National Deaf Services

Dr Helen Miller
Adult Team National Deaf Services
South West London and St George's
Mental Health Services NHS Trust
Old Church
146a Bedford Hill
London
SW12 9HW

Tel: 020 8675 2100
Minicom: 020 8675 2200
Videophone: 020 8675 9707
Fax: 020 8675 2266

Dr Andy Holwell
Deaf Child and Family Service
National Deaf Services
South West London and St George's
Mental Health Services NHS Trust
Springfield University Hospital
61 Glenburnie Road
London
SW17 7DJ

Tel: 020 8682 6925
Minicom: 020 8682 6950
Fax: 020 8682 6461

www.swlstg-tr.nhs.uk/nds

National Deaf Services provide a range of comprehensive mental health services for deaf people, including services for adults, a child and family service, psychotherapy and counselling and an established community home network.

In addition, we are committed to the following:

• employment of and commitment to deaf staff participation and training
• patient involvement in all aspects of care
• respect and promotion of deaf culture and language

Approximately 1 in every 1000 of the population is deaf, using "BSL", ie British Sign Language as the preferred language.

Any difficulty in communication may lead to feelings of personal and social isolation with the consequential frustrations, developing into difficult and challenging behaviour. There is no evidence to suggest that there is any greater occurrence of mental illness in the deaf population. There is, however, a significantly greater occurrence of emotional and behavioural problems. Poor diagnosis, miscommunication and misguided treatment programmes have resulted in the gross over-representation of deaf people in mental hospitals. Deaf people experiencing mental health problems need assessment and care from professionals with specialist skills, who can fluently communicate in signed languages and who understand the complexities of deaf culture.

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British Society for Mental Health and Deafness, Registered Charity Number 1057135

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