Consultation on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Client Care

You have a Deaf client. Now what?

Most training programmes cover Deaf and hard-of-hearing clients in a paragraph, if at all. Then one arrives on your caseload, or your agency signs a contract, or a school asks for help, and there's nobody to ask. Forest Ferns is led by a Deaf psychologist and built as an accessible practice from the ground up. Consultation is how we share that.

Who we consult with

• Therapists and psychologists with a Deaf, hard-of-hearing, or late-deafened client

• Group practices and agencies making their intake, scheduling and telehealth accessible

• Schools, colleges, and student services

• Hospitals, clinics, and rehabilitation programmes

• Attorneys and evaluators who need a clinician who understands Deaf communication and culture

What we cover

Clinical

Language deprivation and its effects on assessment and treatment. Dissociation in Deaf adults. Trauma presentations that are easy to misread across a language gap. What "fluent" does and doesn't mean.

Working with interpreters

When to use one, how to brief one, what changes in the room when a third person is there, and when not to.

Accessible practice design

Text-first intake, captioned telehealth that actually works, written communication policies, and the accommodations that cost nothing but attention.

Identity-affirming care

Deaf culture, the space between Deaf and hearing worlds, CODAs, and mixed Deaf-hearing families.

Formats

• One-off case consultation by video

• Ongoing consultation for a practice or programme

• Training and workshops for teams and organisations, remote or on site

Fees

Consultation is billed by the hour; training is quoted per engagement. We'll confirm the rate when you reach out.

Getting started

Text or use the form. Tell us who you are, what you're working with, and what you need. Everything happens in writing, and we'll be direct about whether we're the right fit.

Who provides it

Consultation and training are provided by Dr. Mel Whalen, PhD, LP, a Deaf psychologist who built Forest Ferns as an accessible practice from the ground up.