Next BSMHD Members meeting - Newcastle, 9 March 2010

The next BSMHD members meeting will be held in Newcastle on Tuesday 9th March 2010 at Hall A/B, Coach Lane Campus West Side, Benton, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7XA, from 11am to 3.30pm.

The meeting will be an opportunity to meet fellow BSMHD members, staff from the local Health Services and Deaf Organisations. There will be a presentation by Northumbria University on the work they are doing to develop training opportunities for mental health professionals working with deaf people, and an update on the national activities BSMHD is involved in including the Social Work with Deaf People Conference on 18th March, the European Mental Health and Deafness Congress in Cambridge in November, the improving access to psychological therapies for deaf people national development project, the Diploma in Integrative Counselling taught in BSL, and updates on developments in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. BSMHD Meetings are open to all members and are free to attend.

Social Work with Deaf People, Promoting Deaf Mental Wellbeing Conference

Thursday 18th March 2010 – 10.30am to 4.30pm. Jean MacFarlane Building, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL. For Social Workers with Deaf People and related professionals this conference is a great opportunity to meet colleagues, share best practice and learn about the specialist issues relating to providing Social Services for Deaf people. The programme is of relevance to professionals throughout the UK and across the full age spectrum. The programme starts with Social Work and Deaf People - Strategic Challenges and Current Research presented by Professor Alys Young, Professor of Social Work at the University of Manchester followed by workshops and presentations on Deaf Children and Young People: Promoting positive wellbeing; National Deaf CAMHS Service; Individual Budgets for Deaf people; Pathways to and from Specialist Mental Health Services and the Care Programme Approach; Protecting Vulnerable Adults; and a Sharing Best Practice Forum to develop a Social Worker with Deaf People 'Tool Kit' to support professionals in their work. For further details and to book your place go to the Events Page

Healthy Deaf Minds in Europe - Call for Papers: Pre Notification

The 8th European Congress on Mental Health and Deafness will be held in Cambridge on 2nd - 5th November 2010. The theme of the Congress, 'Healthy Deaf Minds in Europe', will serve as the agenda for an exciting scientific programme providing a forum for addressing mental health issues and developing links between all of the various professionals working in the field of deafness, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, therapists, nurses, social workers, interpreters, educationists, deaf people, carers and the community.

The underlying theme of the Congress will be preventing mental ill health in the deaf community and promoting healthy deaf minds. The Congress will take the form of a collection of Symposia each focusing on a specific area of expertise within mental health and deafness including: Deaf Children, Young People and Families; Deaf Adults; Deaf Elders; Forensic Services; Multiple Disabilities; Service Development; Language Deprivation and Communication; Primary Care and Community Services; Mental Health Promotion and Education. Within these Symposia and the Congress programme there will be an opportunity to include papers on a wide range of topics including Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults, Addiction, Sexual Abuse, Domestic Violence, Suicide, Asylum Seekers, Education policy, Audiology, Genetics etc.

The Congress will be a collection of keynote speakers, plenary presentations, debates, films, parallel workshops, exhibits and posters. Alongside the Congress there will be a Jobs Fair for Deaf Professionals to promote the employment and training of deaf people in mental health services.

Look out for the full details of the Call for Papers for the Congress which will be announced in March 2010. Start preparing your paper now!

For further details go to the Congress Website at www.esmhdcongress2010.org

Placements for Counselling Students needed

SignHealth along with BSMHD are currently supporting 20 Deaf students on a two year part time Diploma in Integrative Counselling course which is accredited by BACP and provided by Inter-Psyche. The course is delivered and assessed in BSL. Part of the course requirements are that students need to undertake at least 100 hours of counselling practice, 1:1, once they have reached the required level of competency. Each student has Professional Liability Insurance and an enhanced CRB. They are members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and therefore abide by its Ethical Framework, and are members of BSMHD. SignHealth will oversee the students by providing clinical supervision and a mentor for the duration of the placement. Would your organisation be interested in exploring ways of providing a placement? For further information please contact:- Hayley Gurbutt,Senior Psychological Therapist, Sign Heath Counselling Service [email protected]

