DisabilityPlus gives every person the opportunity to be supported by a Counsellor who is a child of a deaf adult, this enables full cultural support. CODA Counselling & Psychotherapy with therapists who have the lived experience needed to understand the complexity of being a child of a deaf adult is beneficial. Our therapy supports you with mental & emotional health issues to allow you to have a brighter future.
Many mainstream therapists have not supported a child of a deaf adult before. CODA counselling with a therapist who understands the emotional connection removes the challenges of cultural & cognitive misunderstanding between you and a therapist.
Most CODA’s do not have mental health problems. However, some people can realise that they are becoming depressed & anxious. Nevertheless, many children of deaf adults have disturbing and distressing memories of their childhood. These symptoms often pass; however, they may lead to more serious mental & emotional health conditions in the future.
CODA Counselling can help others understand feelings and improve sense of choice and self-esteem. This, in turn, can cultivate the feeling that life can be enjoyed rather than endured. Often Children of deaf adults (CODA) experience isolation and rejection.
We can support you with your emotional & mental health; our therapists work with people with varying degrees of cross-culture contamination. The therapy focuses on assisting you to overcome various psychological barriers.
Our team understands that living with a deaf adult can be difficult, but we know it can be manageable. Our treatment plans focus on helping you think more clearly & gain a purpose.
Our Therapists will help you understand why you do things in the way you do; counselling will help you uncover distorted or unhealthy thinking patterns. The therapists will support you with teaching healthy coping skills; these skills can help you navigate life with a brighter future.
Our CODA Counselling Team is accredited by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) (UKCP). We are bound by the ethical framework for good practice in counselling. We comply with the Data Protection Act
COMMUNICATION & PARENTING ISSUES IN FAMILIES WITH DEAF PARENTS AND HEARING CHILDREN
“Mother father deaf” is a phrase commonly used in the deaf community to identify a hearing child of deaf parents.
Statistics show that over 90% of all deaf parents have hearing children, referred to as CODA’s (children of deaf adults.)
These are families that bridge the divide between the hearing and deaf worlds, thus facing unique communication and parenting challenges. Although there is much research about deaf children of hearing parents, little research exists about communication and parenting issues in coda families. The following is a summary of some of those issues.
Language is an important part of one’s cultural identity. Although not all deaf persons use BSL, it is considered the single most important element that binds the deaf community together.
Many deaf persons attend state residential schools for the deaf, because it is there that BSL and important cultural traditions of the deaf community are learned.
The deaf often have negative experiences with the hearing world, and many deaf associate only on a very limited basis with the hearing.
Coda’s often serve as interpreters for their parents, thus becoming the communication link between their parents and the hearing world. There are several concerns surrounding children that serve as interpreters for their parents.
One concern is that children are expected to interpret in situations that are considered inappropriate, whether its subject or age appropriateness, placing them in confusing and vulnerable situations.
This creates for some hearing children an unwanted pressure and burden that they are too young to resist or negotiate.
It is quite interesting to note that most of these situations are encouraged’ by members of the hearing world. On the other hand, coda’s also enjoy the richness associated with the knowledge of language and cultures of two worlds and report that maintaining this special’ role in the family structure helped them gain responsibility, maturity and the ability to empathise with others.
Protection is another issue that coda’s face within the family unit. The hearing child may not interpret for their parents the insensitive remarks or comments made by a hearing person who assumed everyone in the family was deaf because they were all signing.
Often times coda’s experience isolation and rejection from peers because they do not feel comfortable or want to associate with the deaf family members, thus creating a situation in which the coda cannot openly discuss emotions and feelings of rejection with their parents for fear of hurting their feelings.
Children also may become hyper vigilant, listening for things that their parents could not hear such as monsters’, burglars, smoke alarms, and cracking sounds of the ceiling collapsing (Filer & Filer.)
Many feel that this could be considered as role reversal’ and could later cause problems for the parent in later years when teenage trials and power struggles take place.
