The donation of £5,000 from The Pixel Fund to SignHealth will help enormously with the development of computerised CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) resources, which take the form of sign-language based videos. This involves the scripting, translating and filming of cCBT programmes in Deaf accessible BSL.
This is important because Deaf people suffer more than twice the rate of mental health problems as hearing people, yet have little or no access to Deaf therapists that ‘speak their language’. Despite the higher need, Deaf people have worse access to mental health services because they cannot communicate meaningfully with a hearing therapist through an interpreter, and cannot easily access written or spoken self-help materials as Deaf adults typically leave school with average literacy rates of an eight-year-old child. SignHealth’s bespoke therapy service in BSL helps to provide specialist and effective support to Deaf people with mental health issues. The development of online CBT support will help to reduce the risk of mental illness escalating and reduce the high rates of mental illness experienced within the Deaf community.