April 2008 - latest news

BSMHD Annual Conference – Edinburgh 16-17 May 2008

Thistle Hotel, 107 St. James Centre, Edinburgh, EH1 3SW. 11.00am – 6.00pm, Friday 16 May 2008 & 9.30am – 3.30pm Saturday 17 May 2008. A two day multi-disciplinary conference for all mental health professionals and those in allied professions who work with deaf people. Conference Chair: Lilian Lawson OBE, Director, Scottish Council on Deafness.

Celebrating 15 years of coordinating the development of mental health services for deaf people throughout the UK, the British Society for Mental Health and Deafness returns to Scotland for their biggest Annual Conference yet. Spread over two days for the first time, the conference will include keynote speeches from leading politicians and policy makers and a ‘State of the Sector Address’ by Rodney Clark OBE, Chair of SignHealth. There exhibitions to complement the diverse programme of presentations and the conference will be a unique opportunity for all professionals working with deaf people to meet and network and contribute to the development of professional mental health services for deaf people. With four sub-themes of Developing Services in Scotland; Language Issues; Service Development; and Professional Development, the conference will include a range of Workshops and Seminars covering the following topics

For full details of all presentations, workshops and seminars visit the BSMHD website at www.bsmhd.org.uk

The BSMHD Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday 16 May 2008 at 5.30pm.

For further details or to book your place contact Clare Long at [email protected]

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Interpreting in Mental Health Settings Training – Manchester 26-29 June 2008

Kings House, Conference Centre, Manchester

9.30am – 4.30pm each day Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th June 2008

A four-day training course for Registered, Qualified BSL/English Interpreters, Language Service Professionals and appropriately experienced relay/Deaf interpreters. Presented by: Robyn Dean, MA, C.I./C.T., of the faculty of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Robert Pollard, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and director of the Deaf Wellness Center.

Following on from the one-day workshop held on 4 December 2007, this four-day course on Interpreting in Mental Health Settings will equip qualified BSL/English Interpreters and experienced relay/Deaf interpreters with the skills necessary to work in Mental Health settings. The course will cover working within the UK framework.

In order for the interpreting profession to advance, it must conceptualise interpreting work in a different way. It must articulate and embrace a new schema – a schema that is expansive enough to include not only the technical aspects of interpreting work but the human and social aspects as well. Since their first publication in 2001, which described the basic structure of their Demand-Control Schema for Interpreting Work, Dean and Pollard have postulated that interpreting is a practice profession and that the traditional emphasis on the work’s technical aspects has created numerous myths and misunderstandings about interpreting.

These myths can be problematic in any type of interpreting assignment but they are particularly troublesome in mental health settings. Addressing and dispelling these myths is essential. Many times, correcting these misunderstandings means the difference between effective and ineffective evaluation and treatment outcomes for deaf consumers. In this course, Dean and Pollard will address these interpreting myths and present the fundamentals of their demand-control schema. This new schema serves as the scaffold for their broader practice-profession perspective on interpreting in the unique mental healthcare setting.

After familiarising the audience with the demand-control schema, Dean and Pollard will use the schema to explore the nature of mental health service settings and the implications these settings hold for interpreters and effective interpreting work. Among the topics that will be examined are: (1) how expressive and receptive language abilities can be directly altered by mental illness and pragmatic interpreting approaches for addressing such issues, (2) details of various mental health service settings and what unique interpreting challenges can be expected therein (e.g., psychiatric emergency rooms, inpatient units, psychotherapy sessions, psychological testing appointments), (3) the consequences that certain translation decisions and assumptions can have for mental health treatment, especially when the hearing and deaf consumers are unaware of the nature of and reasons for interpreters’ decisions, (4) how interpreters’ tendency to suppress personal feelings and reactions can lead to both translation and occupational health problems when that suppression and the stress it induces are not recognised and dealt with appropriately and (5) how the practice of professional supervision can maintain a professional’s development and ethical aptitude.

For further details or to book your place go the BSMHD website at www.bsmhd.org.uk or contact Clare Long at [email protected]

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Next BSMHD meeting – Cardiff 10 July 2008

The next BSMHD meeting will be held in Cardiff on 10 July 2008. The meeting will be an opportunity to meet staff from the Health Services and Deaf Organisations in Wales and to meet the new BSMHD Board of Trustees. BSMHD Meetings are open to all members and are free to attend. If you would like to attend please contact Jonathan Isaac, [email protected]

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BSMHD Trustee Elections

The deadline for nominations has now passed and there are thirteen candidates for the five available places. The candidates are: Sally Austen, Mandy Barker, Steve Carney, Trudi Collier, Emma Coleman, Mary Griggs, Christine Hardy, Willie Macfadyen, Steve Powell, Mel Russ, Sara Rhys-Jones, Sharon Ridgeway and Clare Shard. Voting papers have been sent to all BSMHD members, the deadline for returning your voting cards is 9th May 2008. If any members have not received their voting card please contact Jonathan Isaac on [email protected] . The results will be announced at the AGM on 16 May.

