Deaf Mental Health Service Wins Major Award

Deaf Mental Health Service Wins Major Award

New Zealand’s first specialist mental health service for the deaf has won a 2003 Aotearoa/New Zealand Mental Health Award. The service was established in 2001 under a joint venture between experienced mental health providers Richmond Fellowship New Zealand and Auckland’s Framework Trust, following research that shows 44% of deaf people have an unidentified or un-met mental health requirement.

The service has a contract with the Ministry of Health to provide services for 25 people from Northland to Tauranga. Most are profoundly deaf, while some are hearing-impaired. The service has four staff – two deaf and two hearing – who support clients and improve access to appropriate mental health services.

Deaf Mental Health Service team leader Linda Hall says deaf people have had extremely limited access to mental health services. “Our research showed that psychiatrists were using interpreters less than half of the time. Even today we receive referrals from deaf people in acute mental health facilities that have not had an interpreter for two weeks or more,” she says. “During that time they are completely unable to communicate anything, let alone their feelings and their state of mental health.”

A key focus for the service is working with psychiatrists and psychologists to improve communication and provide services that are culturally appropriate. “Deaf culture is distinctly different to ours. Deaf people need an interpreter to visit their GP or to have counselling so it has hardly been realistic to expect them to reveal their mental health issues without one.” Many health professionals still mistakenly believe they can communicate with deaf people by passing notes.

Conversely, deaf people need help to understand the concept of mental health before they can attempt to deal with a mental illness.

“Many deaf people have come direct to us with no diagnosis but they feel they have some problem – our contract with the ministry gives us time to develop trust and work towards the completion of a psychiatric assessment with someone who is aware of deaf culture.”

“A lot of what we do is related to communication, and trying to help the client to understand what it all means, and working with the family. Around 90% of deaf people are born into hearing families, and they often become isolated.

“Doctors may assume they can communicate effectively by writing notes, but this is not correct. We have had to deconstruct all the forms and written material used within mental health, to a level that can be understood by all our deaf clients, and then try to translate it into deaf language.

“We are seeing our clients getting more involved in activities and feeling more confident, because they are now able to work one-to-one with a deaf support worker. Our service has helped clients understand what they are capable of, what their mental illness means, what recovery is all about, how their medication may help and what side effects if any their medication may have. We have seen greater participation – confidence levels are up due to the improvement in communication and understanding of mental health, and clients are prepared to share some of their experiences with both the deaf and hearing worlds to help improve services.”

“We are committed to improving mental health services for deaf people throughout New Zealand and hope to encourage health professionals to look more closely at how they work with deaf people and to contact us for assistance and information.”

Richmond Fellowship is a major provider of community health and support services throughout New Zealand. The Fellowship has developed specialist services for a range of purchasers including the Ministry of Health, Crown Public Health and Community Health Boards. Services include support programmes for people with mental, psychiatric or psychological illness, respite and emergency support, consumer based drop-in services, specialist youth services and dual diagnosis services (including intellectual disability/mental illness).

Framework Trust is an Auckland community-based charitable trust supporting people with mental illness. Services include community support, residential support, employment and a joint venture intensive support programme.

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