Thank you to our Sponsors

• All Saints Hospital
• Alpha Hospitals
• Cambridgeshire Deaf Association
• IAPT for Deaf People
• Our Voice
• St Andrew's Healthcare

All Saints Hospital was initiated by senior clinicians one of the founding members being Dr Brendan Monteiro a National leading figure in the field of Mental Health and Deafness who has special interest in Forensic Aspects of Mental Health and Deafness. Dr Monteiro has been instrumental in setting up and directing Forensic Services for Deaf People in the United Kingdom for many years.

All Saints Hospital offers a culturally sensitive service which meets the requirements of modernising services for Deaf men.

All Saints Hospital is a purpose built hospital for Deaf men which consists of 16 en-suite rooms in low secure and open environments in addition there are 2 spacious TV lounges and a kitchen diner, the hospital also benefits from 4 individual hospital flats with support to achieve independence, All Saints Hospital now also accepts referrals for our individual flats only for both men and women.

All Saints Hospital, provides a holistic rehabilitation programme of treatment and therapies currently unavailable to Deaf people with mental health needs these include a range of psycho-educational interventions according to the needs of the patient, which can be delivered on an individual basis or in groups including Anxiety Management, Coping with Anger, Relaxation, Social Skills, Living with Others, Thinking Skills, Problem Solving Therapy may address mental health needs, past trauma or offending. Our interventions are aimed at reducing risk include Substance Misuse treatment and Sex Offender treatment.

Alpha Hospital Bury provides highly specialist services for women and men who are Deaf and require Low or Medium Secure care. Deaf services at the hospital provide culturally and linguistically appropriate forensic mental health care services. Patients are empowered to participate actively in their treatment and move on through the care pathway in a meaningful and successful way.

Current data suggests that Deaf patients at Alpha Hospital Bury are able to progress through services at a comparable rate to their Hearing counterparts; a significant achievement considering historical evidence shows that Deaf people with acute mental health problems admitted to specialist mental health services are expected to take twice as long as hearing patients to progress through the care pathway.

In keeping with the desire to minimise Length of Stay, Alpha Hospital Bury works in partnership with rehabilitation and open services to support the transition process and offer after care therapeutic sessions on an individual basis.

Alpha Hospital Bury prides itself on a service that employs highly experienced professionals with over 20 years’ experience in the field of Mental Health and Deafness. A dedicated team of Deaf professionals, both hearing and Deaf, offer specialist therapeutic and communication support in the Deaf patients’ first language, British Sign Language.

Alpha Hospital Bury recognises the need to be embrace the introduction of National CQUIN measures aimed at improving patient care and evidence based practice. Alpha Hospital Bury is currently working with the NHS to develop equity and access for Deaf patients in relation to clinical progress of outcome measures.

Alpha Hospital Bury delivers a Deaf specialist Sex Offender Treatment Programme on an individual and group basis. Management of Potential and Actual Aggression (MAPA) training is delivered by staff who are accredited licensed trainers consistent with the Positive Options curriculum. Both programmes are adapted to include specific modules relating to the care and treatment of Deaf patients.

Alpha Hospital Bury is proud to announce the development of a purpose built Low Secure Development situated in its own grounds outside of the Medium Secure hospital complex. The development will enable us to expand the number of low secure Deaf beds available affording many of our medium secure patients the next step on their care pathway whilst offering continuity of care.

Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (CDA) an information and resources centre for Deaf  people of all ages. We specifically support those who use British Sign Language as their first and prefered language. We offer advice and information via textphone, Drop-In services and our website, and because British Sign language is a visual language, face to face meetings are essential. Amongst our various services we offer British Sign Language courses at Level One and Two taught by qaulified local Deaf people.

Cambridgeshire Deaf Association is a user led organisation that  also organises and supports social events for Deaf people across the county. Deafness itself can be an isolating disabilitiy, and this is compounded by the fact that Cambridgeshire is largely a rural county.

