Innovative Interventions

We aim to develop evidence-based interventions from assessment to education to treatment grounded in contextual behavioural science to support recovery after brain injury.

Concussion Learning and Implementing Recovery Tool (CLARITY)

A video education resource for concussion/mild traumatic brain injury, for individuals experiencing concussion symptoms, with explanations based on current biopsychosocial models of recovery.

Evaluating CLARITY

Through interviews and questionnaires with 24 individuals with mTBI, Elise Callagher found that prior educational experiences were often inadequate, while CLARITY was perceived as clear, accessible, and validating. Participants emphasized that CLARITY could support recovery more effectively than traditional materials and suggested minor refinements to enhance its use in healthcare settings.

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Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in mTBI (ACTion mTBI)

In this quasiexperimental study we assessed the feasibility of delivering a five-session ACT intervention (ACTion-mTBI) within community-based mTBI rehabilitation services in New Zealand, comparing it to a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-in-mTBI) intervention. Results showed that ACTion-mTBI was feasible to implement and was associated with greater improvements in functional disability, post-concussion symptoms, anxiety, stress, and mTBI-specific psychological flexibility compared to CBT. The study supports the need for a full-scale clinical trial to evaluate ACTion-mTBI’s effectiveness in enhancing recovery after mTBI.

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Experience of ACTion mTBI

We interviewed participants after their ACTion mTBI treatment to understand their experience and get feedback on the intervention protocol.

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“I found this possibly the most helpful course of treatment for my concussion. I’ve done a fair few of them, but this has been the most helpful, tangibly helpful."

- Female (134 weeks post injury)

“I would describe the treatment. . . kind of attacking the concussion from a different direction, so it’s more the emotional side of it.. and also like tools to actually get ahead of your concussion and get some distance from it because it kind of takes over your life."

- Female (27 weeks post-injury).

“Yeah. I think realising that all of my . . . concussion symptoms of headaches and pain, realising that it was a, that all my emotions were driving it, like feeding into it. And once [the therapist] was able to provide those techniques. Yeah. I don’t know, it just, it kind of just eased up and then went away."

- Female (10 weeks post-injury).

“I think it was one of my values I said that spirituality. . . And it was all around basically my head because in Māori culture, the head is very sacred. And [the therapist] was able to, in a way, make it feel Yes, it’s sacred. We can work in a way to keep it like that without touching too much, but also heal it in the process was, yeah, it was really good."

Female, 31 weeks post-injury.

“I found this possibly the most helpful course of treatment for my concussion. I’ve done a fair few of them, but this has been the most helpful, tangibly helpful."

- Female (134 weeks post injury)

“I would describe the treatment. . . kind of attacking the concussion from a different direction, so it’s more the emotional side of it.. and also like tools to actually get ahead of your concussion and get some distance from it because it kind of takes over your life."

- Female (27 weeks post-injury).

“Yeah. I think realising that all of my . . . concussion symptoms of headaches and pain, realising that it was a, that all my emotions were driving it, like feeding into it. And once [the therapist] was able to provide those techniques. Yeah. I don’t know, it just, it kind of just eased up and then went away."

- Female (10 weeks post-injury).

“I think it was one of my values I said that spirituality. . . And it was all around basically my head because in Māori culture, the head is very sacred. And [the therapist] was able to, in a way, make it feel Yes, it’s sacred. We can work in a way to keep it like that without touching too much, but also heal it in the process was, yeah, it was really good."

Female, 31 weeks post-injury.

“I found this possibly the most helpful course of treatment for my concussion. I’ve done a fair few of them, but this has been the most helpful, tangibly helpful."

- Female (134 weeks post injury)

“I would describe the treatment. . . kind of attacking the concussion from a different direction, so it’s more the emotional side of it.. and also like tools to actually get ahead of your concussion and get some distance from it because it kind of takes over your life."

- Female (27 weeks post-injury).

“Yeah. I think realising that all of my . . . concussion symptoms of headaches and pain, realising that it was a, that all my emotions were driving it, like feeding into it. And once [the therapist] was able to provide those techniques. Yeah. I don’t know, it just, it kind of just eased up and then went away."

- Female (10 weeks post-injury).

“I think it was one of my values I said that spirituality. . . And it was all around basically my head because in Māori culture, the head is very sacred. And [the therapist] was able to, in a way, make it feel Yes, it’s sacred. We can work in a way to keep it like that without touching too much, but also heal it in the process was, yeah, it was really good."

Female, 31 weeks post-injury.