June is Aphasia Awareness Month. This year we started our campaign to raise awareness of the impact of aphasia on families – ‘Until you’ve met it, you just don’t get it.’

We have made lots of short videos of people talking about their aphasia. You can find these on the Aphasia Stories page of our website, and on our YouTube channel. We hope you will share these with your friends and family. Please get in touch with us if you would like to make a video.

Aphasia New Zealand (AphasiaNZ) Charitable Trust is a national organisation and registered charity, providing support services, resources, education, and information for anyone in New Zealand living with or affected by aphasia.

Our aim is to assist people with aphasia, their families and friends, extended whānau, and the wider community to communicate effectively and reduce the barriers faced by people with aphasia.

We assist people who have acquired aphasia:

• After a stroke
• Due to a brain tumour
• Because of a brain injury
• Due to brain disease e.g. PPA (Primary Progressive Aphasia)

We offer a range of support services, aphasia and communication resources, helpful information, and educational tools that can be tailored to your needs.

Our CAA (Community Aphasia Advisor) expert aphasia field officer service is available across New Zealand’s main centres.

Our Head office is based in the beautiful city of Tauranga Moana, in the Bay of Plenty. We also have offices in Wellington (Anvil House) and Christchurch (the BrainTree Wellness Centre) where our Wellington and Lower North Island and Canterbury CAAs are based.

Friends of AphasiaNZ status is open to individuals, families, not-for-profit groups and businesses so please get in touch with us as we welcome your interest and support.

When you become a Friend you will receive a copy of the latest version of the NZ Stroke and Aphasia Handbook, the only resource of its kind.

a.pha.sia

(ay-faze-yuh)

n. Partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas or comprehend spoken or written language, resulting from damage to the brain caused by injury or disease.