Another issue, which is perhaps the most critical, is the issue of communication between the deaf parent and the hearing child. Studies show that most deaf parents “have no particular problem” accepting their child’s ability to hear, but are “acutely aware” that parenthood forces them to address things “they have no knowledge about.”
The family power structure is greatly influenced by the flow of information
The flow of information in a hearing family is open within the family system and outside the family system to the larger community, but the flow of information changes drastically with the addition of a deaf member; moreover, it can be severely restricted when families with deaf and hearing members do not have a mutual communication system.
Although BSL is a legitimate language for family interaction, it is important to note that different dyads within a deaf-parented family could be using different communication systems, some BSL and other not.
Deaf parents may use BSL between themselves but use a mixed mode of communication with their hearing children. Furthermore, communication between a deaf parent and a hearing child may not always be effective.
The deaf parent may use fragmented speech to the child, but expect the child to sign back to them. This causes an obvious problem as to how the child is to learn sign when the parent is not signing to him/her. Thus, it is not unusual for the child to understand what the parent expresses, but not vice versa.
Parents may have a misguided notion that they should not sign with their child simply because the child is hearing, and some parents have reported not signing with their child in order to prevent the over reliance on their child to serve as their interpreter.
Such parents elect to speak to their child with reduced speech clarity and probable ungrammatical form. The end result of this situation may be that the hearing child cannot sign and the parent-child relationship becomes restricted and asymmetrical.
In summary, parenting literature generally find that deaf parents are competent and caring and have excellent relationships with their hearing children. Although there are some specific issues involving communication, it does not appear that deaf parents are at a greater risk for serious family dysfunction than hearing parents of hearing children.
For DisabilityPlus to make an NHS application for you based on your condition, we must satisfy specific criteria before making the NHS Application.
The application for you must include one of the below disabilities or life-changing conditions.
Self-Paid Services are available if you do not qualify for an NHS application with DisabilityPlus.
Private therapy can allow you to start sessions quickly, you can also start privately & we can make an NHS application for you to maintain your care with the same therapist.
For DisabilityPlus to make an NHS application for you based on your condition, we must satisfy specific criteria before making the NHS Application.
The application for you must include one of the below disabilities or life-changing conditions.
Self-Paid Services are available if you do not qualify for an NHS application with DisabilityPlus.
Standard counselling services generally help couples without additional issues such as physical, sensory & injuries.
Using a specialist service means there will be no lost time trying to explain to the therapist the problems you and your partner have with coping with the specific situation.
We are proud to offer this specialist service.
In its most basic sense, LENS is training in self-regulation, a necessary part of optimal brain performance and function, allowing the nervous system to function more adaptively.
This result in greater relaxation, a sense of ease and improved emotional resilience. LENS neurofeedback is not diagnosis-specific. It is not a treatment for any specific condition. It is a generalised process that optimises brain function.
Our Traumatic Brain Injury Counselling Service supports people with their mental health, whether pre-existing issues have worsened or a new condition stemming from an accident or injury.
Our specialist therapists understand the problems a brain injury can have on a person’s mental & emotional health.
Counselling for Concussions can help you avoid potential mental health issues such as panic attacks, depression, anxieties, substance abuse &, in extreme cases, self-harm & suicidal thoughts.
Your counsellor is trained to support people with mild to moderate brain injuries.
The counsellor who supports you has expert knowledge & lived experiences of Autism.
Our treatment plans focus on how the varying degrees of Autism has affected your mental and emotional health.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has Epilepsy.
Specialist Epilepsy Counselling provides an essential place after taking the step to decide you want to speak with a counsellor; you must find someone that ‘fits’ you and your personality for the best possible outcome.
A counsellor with Dyslexia will support you with expert counselling.
Dyslexia & Auditory Processing may not be a mental illness, but its results can trigger mental illness.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has spinal cord injuries.
