BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A Cincinnati mental health agency is making it easier for people who are deaf or have significant hearing loss to get help for personal, family and other serious problems.
NORCEN Behavioral Health Services, with offices in Cincinnati and Warren County, has received financial support to provide an American Sign Language interpreter free to people during visits to a licensed therapist.
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INFORMATION
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Deaf or hearing-impaired people can arrange for counseling services at NORCEN Behavioral Health System or any of its satellite offices by calling its TTY number, 679-4584, or by calling the Ohio Relay Service at (800) 761-6222.
NORCEN accepts insurance, Medicaid and sliding-fee scales for people who are eligible.
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Lobbying by members of Cincinnati's deaf community was instrumental in convincing NORCEN to establish the Hearing Impaired Counseling Center, which will provide mental health services to people with hearing problems, says Joan Wyler, NORCEN program development.
"Right now, it doesn't matter what kind of counseling people might need -- marital or family or counseling related to deafness or job issues -- there's no one in the area to go to," says Bob Coltrane, coordinator of Community Services for the Deaf at the Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Center. "This type of counseling is availble in Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, even Lawrenceburg, Indiana, but not in Cincinnati."
A Community Services for the Deaf advisory committee, which meets monthly to identify needs for the hearing-impaired community, helped raise awareness of the lack of counseling services in this area, he says.
According to national estimates, about one in 10 Americans has some sort of hearing loss or is clinically deaf.
Traditionally, people who are deaf either don't seek out traditional counseling services or are limited in doing so because they can't communicate with counselors, psychologists or other types of therapists.
Ideally, NORCEN would like to hire a full-time licensed therapist who is certified in American Sign Language, but until that person can be found, the agency will provide free, confidential interpreter services during regular counseling sessions.
"All people are hesitant to get counseling," Ms. Wyler says. "It's not something anyone does easily. If you have a population where this has not been an accepted way to solve problems, it's even more difficult to win over the confidence of people who would benefit from it.
"We can only succeed with the program if people are willing to accept, open up and use the service," she says. "This will be challenge since it's not a service that folks have traditionally had available and therefore used."
Counseling will be made available to people who are deaf or have hearing problems and - or their families and spouses. All NORCEN services are included -- counseling for stress-related problems, divorce, grief, eating disorders, attention deficit disorder - learning problems, illness in the family, teen-age pregnancy, drug or alcohol abuse, severe mental illness, life transitions, phobias and the like.
Individuals, families, children, teens, adults and older adults can make use of the services, including deaf parents of hearing children and hearing parents whose children are deaf.
Funds for the interpreter service have been made available by a three-year $120,000 grant from the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati and money from the Hamilton County Mental Health Board, through the county's mental health tax levy.
The Cincinnati Speech and Hearing Center also provided help setting up the new program, Ms. Wyler says.
NORCEN has offices in Roselawn, Norwood, Forest Park (Kemper Heights), Mason, Lebanon and South Lebanon, and arrangements can be made to provide counseling at other community sites or clinics.
Its staff includes psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed counselors, social workers, educational counselors, nurses and prevention specialists.
