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Bridging the head and the heart by interspersing scholarly discussion with non-fiction narratives, this comprehensive edited volume illuminates critical issues that diverse deaf people face in the mental health domain and rehabilitative systems, primarily in Canada and the United States as well as other international settings. Through illustrative case studies and narratives contextualized within the scholarship, authors provide insight, analysis, and recommendations; these include a review of the repercussions of language deprivation, the need for linguistic and cultural competence in assessment, guidelines for mental health interpreting, the distinct needs of Deaf+ people, and the factors that shape risk and resilience. With particular attention to the impacts of language, including the deep and pervasive effects of language deprivation, chapters are organized around the lived experiences of deaf individuals over the lifespan and in multiple settings. An attempt to bridge the gap between clinical approaches and lived experiences, this book is unique in that it brings together a theoretical foundation and powerful stories from real people. Authors discuss assessment, resources, and best practices for a range of settings, including home, community, school, carceral system, and clinic. A helpful guide for clinicians, practitioners, academics, and sign language interpreters, Head-to-Head and Heart-to-Heart: Contemporary Discourse on Deaf Mental Health affirms that a deeper understanding emerges when heads and hearts connect, yielding expert, person-centered, mental health care for deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

From her parents, deaf psychologist Irene W. Leigh learned how quickly safety could be yanked away. Her parents, Jews who barely escaped Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II, tried to shield Leigh from harm, never talking about the horrors they endured, and it was not until recently that she began to discover the truth by uncovering a shocking document. Having rebuilt their lives from scratch, first in England and then in America, Leigh’s parents passed down a legacy of ambition, persistence, and achievement, shaping her resilience in response to bias and discrimination. In this deeply personal memoir, Hiding the Holocaust, Leigh explores how this unspoken history and inherited trauma has informed her personal, familial, academic, and career experiences. Using a lifespan narrative structure focusing on memories, reflections, and recreated dialogue, Leigh narrates the subtle ways in which Holocaust trauma and loss affected not only her parents but also herself as a deaf child, teen, adult, and parent.