Karl Atkin is a professor of sociology at the University of York.  He is a medical sociologist with a background in doing ethnographic research in culturally diverse settings.  He has a long-standing interest in exploring the consequences of inequalities and social exclusion.   This has led him to become interested in how medical knowledge and our current evidence based is produced and historically grounded.  He is especially concerned with how current research can misrepresent and deny people’s understanding of their own experience.  He has previously worked on exploring the experience of Deaf identity among young people of South Asian origin.

The aspiration of inclusive healthcare is not always realised.  This project addresses this problem, by generating evidence that explores the different ways of providing mental health support to a particularly disadvantaged group.

My name is Melanie Pitts and I am on this panel because I have personal experiences with mental health as a deaf person. I was diagnosed deaf when I was 6 years old. I wore 2 hearing aids from the age of 7 until I was 25, then just 1 hearing aid until I was 35 years old.

When I was 39 I had a cochlear implant. I learnt Sign Supported English at the age of 10, went to a deaf high school, completed British Sign Language Level 2 in 2007 and worked in the deaf community from 2007 for 12 years. I am now a full-time carer to my son who has a learning disability.

I have been through depression at different stages of my life, from my teenage years at school, right through to more recent years. From a personal point of view and from my experiences I would like to see better and easier access for deaf people, using their preferred communication, being able to have counselling with deaf aware trained staff who are fluent in BSL.

This research project will look at the experiences of BSL users accessing a health service, it is important that the future of health care can meet the needs of the Deaf community.

I work in the NHS because I want to make the NHS accessible for everyone who uses its services. My work is centred around improving access to services, and people’s experience of services. The work I love is solving problems to either make services run more smoothly, or make patients’ experience of using the services better. I drafted the NHS England guidance on how to buy [commission] translation and interpreting services. The goal of that was to improve access to translation and interpreting services so that patients get access to the support they need. Outside of work I enjoy triathlon and hiking. If I’m feeling less energetic, I like to read or listen to podcasts.

I think this research project is important to better understand whether videocall is a helpful way to provide therapy and whether this can help improve access to services for Deaf people across the country.

A campaigner for mental health issues and classed as an “Expert by Experience”, Richard has also written four books related to his mental health experiences in psychiatric hospitals. His interests lie in the importance of good communications especially for Deaf people. Bilingual since birth, he feels it crucial that mental health does not neglect BSL users. 

This project was very important to me because it researched increasing access to therapeutic services for Deaf people. The recent pandemic highlighted why this was an important project and will allow for more Deaf people to seek therapy in their own language without experiencing barriers. After participating, it made me realise the value of accessible services for the wider Deaf community and to ensure there is concrete evidence proving this service is essential for the future.

Sarah Collis MBA has over 35years experience in the charity sector where she has built significant experience and expertise in peer support and patient experience. During her time as CEO of Self Help UK, she led the development of support services for independent peer support groups and developed the Macmillan Deaf Cancer Support Project. Working in partnership with Deaf patients, this project provides a unique service that empowers Deaf people living with cancer to gain better access to treatment, support and advocacy.

Sarah has supported NHS England in developing their peer support guidance to the NHS and has been a champion of peer support and advocacy throughout her career.

Following retirement from Self Help UK, Sarah is currently chair of Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire which serves to use patient experience to improve services including mental health. Working at a local and national level, Sarah is a strong advocate for inclusion and equality and seeks to be an ally to the deaf community in all areas of her work.

The inequality in provision that many deaf people face across all areas of health and wellbeing has to be addressed and this project will contribute to helping us understand what works best and how deaf people can receive equitable support with their mental health.