Trudi Collier: Mindfulness and the Deaf community

I have been doing counselling and therapy work with deaf, hard of hearing, deafened, disabled and deafblind people for over 20 years.

I also do other work such as couples counselling, facilitating, mentoring, research, teaching (I’ve been teaching deaf students certificate and diploma levels in integrative counselling with coworkers) and I’m also an approved tutor in mental health first aid.

The point of me stating my area of work and experience here is that I have worked with clients who experience difficulties in their lives and my job is to provide a listening eye and importantly, support.

Sometimes I signpost my clients to appropriate people or resources, but what amazes me is that there is still a limited availability of accessible resources and information for Deaf people regarding mindfulness.

Mindfulness has become popular over the last 15-20 years and as well as having my own personal interest in it, I often encourage my clients to gain their own positive wellbeing by teaching them a bit about mindfulness, such as meditation, breathing and relaxation exercises.

There are several resources out there, such as self-help books, CDs, even apps such as Calm, Headspace, yet I can’t find (do let me know if you know of any) one that is accessible or visual enough for deaf people to use in their everyday life.

I have contacted some providers asking if they can create subtitled clips, and they have replied to say they can’t, which is a pity.

Resources such as self help books are ok for those who are good at reading English, to learn more about mindfulness or how to live mindfully. But this doesn’t always work for deaf people, particularly if their first language is BSL.

So I decided to set up a Facebook page – Trudi’s Mindfulness for the Deaf Community (#deafmindfulness) – so that I can add any link which deaf people might find useful. I also add on short quotes to help anyone to think and do things mindfully.

I’ve also added a couple of video clips explaining about Buddha (that’s where mindfulness created from), Buddhism, and meditation, all in BSL, hoping it will be useful for those who have an interest, also on YouTube and Twitter.

Then I realised not all deaf people actually use Facebook, so I bought and set up – via WordPress – a website called www.deafmindfulness.com.

It is still at an early stage as I’m not a computer or IT expert!

I’m hoping to collect as much information as is available out there (as there’s no point duplicating information), and to share links on the FB page and website, before filling in any gaps myself, by doing video clips in BSL.

Someone’s got to start somewhere and my aim is to share information as much as I can, to improve our mental wellbeing and live positively.

I’m hoping other professionals will use these resources to share information with their patients, clients or that others will share it with their relatives, and friends. I’m hoping it will also encourage others to add in their own link or share useful information.

I’ve given talks about mindfulness to some deaf organisations and importantly, mental health awareness organisations so that we all can understand ourselves and others better.

If you see something that could be a good resource for the deaf community, please do get in touch!

Trudi Collier is a MBACP Accredited Psychological Therapist/Counsellor, and a SMHFA Approved Tutor. You can email her at trudi.collier@btinternet.com, or find out more at the following pages:

Website: www.deafmindfulness.com

Twitter: @deafmindfulness

Facebook: Trudi’s Mindfulness for Deaf Community #deafmindfulness.