Myself and the team at BIS Services were immensely proud to deliver our first conference “Let’s Talk about Cannabis” on May 23 at the beautiful venue One Great George Street in Westminster, London.

Superbly supported by the great team at ABI Solutions, it was a day of reflection, learning and debate. I heard more than once, “There is such a great buzz in the room”.

Reflecting on the day, we are delighted that we were able to present such a well received programme, that allowed many professionals working in the field of community neuro rehab to walk away full of knowledge.

There was certainly a great energy in the venue throughout the day and it was a pleasure to see many of our colleagues as well as new faces.

We provided ourselves the opportunity to delve deep into conversation about what, in the past, has often been a side-lined or taboo matter when working with our complex clients living with acquired brain injury.

Having sat in many MDT meetings and supervisory meetings with our cognitive rehabilitation assistants, the challenges of working with clients who have sought to soothe themselves through most often, recreational use of cannabis, is appearing to be more the norm than the exception.

The perceived obstacles and barriers posed, can at times seem insurmountable, leaving the individuals supporting clients often pondering the expectations of their own input and realistic outcomes.

The phrases ‘lacking motivation’ ‘disengaged’ and ‘low’ are all too often heard; although spending time reflecting with our clients indicated their perception was quite the opposite.

The main message from them was that their rehabilitation actually improved as a result of their cannabis use.

Of course, it’s not always that ‘rosy’, but clients reported they were actively able to increase their engagement in rehabilitation provision and felt more in control of their own physical and psychological needs. Is that the cannabis talking, or should we explore that more?

The latter was our drive to bring this conference together, with the overall aim to develop a greater understanding of the benefits of cannabis use across the lifespan, as well as insightful strategies when the obstacles present themselves.

Feedback indicated we did just that, and included "Excellent conference, well balanced and put together. Really interesting and aimed at the right level for the audience. Thank you!"

"An outstanding event – everything ran to perfection. Incredibly interesting day and outstanding speakers – look forward to the next event!"

Our team at BIS Services are committed to ensuring that our clients and their families receive a specialist and bespoke service, supported by professionals who truly understand and acknowledge the clients needs and motivations, and can work within less than perfect circumstances, rather than excluding from services.

So many of our clients have been refused services due to a lack of understanding of how to work collaboratively within challenging packages. We take these packages on with enthusiasm and commitment to service quality.

During this exciting and innovative conference delegates we were taken through a variety of professional approaches to managing cannabis or addictive behaviours when working with individuals with acquired brain injury in community settings.

What made me most proud was to see two of our clients, supported by Eky our operations director and Pedro, client liaison manager, open the conference with a frank and honest conversation about their cannabis use.

Bradley and George provided such insights into their experiences of cannabis use and its impact from a perspective we too often fail to provide in these settings.

Lived experience, from the clients we all support is the most powerful and informative. To watch them grow in confidence and spend time networking in a world they confess they often avoid, was a delight to see.

Even to hear them tell us that they had no idea those professionals working with them attend such events, to enable us to support them more, gave them further insights into the drive of case managers and multi disciplinary teams have to ensure we can support individuals to the highest standard, in a non judgemental and informed way.

Eky and Pedro provided insights into the challenges our rehabilitation assistants face, as well as how we manage from a management perspective, from health and safety requirements to more individualised needs.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated their insights and the feedback about their bravery was loud and clear.

“Skills, knowledge and experience of presenters and how this was delivered was excellent, interactive and service users helped to give a good insight”

“Brilliant set up very engaging. The interactive quiz and client interview section were a great idea. All felt very ‘real’ – education through context and true stories not just lab studies and hypotheticals”

Professor Mike Barnes explored the history of medicinal cannabis use and current prescription uses in the UK, with his usual confidence and humour, taking us on a deep dive into the need for more specialists in the medical field to come forward and increase prescriptive uses.

His expertise in the area is second to none, and it was a privilege to have him contribute to the day.

“Wow! What a superb presenter – so engaging and knowledgeable”“Is there anything more captivating than a passionate speaker? Very informative without being overwhelming or difficult to digest. Useful advice re line of use”

Neuropsychological impacts of cannabis use was the first of our psychological insights for the conference, delivered by the highly skilled Dr Penny Trayner, showing her newborn baby how to deliver!

Covering the evidence around the short-term and long-term impact of cannabis use on neuropsychological functioning, including impact on cognitive domains such as memory, speed of information processing, executive functioning skills and academic achievement.

The signs, symptoms and patterns of problematic cannabis use was discussed, including evidence for psychosocial reasons for starting for commencing and continuing cannabis use amongst children and adolescents, as well as recommendations for intervention where required.

Ensuring we covered across age groups was important to us given our audience demographic and for us, the in challenging period of transition from adolescence to adulthood when working with clients with acquired brain injury.

Not an easy time generally, so we must improve our toolboxes for this population.

“Very refreshing to have shared with lots of research which does not suggest cannabis users are ‘ruined’ for life. Thought provoking points re cause and effect and testing on intoxicated person if this is their norm”

“An inspirational woman and great speaker. I learnt so much from the clinical slide which I wouldn’t normally get to learn about in my work.”

An important cog in the process that we must consider is the litigation aspect, from engagement in rehabilitation to long term capacity to manage finances, and the impact that cannabis use can have on an ongoing claim.