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Healthy Deaf Minds in Cardiff

We are holding a Healthy Deaf Minds meeting on 9 July 2008 in Cardiff. Starting at 6.30pm and finishing at 9pm. Full communication support, tea & coffee are available. Entrance will be free for this initial meeting. This is the forth Healthy Deaf Minds meeting to be held outside London and the aim is for an organising committee to be established in Cardiff to make the meetings a regular event. We are very grateful to the Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales who are supporting the expansion of the Healthy Deaf Minds project.

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Healthy Deaf Minds in London

The next meeting of the Healthy Deaf Minds London Group will be on Wednesday 4 June at the Small Meeting Room, Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London (opposite Euston Station). In order to receive automatic Emails you only need to subscribe at: [email protected] . All meetings are on a Wednesday at Friends Meeting House, Euston. Starting at 6.30pm and finishing at 9pm. Full communication support, tea & coffee are available. Entrance fee is £5 to cover the cost of room hire.

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FROM PROMISE TO PROVISION National High Secure Deaf Service – 3 June 2008

The Conference will open with a Gala Banquet on Monday 2 June 2008 followed by a one day conference on Tuesday 3 June 2008 to be held at the East Midlands Conference Centre, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RJ, England.

This internationally important conference provides a forum for addressing deafness and forensic mental health issues as well as developing links between the various international and national professionals involved in the field of deafness, including the Prison Service, High, Medium and Low Secure Hospitals, Psychiatric Intensive Care Units, inpatient, community health and social care services. This event will enable commissioners, healthcare professionals, interpreters, academics and carers an opportunity to network and discuss the development of deaf forensic care pathways. Key note speakers will include representation from: Criminal Justice; Forensic Mental Health Settings; Deaf Community; Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust Board; Mental Health Commissioners.

To register for the conference or for further information contact: Lisa Spencer, Ward Administrator/PA, Deaf Services, Rampton Hospital, Retford, Notts, DN22 0PD Telephone 01777 247811 or email [email protected]

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ESMHD SIGs Meeting - Dublin 3rd - 6th September 2008

DeafHear.ie in partnership with ESMHD will host the 2008 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) in Dublin, Ireland in September. ESMHD’s aim is to provide clinical practioners working in the field of mental health and deafness with a constructive forum for discussion. The objective of the SIG’s is to: promote the exchange of information; resources and experiences among professionals create a trans-European network to support them in their work; create a close and friendly environment where practioners can present their work and obtain support and assistance from other colleagues.

The SIG meetings are primarily set up around workshop sessions, where all participants are given a chance to present a case study from their own professional experience, which is then followed by a discussion on the presented material. hTese workshops offer the opportunity to exchange views between presenters and other participants, and consequently to provide all with insights that may help them in their work. It is important to highlight that the SIG meeting work as a support network of professionals working in the field of mental health and deafness. The September 2008 meeting in Dublin, Ireland will have four Special Interest Groups. Participants will choose to partake in one of the following.

Deaf Children and Families – contact Maria Gascón [email protected]

Deaf Adult and Families – Medical Issues (contact Ines Sleeboon-van Raaij: [email protected] or Viveca Schoultz [email protected]

Public Health – contact Alexandra Mayer-Weinreich: [email protected]

Older Persons - Residential – contact Sandra O’Brien: [email protected]

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Certificate in Mental Health and Deafness Questionnaire

The Questionnaire and Presentations from the Open Day held on 28 March are now available on the University of Birmingham Centre for Excellence in Mental Health website at

http://www.ceimh.bham.ac.uk/newsandevents/mhdeafness.shtml

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New Birmingham service opens in March 2008

SignHealth are developing a range of services within the West Midlands aimed at supporting Deaf people with enduring mental health needs and/or complex needs. Building on our success of similar service models in Manchester, Leeds and London, SignHealth is working alongside Denmark House to develop the care pathway for deaf people within Midlands region, although referrals from further a field will be considered. This Birmingham service is a partnership between SignHealth and Trident Housing Association to deliver a supported housing scheme for up to 6 Deaf people. The support service will be for clients originating from the West Midlands region.

Based on the supported living model, each client will have their own tenancy and a person centred support plan to reflect their needs. The service will provide individual flats, communal areas and staff offices and is just off the High Street of a town centre which benefits from all necessary amenities and excellent transport links across Birmingham and the wider West Midlands region. Fees will be based upon assessed need, (typically this will be in excess of 25 hours per week), with housing costs being drawn from housing benefit. Additionally as a preventative measure the service will benefit from a sleep in and on-call provision. An experienced deaf Manager has now been appointed, and SignHealth is currently recruiting a Team Leader and Support workers.

