March 2004 - Tracey Napa

My first month at Deaf Mental Health Service has been a time for training and also networking in the community, both facets of which I have found very interesting.

This week I attended a two-day first aid course, which was both fun and informative. Our teacher, Roy Malone had an excellent sense of humor and had us in stitches as he described hilarious anecdotes of his various rescue experiences, and demonstrated the correct and incorrect ways to tend to patients in an emergency situation. I now feel confident to take the initiative and administer the necessary medical aid if I am ever required to.

In addition to the first aid course I have had one-on-one computer training and completed my end of term assessments for the intermediate level New Zealand sign classes.

To further improve my signing I went along with fellow students to the Deaf Club for a social night. One of the best avenues to Deaf culture is to socialize at the Balmoral Deaf Club on Friday nights. I always recognize familiar faces and get to catch up with Deaf friends in their own language. I’m now looking forward to starting the advanced level of New Zealand sign language class at Waitakere College.

At the first aid training I also met some other Richmond fellowship staff members who work in mental health residential support houses, and chatted to them about client centered, self initiated rehabilitation programs, discussing how internal confirmations must be in place in order for positive reinforcements to make progress in the lives of individuals.

I have thoroughly enjoyed making contact with other Health professionals in the community this month. I visited The Mental Health Foundation, which has an excellent selection of resources, as well as various mental health community centers and Te Atarau and Taharoto hospitals.

My intention was to disseminate some current information about our service and also to collect resources that can be used as visual aids for our Deaf clients. I have been pleasantly received and given many great resources that can be used for the promotion of mental well-being and help breakdown stigmatisation of mental illness in the wider community.

It is more prevalent than we may realize so public acceptance is as important as self-understanding. Hopefully discrimination is becoming a thing of the past, especially considering that 1 in 5 people suffer from some kind of disability and that all of us at some stage of life will experience it.

Tracey

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