The Royal College of Psychiatrists has
translated ten of its acclaimed Mental Health and Growing Up
factsheets into British Sign Language (BSL).
The new BSL video
clips can be freely accessed from the Royal College of
Psychiatrists website, and provide practical and up-to-date
information about emotional and psychiatric disorders which can
affect children and young people.
They are aimed at adults who look after deaf children - especially
parents and teachers – and are also helpful for young people who
may be concerned about themselves or a friend.
According to South West London and St
George's National Deaf Services, which produced the translations,
there is no evidence to suggest there is any greater occurrence of
mental illness in the deaf population. There is, however, a
significantly greater occurrence of emotional and behavioural
problems.
The factsheets now available in BSL are:
Coping with stress, Depression in young people, Psychotic illness,
Understanding autism, When bad things happen, Drugs and alcohol,
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Stimulant medication,
Worries and anxiety, Good parenting.
The project was coordinated by child and
adolescent psychiatrist Dr Andy Holwell and deaf advisor Herbert
Klein, who both work for National Deaf Services at South West
London & St Georges Mental Health Trust. The factsheets were
produced and translated into BSL by AC2.com Productions Ltd, which
specialises in producing BSL videos.
Mr Klein said: “I am so pleased that deaf
children and teenagers are able to access website information about
personal problems translated into BSL. It is important to help
prevent such issues leading to more serious mental health problems
or illness. Inequality of access to information and resources
compounds health inequalities and projects such as this help
support equality.”
Deborah Hart, head of communications and
policy at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “The College is
committed to providing simple, accessible information on a wide
range of mental health problems. Over the years many of our
leaflets have been translated into other languages, and we were
delighted to have this opportunity to work with National Deaf
Services to produce BSL translations.”
For further information, please contact Liz Fox or Deborah
Hart in the Communications Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
Note to editors:
The BSL video clips are available from the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ website: www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfo/mentalhealthandgrowingup.aspx. The Mental Health and Growing Up series comprises 36 factsheets in total.
Further information on South West London and St George’s National Deaf Services is available at www.swlstg-tr.nhs.uk/nds