£1.4m for Scarborough deaf children’s service

A DEAF children’s service which helps Scarborough youngsters has been given £1.4 million to expand its service. The Deaf Children, Young People and Family Service, which is based at the Lime Trees Child Adolescent and Family Unit in York, will be opening new centres in Newcastle and Manchester.

The service, run by NHS North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, provides specialist mental health support for deaf and hearing impaired children with a range of emotional and behavioural problems.

The York centre is part of the national Deaf Children, Young People and Family Service network which provides specialist child and adolescent mental health services from bases in London, the South West and the Midlands.

The York centre is the only one providing this service in the north of England and currently sees around 100 deaf or hearing impaired children and young people a year from regions in the north of England and beyond.

Dr Barry Wright, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, said: “We are delighted that national funding has been made available so we can expand our service and reach out to more deaf children and young people.

“One in four of us will experience a mental health problem in our lifetime and for deaf children and young people, these problems can present greater challenges as they grow up.

“The team at Lime Trees works with a deaf child or young person who is having difficulties such as mental health or behavioural problems which could be affecting their home life or school life.

“We then link up with other health and social care professionals to make sure support networks are in place to help these young people cope with any problems.”