We also run a Supporting Deaf People Project People Project which provides a support service for D/deaf, deafened, hard of hearing and deaf/blind people across Cambridgeshire.  The clients have a wide range of need and communication methods and we are able to provide the service in the clients preferred langauge.  We can help with things like dealing with day to day issues, budgeting, help with correspondence, developing social skills etc. The project is monitored by Supporting People which is a central Government programme and we work closely with other agencies and organisations to provide a quality service.

IAPT for Deaf people is a two year national project starting from 1st April 2010 that aims to enable all Primary Care Trusts throughout England to provide a psychological therapy service that is culturally and linguistically accessible in sign language, through the employment and training of a new workforce of Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWP) and High Intensity (HI) Therapists. The development work is focused on ensuring that deaf people will be a major part of this new workforce. The project, which will be jointly managed by NHS North West and BSMHD, will:

• work with the Strategic Health Authority IAPT leads to create consortia of SHAs across England using a hub model and work with each regional hub to produce detailed service specifications and potential delivery model/s including identifying an IAPT site to be the lead PCT for the hub
• develop, with existing IAPT training providers, PWP training courses to be delivered in BSL designed to be accessible to all Deaf PWP trainees from across England
• support the training provider to deliver the PWP training to ensure it is appropriate for Deaf trainees
• develop and deliver a High Intensity ‘top-up’ course, delivered in BSL, for the existing workforce of qualified, and soon to be qualified, Psychological Therapists able to work in Sign Language
• develop and deliver a Supervision course, delivered in BSL
• develop, with existing IAPT training providers, High Intensity courses to be delivered in BSL designed to be accessible to all Deaf High Intensity trainees from across England
• support the training provider to deliver the High Intensity training to ensure it is appropriate for Deaf trainees
• develop a support infrastructure for this specialist workforce, including Supervision, peer support and continuing professional development
• arrange for the translation of appropriate Assessment Tools into BSL including GAD7, PHQ9 and Core
• produce IAPT Information in BSL on DVD and the internet

Our Voice is a free, independent, impartial and confidential advocacy service for Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or Deafblind adults living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

We develop, test and deliver leading edge ways of providing advocacy so that people with a hearing loss can participate more fully in society, resolve problems, exercise their rights and responsibilities, and develop their confidence and self advocacy skills.

Advocacy reduces the risk of abuse, isolation, anxiety and other factors that trigger mental health problems. Advocacy also enables our clients, their families and service providers to create long-lasting positive change in their lives, in attitudes and in the way public services are delivered.

Our advocates and volunteers work to the quality standards for Advocacy Schemes as set out by Action for Advocacy and adhere to the Advocacy Charter which defines and promotes key advocacy principles. Funding for Our Voice is currently received from Big Lottery and Comic Relief.

A new medium secure Deaf service at St Andrew’s Healthcare. St Andrew’s Healthcare is the UK’s leading charitable provider of specialist mental healthcare, with centres in Northampton, Birmingham, Essex and Nottinghamshire. We provide specialist services for men, women, adolescents and older people across:

• Mental illness
• Developmental disabilities
• Brain injury
• Progressive and neurodegenerative conditions.

As a charity we are in a position to reinvest our surpluses into cutting edge specialist services, state-of-the-art facilities and experienced, dedicated staff. Building on over 170 years’ experience, we are continuing our dedication to innovation by bridging the gaps in secure mental health provision. Working in partnership with SignHealth, we have developed a new medium secure service for Deaf men with mental illness.

This person-centred service provides assessment, treatment, relapse prevention and rehabilitation in a culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate way. Throughout the treatment programme emphasis is placed on appropriate communication combined with respect for, and understanding of, deaf culture.

Our multi-disciplinary team works with each service user to develop a comprehensive care plan based on rigorous assessment and risk management procedures. All interventions will be delivered in the first language of the service, British Sign Language. Progress will be both evidence based and benchmarked, and outcomes will be communicated at each key stage of treatment.

We recognise that having easy access to quality mental healthcare closer to home plays a vital role in recovery. The Deaf service is ideally situated to meet the needs of service users from the Midlands and the South. Located in Northampton, the service will be delivered in a new purpose-built, state-of-the-art medium secure facility, William Wake House.

British Society for Mental Health and Deafness, Registered Charity Number 1057135. © BSMHD MMX