Hello everyone!
I hope you’re all well.
My name is John Lui and I’m the National Manager of Hear For You. I was born profoundly deaf and wear a cochlear implant. I remember well my time in high school and all the helpful itinerant teachers I had!
You may or may not have known about Hear For You previously, so for those of you who don’t, here’s a quick snippet:
Hear For You was founded in 2008 by a lady called Olivia Andersen who was born profoundly deaf, wore hearing aids before getting a cochlear implant later in her adult years and went through mainstream schooling. Apart from her time as a young toddler in The Shepherd Centre, she never really got to meet any other people with deafness/hearing loss throughout her teenage and young adult years.
As she was not an Auslan user, came from a hearing family, learnt to speak and hear with her devices, her world was different from those in the Deaf community. She felt that there was a need for these teenagers to have a place of their own and to meet mentors, those who have had actual lived experience of growing up as a deaf person in the hearing world and so Hear For You was created.
Today, Hear For You aims to continue being that safe place where these teenagers can come and meet others just like them, a place where deafness is removed as a point of difference and where they can share their experiences about what is really like to live in a hearing world as a deaf person.
Our workshops aim to provide an avenue for your teens to meet their peers, meet some mentors, to address any deaf-related questions they may have and to have some fun!
We have now integrated with The Shepherd Centre to contribute towards building a pathway where we can help provide support from 0-18 years and even beyond. Essentially, we are still the same as ever in that we are here to support our deaf teenagers, regardless of their level of deafness and choice of communication.
What programs/workshops are we running?
All our events are listed on Eventbrite and you’ll be able to see the upcoming events all here – https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/hear-for-you-10941949216
Our website is listed at www.hearforyou.com.au – please note that we are in the midst of updating information so the most relevant workshop information is via the above Eventbrite link.
- Life Goals & Skills Metro Program
Our flagship mentoring program, which focuses on bringing together deaf and hard of hearing teenagers with inspiring mentors. Through group, peer and one-on-one mentoring, we explore a whole range of topics, from communication & conflict resolution, to school and school subject choices and social media.
**This is currently open for registrations! It runs from August 21st to November 20th, with one session a month on a Sunday. This is the original program where mentoring relationships have the best chance to develop and peer friendships to occur.
Numbers are limited so contact us now or register your interest here to secure a spot for your child: https://2022hfynswlgsm.eventbrite.com.au **
- Primary2Secondary Program
An opportunity to address the transition to high school for both parents and late primary school-aged kids and new high-school students, for both:
- Primary2Secondary Transitions: held in October for Year 6 students and their families students transitioning to high school
- Year 7 Sessions held in Feb and March as a check in to discuss, debrief and support the transition.
It’s a great opportunity for both parents and pre-teens to connect with other people in a similar situation and share some experiences/advice/strategies from their side.
**This is currently open for registrations! It runs on Thursday 20th October from 4:30 – 6pm at the Australian Hearing Hub.
Numbers are limited so contact us now or register your interest here to secure a spot for your child : https://2022hfynswlgsm.eventbrite.com.au **
- Rock My World Workshops
Fun one-day activity workshops for both teens and mentors e.g. Escape Room, Treetops Adventure Park, Drama etc
- Life Goals & Skills Blast
A weekend version of Metro program, designed especially for teens living in regional and rural areas. Over two days, this workshop brings together deaf and hard of hearing teenagers with inspiring mentors – exploring a range of issues through group, peer and one-on-one mentoring.
What about those who are 18+ and/or have left high school?
If someone is not yet 18, they are most welcome to attend any of our programs. If they are 18 or over, and are interested in connecting with their peers, or becoming a youth leader or even a future mentor for Hear For You programs, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you, there’s lots of opportunities that would benefit them.
Becoming a mentor:
We’re always looking for new potential mentors so for young deaf adults who are 21 and over. If any of them are located in NSW or QLD and are interested in becoming a mentor themselves, please get them to email myself or Sherri via the email addresses listed below.
Mentoring is a great way to support the next generation of deaf teenagers who may be going through the same things you went through in high school. It provides many incidental opportunities for personal and career development. You’ll also get to meet others like them in a similar situation, and we want Hear For You to be your place too!
NDIS Funding:
All our programs will be charged under the Capacity Building Category going forward so if you’d like any specific information or a service recommendation for the planner, we can help with that.
How can we help you?
Sherri and I are available to:
- answer questions you may have via email
- Present/talk with your itinerant team about what we do and our programs
- Discuss the possibility of a mentor meeting your students in-person at their school for a chat (particularly when it may be too logistically difficult to attend a HFY workshop.
- For those based outside of the metropolitan areas and other States/Territories, we are more than happy to discuss the prospect of our mentors travelling over to your regional area/state to run a weekend Life Goals & Skills Blast.
- If you have any questions, comments and/or ideas, particularly regarding the locations and types of workshops, that you feel would be of great benefit to your students, please let us know.
Contact us:
I look after NSW and Sherri Brereton is our QLD Programs Manager and she would love to connect with you, if not already, to see how we can help you and your students.
Our email addresses are:
John.lui@shepherdcentre.org.au
Sherri.brereton@shepherdcentre.org.au
We have two brochures – one designed for teenagers and one for parents. Please contact us if you’d like extra copies to be sent to you. In addition, please feel free to pass on our email addresses to anybody you think may be interested in connecting with us.
Look forward to hearing from you soon,
John & Sherri
Testimonial link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmpL7D_ibO4
P.S. I have used the term ‘deaf’ in this message for brevity and we are all aware that others can identify, even interchangeably, with different terms (deafness/hearing loss or deaf/hard of hearing/hearing impaired) though those who identify as Deaf is usually for cultural reasons.
P.P.S. If you would like to directly receive emails about future HFY events, please reply with a “Add me” in the subject line and I’ll make sure to add you to the mailing list.