If you are interested and require more information please contact SignHealth www.signhealth.org.uk

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St Mary's Deaf Service Development

St Mary's Hospital which has established a complete care pathway of forensic services for Deaf people are pleased to announce that our Oldham site is being developed as a Deaf-only Hospital and should be completed by the end of the summer 2008. We envisage that patients will be admitted by September/October 2008. On relocation to Oldham the Hospital will provide 10 open Deaf placements , a 6 bed Low Secure ward and 4 Self contained flats. St Mary's Hospital, Warrington will continue to facilitate our Medium Secure service for Deaf Patients,. Senior staff will continue to work across both sites. For further information contact St Mary's Hospital
01925 423300 or visit www.stgeorgehealthcaregroup.co.uk

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Developing Mental Health Services for Deaf People in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, 2003-2007

Report by Dr Margaret du Feu

Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and has a population of about 1.7million people. The Republic of Ireland has a population of about 4.25million people. In Northern Ireland the sign language is a variant of British sign language but because many people have been to school in Dublin, many deaf people prefer or also know Irish sign language. In the Republic of Ireland, sign language was introduced from France by Nuns and Christian Brothers who came to set up deaf schools in the 1830/40s. For historical reasons, therefore, Irish sign language has some resemblances to French sign language and also to American sign language as teachers also went from France to America.

In Northern Ireland, the Mental Health Service for deaf people based in Manchester has for many years run an outreach service with clinics in Belfast about every 2 months. Patients needing admission have gone to Manchester.

In the Republic of Ireland there have been Psychiatrists who have taken a special interest in seeing deaf people, particularly Dr Jim O’Boyle in Dublin who retired in March 2007. However, there have been no specialist in-patient beds and the different sign language means that it has seldom been appropriate to admit patients in England.

For many years there has been considerable pressure from interested parties i.e. members of the deaf community, social workers with deaf people, concerned Mental Health Professionals and above all voluntary organisations such as the RNID in Northern Ireland and the NAD in the Republic of Ireland to establish an Ireland based Mental Health Service equivalent to those in London, Manchester and Birmingham Over the same period there have been policy documents for the modernisation of all Mental Health Services. The Bamford review of Mental Health and Learning Disability Northern Ireland was published in 2005 and a Vision for Change for Mental Health Services in the Republic of Ireland was published in 2006. Equality legislation in Northern Ireland and the Republic, and European recognition of sign languages have all added impetus to the development of Mental Health Services for deaf people.

In September 2003, Dr Margaret du Feu, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Birmingham Mental Health and Deafness Service was seconded 2 days a week to work in Northern Ireland. Clinics were set up in Belfast and at different locations throughout Northern Ireland and a full-time Clinical Nurse Specialist was established. Since January 2007, the team has consisted of Dr du Feu 2 days a week, Dr Carol Carton, Consultant Clinical Psychologist 30 hours per week, Martin Creed, full-time Clinical Nurse Specialist and Deborah Boyle, 6 sessions Clinical Nurse Specialist with full-time administration cover. Since September 2003, 161 patients have been referred, 153 have been seen to date, 7 patients have been admitted to in-patient beds in Birmingham and 8 to beds in Northern Ireland. 2 Northern Ireland patients remain in medium secure facilities in England.

In the Republic of Ireland since August 2005, the team comprises Dr du Feu 2 days a week, Stephen Browne, Clinical Nurse Specialist full-time, with interpreting and part-time secretarial/administration support. Clinics have been set up across the country. 1 patient, a British Sign Language user, has been admitted to the Birmingham service. 4 patients have been admitted to general psychiatric beds. In the Republic of Ireland a total of 104 patients have been referred and 96 patients seen.

In Northern Ireland a detailed audit was carried out for patients referred between September 2003 and August 2006. This was compared with the referral rate for the preceding 3 years when 44 new patients were referred to the outreach clinics from Manchester. The present study is an updated outline audit of referrals in Northern Ireland September 2003 – August 2007 and the Republic of Ireland September 2005 – August 2007. For results please see: Results of Study.

Predicted referral rate for deaf people = 40. 25 referrals per year/per 1000 population are standard figures for the general population, but research shows an extra 15% need for deaf people.

Both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are developing appropriate Mental Health Services for Deaf People. However, the policy statements: Northern Ireland – A Strategic Framework for Adult Mental Health Services June 2005. “equity of access and provision of services” and Republic of Ireland – A Vision for Change 2006. “service provision should be done equitably across all service user groups in a culturally appropriate way”. are far from being fulfilled.

Future plans include: Development of the clinical teams; A more detailed audit of the growing caseload; Needs assessment research; Further outreach awareness and liaison to Mainstream Mental Health Services and the Deaf Community; Provision of in-patient services.

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