News

2021 looks like giving us some hope with the vaccine roll-out and perhaps not a moment too soon with the impact on our mental health.  There have been some studies that indicate there are increased levels of anxiety, of suicide attempts and difficulties in maintaining mental health wellbeing. Congratulations to Sara! We reported last October…

Online Conference, Tuesday 29th June 2021 Call for papers BSMHD is delighted to announce that in partnership with St Andrew’s Healthcare, we will be hosting an online conference on Tuesday 29th June 2021. The conference will be accessible in both British Sign Language and English. We are accepting proposals for presentations and posters under the…

English and BSL Abstracts submit to conferencesubmissions@standrew.co.uk by 26th February 2021 Submitting an Abstract Guideline Abstracts should present new research, new working practices and any other perspectives that will further our understanding of the field of mental health and wellbeing for Deaf people. The Scientific Committee (Dr Katherine Rogers, Dr Kevin Baker, Dr Alex Hamilton,…

Many congrats to Sara! Sara has won for her logo submissions for a new mental health research network.

BSMHD would like to thank DeafLinks for sharing these videos about mental health for people to watch. Out Of My Head: https://youtu.be/0benfedpI-8 The Faces of Mental Health: https://youtu.be/z7eU2dc8k2Q It’s Good To Talk: https://youtu.be/_1f1IPZ8PIoMental Health Overarching: https://youtu.be/QGtwffkjDJI

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) have experienced difficulties in accessing health and social care. However, these difficulties have been accentuated by the lockdown, with organisations moving away from physical interaction primarily to telephone contact. To examine the effects on Deaf people, it is useful to give some historical context.

First – an apology, this Newsletter should have been in August but there was very little news to report.   But we have big news to report – here it is! Watch this Space!  Book into your Diaries now! We know that the Covid-19 crisis is affecting everyone in different ways. For some, it has an…

First, congratulations to one of our Trustees, James Watson-O’Neill who won the ‘Charity Leader of the Month – July’ award from Cause 4.  He won this for his work with SignHealth in promoting better access to information about Covid-19 and better access to health services.  See: https://www.cause4.co.uk/blog/pick-month-july-2020 A big clap for James! Second – BSMHD…

Welcome to our June Newsletter.  We have been busy, creating four Guidance documents for professional workers to try and remind them that there are Deaf people out there who depend on access to their services. The first was for GPs, the second for Emergency teams, the third for Hospital managers, and finally the last for…

Our ‘Hear Deaf Mental Health in Wales’ 3 year project (2016 – 2019) was successfully completed in December 2019.  During the 3 years, some of the highlights of the project were: We trained over 110 people in Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Four deaf people became MHFA Instructors Over 40 people attended Mindfullness courses We…