Coping with challenges
Whether you’re a child or a parent, your mental and emotional health is just as important as your physical health. Understanding our feelings and being able to talk to someone about them is vital to all aspects of our daily lives, whether we are at home, school, play, work or study.
In the UK, we know lots more about mental health than we used to, and we know that children, young people and adults of any age or background can experience mental health problems at some point in their lives.
However, it’s important to be aware that deaf children and young people are more at risk of experiencing mental health problems than their hearing peers. Deafness is not itself a risk factor for increased mental health difficulties, but being deaf without access to language, communication and peer support can make it difficult to develop a positive self-identity.
For example, a deaf child might have to cope with:
- people staring
- sleep
- tiredness
- managing hospital visits
- surgeries
- bullying
- difficulty joining in with extra-curricular activities.
As a parent or carer, it is vital that you consider your own mental health and emotional wellbeing too. After all, if you don’t look after yourself, you won’t be able to provide the best support to your deaf child.
