BSMHD Newsletter October 2004

The Mental Health Act DVD for Deaf People

An explanation of the Mental Health Act has been made into a DVD and Video for Deaf People. The information is presented in BSL with Deaf presenters and includes role play. It aims to inform Deaf clients who have mental health problems so that they are able to understand their rights and make decisions about their treatment. The DVD and Video is being marketed by BSMHD, and is available via Forest Bookshop -www.forestbooks.com - priced at £19.95 for the DVD and £14.95 for the Video. BSMHD have a few complimentary copies of the DVD available for BSMHD members only - if you would like a free copy please email [email protected] giving details of the delivery address.

Professional Development - Is Personal Therapy a Part of It?

A one day event held by the West Midlands Branch of the British Psychological Society on 20 November 2004 at the Millennium Building, Wolverhampton University main campus, Stafford Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SB.

Speakers include: Paul Ziolo (University of Liverpool), Simon Duplock (Regents College, London) and Professor Sue Wheeler (University of Leicester). BSL/English Interpreters will be available. Further details from: Erica Wilson, 15 Bridgenorth Grove, Willenhall, WV12 4RX Email [email protected]

BSMHD Meeting - Deafblind UK, Peterborough, 29th September 2004

The BSMHD Meeting in Peterborough on 29 September was attended by 14 members of the Society who were given a presentation by Jackie Hicks, Chief Executive of Deafblind UK about their work with deafblind people, a tour of the National Centre for Deafblindness and a presentation by Penny Beschizza on 'Deaf Education Centres'. Many thanks to Deafblind Uk for their warm welcome and hospitality.

The next Meeting will be in Exeter in the New Year - further details will be available shortly. BSMHD Meetings are open to all members and are free to attend.

Healthy Deaf Minds

On the 6th October, over 50 people gathered at Friends Meeting House, Euston for the latest in the series of forums on issues affecting deaf people's health. The talk on medication was given by Ayesha Begum who is a pharmacist in Mental Health at Oxleas NHS Trust, based in Bexley, Kent.

Begum gave a very interesting talk on the different forms of medication, for example, tablets, syrups, patches, injections & even suppositories. Tablets are the cheapest to produce and patches the more expensive as they are slow release therefore need a lot more research which is expensive. This is in spite of the fact that the general formulation of any one drug is the same. There are also cultural differences with drug taking, in France suppositories are very commonly used, in Pakistan it is injections and in the UK tablets. A full transcript of the evening is available on the Healthy Deaf Minds Yahoo Group (to subscribe only takes a couple of minutes) http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/healthy_deaf_minds/

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 1st December at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London. The topic is "Cancer" and there are two deaf speakers lined up to share their experiences with us.

Mental Health Care of Deaf People. A Culturally Affirmative Approach

Authors: Neil S. Glickman and Sanjay Gulati. Review by Sally Austen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Denmark House, Deaf Mental Health Services, Birmingham.

This book took me a long time to get around to reading. I was somewhat put off by the few subheadings relative to the number of words. Also, the early chapters have a fierce political component that, although a rich resource of cultural information, I found a bit wearisome. However, now that I have read it, I think I will return to this book often and reference its sophisticated and balanced debate regularly. I don't think it is a book for hearing services with a lone deaf patient but I think it has great value for services and professionals that are in the process of developing or improving services for deaf people. Full Review of Mental Health Care of Deaf People - A Culturally Affirmative Approach.

Inquiry into Mental Health and Well-Being in Later Life - Call for Evidence

The Inquiry is a three-year, UK-wide project, conducted by Age Concern and the Mental Health Foundation, that aims to: raise awareness of this much neglected issue; empower older people and mental health service users; create better understanding; influence policy and improve services. Details of the Call for Evidence on the Notice Board.

Vacancy for Service Manager for the Deaf Mental Health Service, New Zealand

Applications are invited for the position of Service Manager for the Deaf Mental Health Service. The position is based in Henderson, responsible for leading and managing the Auckland service which covers Northland to Midlands region and also responsible for the Wellington service which covers the lower half of the North Island. Details of the Vacancy on the Notice Board.

Counselling Training Project for Deaf People in Scotland

Trudi Collier - SCoD Project Coordinator

At the moment, there are only two Deaf trained and qualified counsellors who can communicate with deaf and deafblind people in Scotland. There is no counselling course specifically tailored to meet deaf and deafblind people's needs in Scotland.

SCoD (Scottish Council on Deafness) is a national co-ordinating body with a diverse membership representing the statutory and voluntary sectors. It is the only umbrella body representing the interests of local and national voluntary organisations, local authority social work, education and health departments working with Deaf, deafened, deafblind and hard of hearing people.

SCoD set up a counselling sub-group in 2002 to identify gaps in counselling services for deaf and deaf people in Scotland' and to see how training opportunities could be created for deaf people interested in becoming counsellors and for hearing counsellors interested in working with deaf and deafblind people in Scotland.

After research and piloting work, the counselling Sub-group produced a report with a number of recommendations, which led SCoD to apply for funding for the Counselling Training Project.

