An ICU doctor becomes the patient after a brain injury, and finds the language of burnout and trauma too thin for what's actually been lost.
Brain injury rehabilitation risks mistaking consensus for evidence. A call for better data, broader thinking and intellectual humility.
Former intensive care doctor turned brain injury patient and advocate reflects on recovery, identity, rehabilitation and life after survival.
A reflection on caring, exhaustion and survival, and how writing, poetry and creativity offer carers a quiet place to put things down.
A near-fatal crash, a stranger by the river, and the uneasy recognition that sometimes survival depends on someone stopping to ask if you’re OK.
Experience teaches doctors how to stay calm when everything feels chaotic. High performance is often just structured thinking under pressure.
Insight promises clarity, but it often destabilises identity. What happens when you see too much, too late, and can’t return to who you were.
Rethinking “bad behaviour” in brain injury: less about intent, more about control, shame, and the gap between clinical labels and lived reality.
NDIS access relies on executive function many applicants lack, turning support into a barrier. When paperwork decides outcomes, the system fails.
NDIS cuts risk shifting costs, not saving them. The issue is not spending less, but spending smarter on supports that change outcomes.
Saving lives is not the endpoint. Recovery is. This article examines how underpowered rehabilitation drives bed block, delays discharge, and weakens systems.
Two convincing emails. One tax bill, one refund. Both felt real. Put the kettle on. Pause, step out, and avoid getting scammed.
Rehabilitation is the missing link in Australia’s hospital crisis. Underfunding and COVID disruptions continue to block recovery and system flow.
Featured in MJA InSight+, this article explores brain injury advocacy, the reality behind the Royal Commission findings, and why meaningful change is still overdue.
Reflective insights from a former ICU doctor on organ donation, community trust, ethics, and the quiet realities behind transplantation.
Scammers rely on urgency and confusion. The Kettle Rule shows how slowing down, even making tea, can break the spell and protect vulnerable people.
AI has industrialised deception, making scams harder to detect. As trust becomes procedural, can AI also help us defend ourselves without replacing human judgement?
Sometimes the hands hold stories that the mind can not carry.
High performance is about managing cognitive load to make good decisions.
Why everyday life after brain injury demands elite performance skills. Cognitive load, fatigue management and system design explained by Dr Bruce Powell
A powerful reflection on cognitive overload, showing why brain injury patients must use high-performance strategies just to shop at Christmas.
Trauma reshapes the brain and identity itself. A former critical care doctor reflects on PTSD, humour as armour, and why honesty is the first step toward recovery.
Up to 70% of WA prisoners have a brain injury yet lose Medicare, GP access and oversight. A human rights crisis affecting identity, PTSD and survival.
A personal story of rebuilding life after brain injury, told through the process of creating a home, rediscovering identity, and finding renewed meaning.
A reflection on finding peace in stillness. Sometimes the most meaningful act isn't catching fish, it's standing quietly in the water.
Rehabilitation transforms lives. For every $1 invested in brain injury rehab, $92 is returned. So why is it still underfunded and undervalued?
Rehabilitation after brain injury is like golf on a strange course. Progress is slow, victories are small, but you keep shining, keep trying.
Discover why we forget, how memory changes after brain injury, and why remembering, not forgetting, shapes identity, resilience and growth.
From psychologists to editors, Bruce reflects on the challenges of writing, trauma, and turning personal experiences into compelling stories.
Voted the Best Poster at the World Congress on Brain Injury in Montreal. What a journey, halfway across the world to offer my poster to the World Congress and what a pleasure to be voted the winner. The conference itself was worth the trip and I look forward to maybe contributing more when the next event occurs in Valencia, Spain 2027. A massive thanks to the organising committee and all the fascianting, driven, passionate clinicians I met there. Bruce.