Occupational Therapy with Deaf People Peer Support Group

The first OT Peer Support Group Meeting for Occupational Therapists working with Deaf people will take place on Tuesday 16th March 2010, 1.00pm - 5pm at Brookland Hall, Conduit Place, Bristol, BS2 9RU. For further details or if you are interested in attending please contact: Fiona Hughes, Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust [email protected]

Deaf Children, Young People and Family Service (National Deaf CAMHS) Job Opportunities

Exciting opportunities for psychology professionals in York and Manchester. The Deaf Children, Young People and Family Service (National Deaf CAMHS) was formed on the 1 April 2009 following a successful pilot of 3 regional Deaf Child and Family services and is funded by the National Commissioning Group. We provide a specialist mental health service to families living in England and are looking to recruit experienced and motivated psychology professionals who have a passion for delivering innovative mental health services to children who are deaf and hearing impaired.

Employed by North Yorkshire and York Community Mental Health Services the posts will be based in our established specialist centre in York and in our newly created outreach service in Manchester, hosted by Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The multi-disciplinary services in Manchester and York are complimented by a third service team in Newcastle that together form the 'northern arm' of the National Service to deliver a highly specialist mental health service to deaf and hearing impaired children and adolescents who have complex mental health needs. The teams employ both deaf and hearing staff and use qualified interpreters where needed.

The service offers a unique opportunity for skilled psychologists to be at the forefront of developing specialist services for deaf children and young people and team members will have the opportunity to hold a varied caseload, support other professionals to meet the needs of deaf children and work within an exciting research agenda. You will be well supported in your professional development and a clear framework for professional leadership and supervision involving psychologists from both the northern and the national teams is in place including links into the local Psychology network, a national network of psychologists working in Deaf CAMHS, Applied Psychology & Deafness SIG (www.apdsig.org.uk), as well as opportunities to link internationally (e.g. to the European Society for Mental Health and Deafness). As an outreach service all members of the team will be required to travel to a range of settings throughout the north of England therefore the willingness and ability to travel is essential.

This is an exciting time to join the service where your commitment will be rewarded with the satisfaction of working in a truly innovative and developing national specialist service alongside enthusiastic and forward thinking colleagues. You will receive a competitive benefits package and the opportunity to develop new skills or build on existing ones. For less experienced psychologists there will be an opportunity to undertake work in our generic CAMH service in York to enable you to build up a mixture of specialist and general skills. We recognise that our service is different to many other CAMHS services, so please do contact us for further information or discussion. We are encouraging interested applicants to visit the service team in York to find out more and we are holding an open morning on the 11 February 2010. To book a place on the open morning or for an informal discussion about any of the jobs please contact Dr Peter Oakes, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, on 01904 726610 or e-mail: [email protected]

BSL Uptake and Social Care Library

There are now over 30 resources in the BSL:UPTAKE Health and Social Care Library at http://www.bsluptake.org.uk . These range from sources of help and advice in BSL and English to academic research papers in the following categories: Counselling (3); General (14); Help & Advice (6); Mental Health (9); Social Care (3)

Ishara - Forced Marriage Webpage in BSL

TIshara has been working with Deaf BME people on the sensitive issue of forced marriage. An important outcome identified from the work is a need to have information about forced marriage guidance translated into British Sign Language (BSL). Under our Resource Development programme we have worked in partnership with Shakti Women’s Aid and have been supported by the Scottish Government to make this resource happen in Scotland. Please note that this resource is mainly guidance in the context of Scottish legal systems. You can now access the webpage at the Deaf Connections on the following link: http://www.deafconnections.co.uk/Ishara/information-about-forced-marriage.html

We hope that you find this resource useful and can pass this on to other contacts. We also look forward to any feedback about this webpage which can be sent to [email protected]