Flora Russell, MSW and Robin Sullivan, MS
Training Director Deaf Contact Coordinator
Contact Chicago
presented at Convening 19
Participants in this workshop are exposed to life from a different perspective--a different center. Contact Chicago has recently implemented a Deaf Contact, a crisis intervention, peer counseling line for deaf adults and youth. The workshop will open with a brief discussion of the concepts underlying such a service for the deaf. This will involve lecture and group discussion.
Following this opening, there will be a discussion of the unique experiences of the deaf person. This will include the experience of growing up deaf, the life perspective of a late-deafened adult, the multi-layered culture of deaf persons, and the language of deaf people. Workshop participants will discuss both differences and similarities between the world views and needs of the hearing and deaf persons. Handouts clarifying these issues will be distributed and volunteers will participate in experiential exercises designed to allow them to "walk in the shoes" of deaf people. These exercises will promote the true understanding of diversity of perceptions and needs. Volunteers will also participate in an exercise geared to facilitate understanding the language of deaf people.
Special techniques for telephone crisis intervention with deaf callers, both adults and teens will be illustrated. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to participate in unique role plays, clarifying and reinforcing these techniques. Role plays will utilize newsprint and markers to replicate the experience of "listening" to a caller visually (in writing)--an experience analogous to counseling via the Teletypewriter (TTY).
Workshop participants will leave the workshop with an enhanced understanding of the world of deaf people. They will also have received an overview of the skills needed to provide telephone counseling to the deaf.