Our Spinal Cord Injury Counselling Service supports you with your mental health, whether pre-existing issues have worsened or a new condition stemming from the spinal cord injury.
Your therapist has an amputation or is a specialist which creates cultural understanding from the first session.
Using a specialist service who understand the problems of losing a limb first-hand could be the first step to your mental & emotional health recovery.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has OI or you can choose a counsellor with a similar disability.
Specialist Counselling can help you regain wellbeing and balance in your life.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has Multiple Sclerosis or you can choose a counsellor with a similar disability.
MS Counselling gives you time and space to work through your problems. Therapy helps you gain a different perspective on problems and issues.
Therapy provides a safe, non-judgemental and respectful environment. Counselling can help you regain well-being and balance in your life.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has Cerebral Palsy or you can choose a counsellor with a similar disability.
Counselling gives you time and space to work through your problems.
Therapy helps you gain a different perspective on problems and issues.
You will be supported by a counsellor who is disabled with a similar disability.
Professional therapists who understand the complexity of muscular dystrophy.
Our treatment plans focus on how the varying degrees of Muscular Dystrophy has affected your mental and emotional health.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has years of experience supporting people with Chronic Arthritis or you can choose a counsellor with a similar disability.
You will be supported by a counsellor who lives with chronic pain.
Chronic Pain Counselling & Psychotherapy delivers quality therapy for people who have issues caused by severe pain.
Your therapist will have hearing loss with the lived experience of discrimination and frustration.
Therapy for people with differing levels of Hearing Loss, including Suddenly Acquired Deafness through a Medical Issue, age or Accident.
For Profoundly Deaf BSL Service click below
Your counsellor will be profoundly deaf, which creates cultural understanding from the first session.
Our deaf mental health counselling service addresses the core need for cultural understanding with a counsellor that understands the feelings of discrimination & lack of knowledge.
This service is for BSL & Oral Profoundly Deaf People
You will be supported by a counsellor who has a cochlear implant
Our team use Spoken Word (oral), Lip Reading & Visual Gestures.
We offer a live subtitle service if video sessions are selected.
SIGNHEALTH the Deaf charity is now delivering all NHS BSL Counselling Sessions.
If you would still like to use our service there are Self-Pay options.
Click the NHS Application button below to be directed to the Self-Referral form of SIGNHEALTH
Your counsellor who will support you has Vestibular Disorders and therefore can help you with expert knowledge and lived experiences.
Our team can help with qualified specialist mental health therapists who specialise in supporting people who have Vestibular Issues.
Your counsellor who will support you has Tinnitus and therefore can help you with expert knowledge and lived experiences.
Our team can help with qualified specialist mental health therapists who specialise in supporting people who have Tinnitus and Balance Issues.
The Personal Injury Team is hand-selected based on their expertise in supporting people post-injury.
We support you with emotional & mental health support following a significant personal injury.
The counsellor who supports you has been through the retirement and bereavement from previous assistance dogs. We can offer you a safe, empathic and authentic service where your emotions can be fully explored and accepted
Our assistance dog counselling service can help you get the support you deserve. Your counsellor will have an assistance dog and has lived through the feelings and emotions of loss and grief.
Select the service you would like to know more about.
You will be supported by a counsellor who is CODA.
Our CODA Counselling Service (children or now adults) supports you with your mental & emotional health.
Our specialist therapists understand the problems a cross-culture can have on your mental & emotional health.
You will be supported by a counsellor who understands the complexity of living with body dysmorphia.
Our therapists specialise in mental & emotional health-supporting your negative body image & perceptions.
You will be supported by a counsellor who has Chronic Fatigue . Our specialist therapists can help you come to terms with living with CFS/ME & work through the mental health issues it creates.
Our therapy service can increase your daily living standards
You will be supported by a counsellor who has Fibromyalgia.
We offer psychological support with one of our specialist qualified counsellors who support people who are affected by FMS symptoms.