The overall aim of the project is to reduce isolation and help to improve the mental health and wellbeing of deaf and deafblind people through the training and provision of additional counsellors to support the wider deaf community. Existing counsellors and counselling training providers will receive training and advice to ensure that their services are accessible to deaf and deafblind people.

The Scottish Executive awarded SCoD with a 3 year Section 9 Training Grant in April 2004 also the Community Fund in May 2004 for the Counselling Training Project over the 3 years of 2004 - 2007.

For further details, please do contact me at [email protected]

Mental Health Services for Deaf People in Wales

British Society for Mental Health & Deafness Reference Group Inaugural Meeting - Thursday 21 October 2004 at 10.30am at YMCA, Mendalgief Road, Newport. For further details contact Nigel Bone - [email protected] .

Deafness and Applied Psychology Special Interest Group (Deaf SIG)

The Deafness and Applied Psychology Special Interest Group (Deaf SIG) is a professional body of d/Deaf and hearing UK psychologists specialising in working with d/Deaf people. Comprised mostly of clinical psychologists working in the NHS and research psychologists working in applied fields of mental health and deafness, educational psychologists and counselling psychologists are also welcome to join. Most members are Chartered members of the British Psychological Society. Read all about Deaf SIG and how to join on the Notice Board

Ethics In Mental Health And Deafness

Editor: Virginia Gutman. Review by Sally Austen, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Deaf Mental Health Services, Denmark House, Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, Mindelsohn Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2QZ. Tel 0121 678 2178.

'Ethics in Mental Health and Deafness' is an extremely readable and thought-provoking textbook for the clinician experienced in this field. The ten authors raise, and informally discuss, issues in such a way that one feels that many of one's own clinical difficulties are, in fact, relatively commonplace: issues of negotiating boundaries with clients whom we may also socially, negotiating our caseload, perfecting the use of interpreters in therapy or designing a research project involving Deaf participants. Full Review of Ethics in Mental Health And Deafness.

Report from Scotland

The issue of lack of access to mental health services by deaf people in Scotland has been a recurring concern for many years.

As far back as the 1970's, there has been attempts to set up some form of specialist services, encouraged by the establishment of the unit at Whittingham Hospital, by Dr. John Denmark.

At that time, the authorities agreed that the Whittingham Unit was a centrally funded, national resource whose remit included Scotland, and so there was no impetus to move towards a more localised service.

With the establishment of the John Denmark Unit in Salford, with its corresponding changes in funding arrangements, it was hoped that the idea of a Scottish-based service could be resurrected. However, it quickly became apparent that there was neither the political or financial will to even start discussions on such a matter.

When the Scottish Parliament was re-established in 1998, "Health" issues were devolved from Westminster, and there was renewed optimism that the new Scottish Executive might give consideration to overcoming the serious shortcomings of the existing system.

In June 2000, the Edinburgh & East of Scotland Deaf Society (in conjunction with the Scottish Council on Deafness, Greater Glasgow Health Board, Lothian Health Board, the Health Education Board for Scotland, and others), organised a major conference entitled "Mental Health Services for Deaf People in Scotland - Action for Change", which looked specifically at the problems of lack of accessible services, and which made a number of recommendations for action.

Several months later, the Scottish Council on Deafness (SCoD) set up the Mental Health and Deaf People Task Group, to look at ways of progressing the matter. This group consisted of representatives from the major organisations for deaf people, health, social work authorities, and officials from the Scottish Executive.

The Task Group, acting on advice, came up with a proposal to initiate a research project, in order to provide much-needed background information. Researchers from Salford University, who had experience in the field of mental health and deafness, were commissioned to plan a research proposal. Initial research proposals were submitted to the Scottish Executive, along with an application for funding in 2001. For the next 2 years, the Task Group and the researchers had regular contact with the Executive and made a number of advised changes to the original proposals. However, in October 2003, the Executive turned down the application for funding, and, to date, have given no explanation for this decision.

Since then, it has been a case of 'back to the drawing board', and the SCoD Task Group has tried to reinvigorate the debate within Scotland, and especially with the Scottish Executive. The latest initiative from the Executive has been the formation of a Mental Health and Sensory Impairment work group which is in the early stages of addressing the issues connected with the particular needs of a number of patient groups. While there is some concern about the focus moving away from the specific notion of ensuring accessible mental health services for deaf people, it is acknowledged that the authorities have been reluctant to take up "single issue" proposals, and so, for the time being, it is perhaps necessarily pragmatic to take the opportunity to fight for deaf rights within the wider framework of sensory impairment services.

The Emotional Development Of Children And Adolescents At Corner House Inpatient Unit

Presentation by Christine Hussmann and Peter Hindley

Corner House is an inpatient unit for deaf children and adolescents. It opened in January 2001 and is the only provision of its kind in the UK. Children and adolescents are referred for assessment and treatment. A core team of multidisciplinary professionals is responsible for their care in liaison with their families, guardians and outside professionals. Read the whole Presentation on the Notice Board.

Note: The articles that appear on this website are for information only - inclusion does not imply endorsement of the contents by BSMHD

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