PRESS INFORMATION
During the pandemic there has been a shocking rise in the incidents of domestic violence - 14 women and two children were killed in the first three weeks of the first lockdown. This coincided with a drop in the services available and a rapid increase in waiting lists.The government is aware of the impact of domestic violence on victims and their families and this has been one of the factors behind The Domestic Abuse Bill 2020. This has passed through the Commons and is now in the final stages of scrutiny in the House of Lords before being sent for Royal Assent.
Dr Asha Patel, CEO of the award-winning mental health social enterprise Innovating Minds, worked with trauma expert Jane Evans to create resources to help children and those who support them, while minimising the risk of reactivating distressing memories. Together, they created the Healing Together Facilitators Programme to train 'a legion of trauma aware practitioners'. Now ITV SignPost is working with Innovating Minds to make sure the resources, training materials and videos get the message across to Deaf children and those who want to support them.
Trauma informed design
Since August Innovating Minds has trained 220 adults from many different backgrounds including health staff, pastoral workers, teachers, people from victim support organisations, women’s aid workers, refuges, police, fire and rescue service. Many local authorities have signed up for training, including Birmingham, Camden, Dorset and North Somerset.
Building on neuroscience research, every aspect – including the signing – has been designed to avoid sensory stimulation which can set off a sense of danger for the child. This means that they had to make sure that the signing was calm and unhurried and that the signer had neutral make up with no lipstick, plain clothing with long sleeves. The production team ensured that backgrounds were in muted colours and all graphics featured soft and gentle images and designs.
Gareth Deighan, head of content at ITV SignPost Productions, said: 'When the people from the Healing Together programme contacted us, we were delighted to be able to help to make the vital information they provide accessible to BSL users.
In everything we do at SignPost - be that original programming, corporate work or BSL translation - we pride ourselves on accessibility for all so this was a project we were very proud to be part of.'
ITV SignPost have been brilliant,' said Dr Asha Patel, 'They have all been really responsive to our need to work from a trauma-informed perspective. Thanks to them, we have now been able to incorporate in-vision sign language into our trauma informed animations so children with hearing difficulties can access the Healing Together programme.'
Nicole Jacobs, the designate Domestic Abuse Commissioner, said: 'The impact that domestic abuse has on any victim is absolutely horrific and can be very long lasting. The experience can be particularly traumatic for children and accessing help and support can be particularly difficult for those who are Deaf, disabled, or have learning difficulties.
'I am really pleased to see that Innovating Minds are trying to reach those young people by providing training materials with subtitles, text support and now sign language. I hope to see additional needs being considered more frequently in domestic abuse work in the future.'
View in-vision trailer: Click here