Hons], MSc, PhD) holds a co-ordinating role for United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) Amser am Newid Cymru/ Time for Change Wales taskgroup and holds a research role at Swansea University. As part of her role within UKABIFs special interest group for Wales, Eleanor has carried out a collaborative research study exploring perceptions of childhood acquired brain injury amongst UK educators. Alongside this role within UKABIF, she also works as a research officer for a Barrow Cadbury Trust funded project, working alongside members of UKABIF's ABI Justice Network. This project is focuses on scoping support pathways for young adults with ABI who are involved in the criminal justice system in one geographical region in the UK. In 2023, Eleanor completed her PhD at Swansea University. Her Phd research examined perceptions of defendants with traumatic brain injury in the context of the criminal justice system and how information about brain injury is evaluated by legal decision makers in a magistrate court setting. Eleanor has previously held a research post at the University of Birmingham, and subsequently spent many years working for a mental health charity.

Chloe Hayward

Chloe Hayward is the Executive Director of the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum. Chloe helped to reinstate the All-Party Parliamentary Group in 2017 and has since worked closely with the Chair and members of the group to use every opportunity to raise awareness of acquired brain injury in Westminster. She also oversees special interest groups in criminal justice and education and works with the Community Rehabilitation Alliance and the Neurological Alliance on joint issues to improve access to services for people with acquired brain injuries.