Deaf Mentor (Brisbane)

Deaf Connect are seeking a passionate and compassionate Deaf Mentor to join our Family Mentor team to help children and their families navigate the world as a deaf person. 

The Family Mentor role is to respond to social, behavioural, cultural and language needs of deaf children and their families in natural family and community contexts through deaf lenses.  

This role gives families contact with a positive Deaf Role model as early as possible in the life of a deaf child in a family setting.  

It also provides the family with deaf awareness, a social and cultural model, and with the direct lived experience of navigating the world as a deaf person. The Family Mentor’s role is to model visual communication, Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and strategies for communication between parent and child, and child and community. 

Main responsibilities of the role include: 

• Interact with the families and children in a manner that considers the needs of the child/family first.
• Ensure that families have unbiased access to the full range of communication possibilities for a deaf child, and illustrate that there are many ways of being deaf.
• Support early parent bonding with deaf babies and children, creating a strong foundation for their development.
• Participate in sessions of family life to empower families with a deaf perspective and with deaf tools to navigate life.
• Provide visual communication tools and strategies in a responsive way within real life settings such as play, meal preparation, and conflict resolution.
• Nurture first language acquisition by providing rich linguistic landscape with Auslan.
• Encourage development of Theory of Mind through play and activities.
• Nurture early literacy and prepare children to read through storytelling in Auslan.
• Understand the language priorities and goals and needs for individual children through collaboration with therapists and teachers.