Rebecca A Withey: the first online Mindfulness course in BSL in partnership with Deaf Minds Education

For the last few months I have been working in partnership with Deaf Minds Education to write and produce a series of online courses in Mindfulness which are the first – to our knowledge – to be delivered in British Sign Language and with English captions.

In case you’re not aware of their work, Deaf Minds Education was formed to provide much needed support, training and continued professional development (CPD) for a range or people including; primary, secondary and college educated Deaf children who are being educated in mainstream schools; school and college leaders responsible for the education and wellbeing of Deaf learners and also parents and carers of deaf children.

“We are fighting for a future where all young Deaf minds are supported and empowered, whatever challenges they face”

Shaun Fitzgerald – Co-Founder of Deaf Minds Education

The mission of Deaf Minds Education is to to bridge the gap between the hearing and the deaf worlds with a view to reducing the frequency of mental health conditions and suicide within the deaf community.

In order to achieve this their work sets out to provide families and professionals with the guidance they need to fully understand the implications of being deaf in a hearing world.

Their priority, therefore, is to support the wellbeing of Deaf children and adolescents by providing information and education to those supporting them.

So when I was approached by Shaun Fitzgerald, co-founder of Deaf Minds Education, I was immediately keen to get involved. I know first hand the stress that being deaf in mainstream education can cause, and the benefits that practising mindfulness can bring.

Shaun, of Deaf Minds Education, has been deaf from birth and like me has personally experienced being a deaf child in a mainstream school. He is, therefore, acutely aware of the pressure and strain felt by both deaf learners and their teachers.

Some people may not always be aware that when a deaf child enters mainstream school they can often feel isolated, lonely, anxious and depressed. This can be due to communication issues, lack of awareness from their hearing peers and teachers and misinformation or misunderstandings about how deaf children should be treated within a mainstream environment.

Looking back on my own personal experience in mainstream secondary school, I am saddened to reflect on how unhappy, anxious and painfully shy I was. Having awareness of mindfulness would have done an awful lot to support my self esteem and confidence.

At times throughout mainstream school, it seemed my educators were unsure of how to deal with me, with specialist Teachers of the Deaf unclear as to whether I should be supported in class, removed from class or given additional work. I was bright and a keen learner but I lacked confidence in myself, and I had no idea what a positive deaf identity was.

Those working around me in secondary school always seemed hassled, busy, tense. I remember one occasion where a support staff in a Maths class lost her temper with me because I chose to sit next to my hearing friend (she wanted me to sit alone at the front of the classroom) and stated that if I sat next to my friend again she would refuse to support me.

I also had my communication support taken away from me for all of my French lessons for the same reason – my class teacher felt that my support staff isolated me and therefore negatively impacted my learning.

I had to sit through countless meetings and battles where staff argued about which method would be best for me and it was clear that nobody was actually communicating calmly and openly.

From this, I fully believe that educators and support staff have an enormous influence on the development of deaf students, not merely because of the way education is delivered but the social and emotional influence they can offer. If you are stressed, burnt out and struggling, how can you begin to be a role model for the students you are working with? Taking care of your own mental health is imperative if you wish to have a positive impact on others.

The courses and resources developed by Deaf Minds Education aims to promote mental health awareness in educational settings and sets out to provide tools and interventions designed to support the wellbeing of learners, teachers, and parents/carers.

Therefore my first project with Deaf Minds Education is an engaging course developed to support the mental wellbeing of Teachers of the Deaf. It aims to help those responsible for meeting the needs of deaf learners to reduce their own increased stress levels often associated with working in emotionally challenging educational settings.

The course includes a range of practical guided meditations which are led in BSL with English captions, as well as a series of theory based modules to give the viewer a clearer insight into what mindfulness is, applications for every day life, and the implications of living under constant stress.

Although originally designed for Teachers of the Deaf, the course is also extremely beneficial for anyone working with Deaf children and several people have completed the course who don’t teach at all but wanted to learn about stress reduction in BSL.

Following the success of our first course with us we are also going to be launching the release of our next one, ‘Stress Reduction and Mindfulness for Parents and Carers’ very soon.

We hope that these collaborative projects will somehow begin to positively impact the lives of deaf children and those living with or working with them, nationwide.

To purchase the ‘Stress Reduction and mindfulness for Specialist Teachers of the Deaf’ or to find out more about it, visit

https://www.deafmindseducation.com/courses/stress-reduction-and-mindfulness-for-teachers-of-the-deaf/

And feel free to drop me an email if you have any questions, Rebecca@rawithey.com