This year has been difficult for everyone. Coronavirus has had a big impact on everyone's lives, changing how we work, interact socially and has had a negative impact on the Deaf Community. We are here to improve the health and wellbeing of Deaf people. Our amazing team of staff, the majority of whom are deaf, have been key workers this year providing social care services throughout lockdowns to Deaf people with mental health challenges or complex needs.

Our Domestic Abuse Service and Psychological Therapy teams, who support Deaf people's wellbeing, are seeing increasing demand for their support as isolation increases during the pandemic.

Due to a lack of accessible information provided by the Government in British Sign Language (BSL), SignHealth translated daily Coronavirus briefings.

The Deaf community has had a hard time accessing GP and hospital services as these are currently provided by telephone only. In response to this, SignHealth set up BSL Health Access, a service to provide free interpreters for Deaf people accessing health services. We rely on donations for this service.

For our Christmas campaign this year, our focus is on mental health. Christmas can be a difficult time for people with mental health challenges but Coronavirus brings added difficulties and means Deaf people may be more isolated as they may not be able to see friends, family and colleagues due to Coronavirus restrictions.

As Christmas may look very different this year we will be asking people to get involved and join in with our Christmas Campaign and celebrate in our own unique style. We will be encouraging people to donate on our fundraising page and join in with our Christmas Campaign.

Happy Holiday Hat

Throughout the month of December, starting on 1st December, wear a Christmas hat or scarf and post a picture of yourself. Donate £3 and post the picture to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. Nominate three people to do the same and ask them to donate £3 to SignHealth. Share the link to this page or the Signhealth website to make a donation.

#HappyHolidayHat #SignHealth #Hat4Wellbeing #DeafMentalHealth

#GivingTuesday

The 1st December is Giving Tuesday, a day where you can give back to charities and causes that are important to you. For Giving Tuesday this year we will post a different case study each week about the mental health support that SignHealth provides. Please share our posts to spread the word about important work that SignHealth does for Deaf mental health and ask your friends and family to donate to SignHealth on 1st December. On this day you can donate here on SignHealths JustGiving page.

Virtual fundraising ideas

Why not organise your own fundraising event to raise money for SignHealth?

Organise virtual games with your own household or invite people to join the fun with you via Zoom, Skype or Hangout. Share this fundraising page so your friends and family can donate to take part in the virtual games.

If a virtual games night isnt your thing, then you could organise your own virtual pub quiz, virtual movie night, virtual coffee morning or even a virtual walk.

Thank you for your support. Good luck organising your own virtual event in support of SignHealth!