Summary
The deafness and Mental Health Statewide Consultation and Liaison Service has supported Patty and countless others since it began in November 2004.
Patty Pinkham has never heard any sound, voice or song in her life.
Born deaf, her condition wasn’t detected until later in life.
At the time of her birth, newborn screening for hearing loss did not exist.
By the time professionals realised she was deaf, Patty said it was too late for her to learn how to communicate effectively at school where she was constantly bullied.
Patty also didn’t learn Auslan – Australian Sign Language – until she was 40 years old.
“Being illiterate and not understanding English or the written word at all, I had no understanding of mental health,” Patty said.
“I had no awareness or understanding; I couldn’t even communicate with my own parents or family, and I suffered immensely.
“I had a lady say to me, ‘what you’re experiencing is panic attacks and anxiety’ and I was like, ‘I don’t even know what those words mean’; I had no idea.”
Patty said she had no concept of mental health or the support available before she came across Deaf Connect, formerly known as Deaf Services.
It was here that her anxiety and panic attacks were explained to her with the use of a comic book, signs and pictures by Dianne Briffa, the founder of the Deafness and Mental Health Statewide Consultation and Liaison Service (DMHS).
“I was shocked. I looked at it and I thought, ‘I have suffered my entire life since I was an infant, my entire childhood’.
“I’ve suffered a very difficult life and that was very helpful.”
As an adult, Patty turned to art as an outlet for her mental health.
Thanks to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funding, she has become an artist and has hosted her own art exhibition.
Her artwork includes themes of mental health, the isolation and the obstacles she endured to overcome anxiety as well as her journey towards self-improvement.
“Not all deaf people are the same; we are all unique.
“There’s no single fix for everybody, so there has to be different approaches to find that breakthrough.”
The Deafness and Mental Health Statewide Consultation and Liaison Service has supported Patty and countless others since it began in November 2004.
Associate Professor Dr Frances Dark, who has been involved with the service since its inception, said there were many challenges people in the deaf community faced.
“They are a minority population who don’t share the dominant, verbal language and risk being marginalised. These are some of the barriers Deaf people face to equitable access to health services,” she said.
“There are also health literacy challenges such as communicating accurate diagnosis or medication instructions."
The initiative, which is coming into 21 years of service, aims to improve mental health services by delivering high quality, evidence based mental health care and fostering greater understanding of the linguistic and cultural needs of Deaf and hard hearing people.
“By increasing access to quality care, resources like cognitive screening and adapting therapies, we’re improving support for deaf individuals,” Frances said.
As the service grew, Frances said they began to see more areas of need.
Over the years, the team has collaborated with Education Queensland to assist deaf children in transitioning to work and education.
They have also worked on improving training for medical interpreters, advocating for better support for deaf individuals in the legal system and partnering with child and youth services to address the needs of deaf children.
Frances said one of the key challenges had been the lack of understanding in the broader community about how to support deaf individuals, especially with mental health challenges.
“Mental health services often don’t know how to help deaf people,” she said.
Mental Health First Aid, which is widely used in workplaces, has been adapted for the general population but lacked resources for deaf individuals with mental illness.
After conducting a large study and consulting experts, the curriculum has been adapted to meet the needs of the Deaf community.
Frances said another current project focused on cognitive screening for the ageing deaf population, who often faced delays in dementia diagnosis and access to services.
“We’ve travelled to cities across Australia, including Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne and Adelaide, recruiting healthy older deaf individuals and those with cognitive impairments to establish national screening guidelines,” she said.
“We want to create a tool for GPs to assess dementia risk, taking into account regional variations in Auslan.”
Frances said she hoped that by partnering with other services the gap in services to the Deaf population would be reduced and Deaf people would be able to reach their optimal mental health and wellbeing.
“We’d like to contribute to develop knowledge with partner research institutions like the University of Queensland,” she said.
“In the future, we’d like to support and grow a Deaf professional workforce so that we can really enhance an integration of deaf people.”