1. BSL Healthy Minds Supporting Deaf people's mental health through their own language and culture
1 December 2017

2. Who are we?
SignHealth is a national charity working across the UK
Our aim is to improve the health and wellbeing of Deaf people

3. What do we do?
BSL Healthy Minds - Psychological Therapies in British Sign Language
CQC Registered Care Homes – Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham and London
Advocacy in BSL
Health advice and information in BSL
Outreach services – Manchester, London and Birmingham
DeafHope, helping deaf women and children who have experienced domestic abuse
Campaigns calling for equal access to health care for Deaf people

4. Sick of It

5. Psychological therapy in England
General health access issues
Lower levels of English literacy
Spoken word format of many services
Lack of cultural-linguistic matching
Inconsistency of psychological therapy provision in England
Mainstream through interpreters (50%)
Mainstream then specialist service (30%)
Straight to specialist service (20%)

6. Also… Communication barriers with GPs (and social workers?)
Lack of awareness and understanding of Deaf services acts as a barrier
Doubt over communication support
Lack of understanding of Deaf person’s perspective from health professional
Lack of accessible health related information
Single point of access – telephone
Appointment letters in English
Homework from therapy sessions – in English

7. Stepped care pathway

8. Improving Access to Psychological Therapies
IAPT began in 2008 – not accessible for Deaf people
BSL Healthy Minds set up in 2011 to address gap
National service
IAPT Plus compliant service
CBT
Counselling for Depression
Couples Counselling
EMDR Therapy
Online therapy – cCBT/Live therapy

9. Also… Therapy is direct
Therapy is in BSL/Oral, to suit the needs of the person
Information/resources are in BSL or BSL English if written
Culturally and linguistically matched
Risk detected sooner and managed appropriately
Possibly less sessions as issues identified and worked with more quickly
Recovery rate higher than national IAPT target

10. Commissioning Guidance

11. 10 Key Messages 1. Deaf people find it difficult
to access healthcare, face
communication barriers and,
as a consequence, have poorer
mental and physical health than
the rest of the population.
2. Everyone who uses mental health
services should have equitable
access to effective interventions,
and equitable experiences and
outcomes. Under the Equality Act
2010 Deaf people are included as
having ‘protected characteristics’.
3. Due to their unique life
experiences, Deaf people require
different primary mental health
care. Commissioners should
commission appropriate cultural
and linguistic provisions when
planning services for Deaf
people.
4. Psychological therapy in British Sign Language (BSL) is as cost effective, if not more so, than a hearing therapist using a BSL/English interpreter.
5. Deaf people should be able to choose to receive primary care psychological therapy services in BSL directly from a BSL practitioner, without needing a sign language interpreter, if that
is their choice.
6. A comprehensive
commissioning strategy
is required to enable an
appropriate BSL psychological
therapy service to be available.
7. Commissioners need to ensure that Deaf people have a clear care pathway that is equitable to the general population.
8. Commissioners need to include
Deaf professionals in their
workforce planning strategy.
9. Deaf people need to be
involved with the ongoing
development of Deaf primary
care mental health services.
10. Where services are
commissioned that require
sign language interpretation,
commissioners must ensure the provision of interpreters is of a high standard, as highlighted in NHS England’s Principles for High Quality Interpreting and
Translation Services in Primary Care 2016 and forthcoming NHS England guidelines for the commissioning of interpreting and translation services.

12. Going digital
Bespoke online platform developed specifically for Deaf people
Live therapy via video call on secure platform
Clinically guided cCBT
Deaf friendly resources i.e. plain English and BSL
Reach out to isolated Deaf people
Provide Deaf people with opportunity to access self-help learning
Meet Government objectives
Give Deaf people a choice

13. Contact
SMS:
Tel: