Capitalizing on Community Resources to Build Specialized Behavioral Health Services Together with Persons who are Deaf, Deafblind or Hard of Hearing.
There are relatively few counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers who specialize in serving people who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing in the United States. Professionals that serve minority populations are often an insular group. They tend to network most often with fellow professionals who understand the language and cultural needs of their service population. Such specialized behavioral health providers rarely have the opportunity to interface with "mainstream" program planners, funders and administrators. Consequently, new recovery agendas, best practice models and community reintegration ideas are only slowly integrated into the care of persons who are Deaf, Deafblind or hard of hearing. We describe the development and implementation of a task force comprised of "front line" providers, administrators, county government officials, advocates and consumers that has made strides toward effective change in a local behavioral health care system. Methods employed, successes, barriers and other reflections on the task force's efforts also are described.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. mathoskk2@upmc.edu.
Kimberly K
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0031-2947
KK
Mathos
University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, USA.
Robert Q
RQ
Pollard
D026683:Advisory Committees; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D054062:Deaf-Blind Disorders; D003638:Deafness; D017144:Focus Groups; D015438:Health Behavior; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration*; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010414:Pennsylvania; D016730:Program Development; D012944:Social Support
Community collective impact; Community inclusion; Deaf; Service expansion; Task force