Rachel Pitman, Information Officer, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York writes –

            The Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York has recently completed an evaluation of the three specialist mental health services for deaf children and their families currently operating in England.

            The research, which was funded by the Department of Health, highlights the difficulties deaf children and their families experience accessing appropriate mental health services and the need for specialist services which are able to meet the children’s communication needs and are expert in mental health and deafness.  

            User and referrer reports of the service, alongside changes in scores on outcome measures, show that the specialist mental health services are achieving positive outcomes for their users. A summary of the research findings can be accessed via the SPRU website at:

http://php.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/pubs/child.php