Being Deaf can be isolating. For Mari, a Deaf mum of two hearing children, when her extended family didn’t believe she could raise two hearing children, it made her feel even more isolated.

Her family wanted to take over in a lot of aspects of raising her children and her mental health deteriorated. She wanted help, and turned to Home-Start, but she needed an interpreter to access the services.

Paula, the Family Coordinator at Home-Start Greenwich researched local British Sign language (BSL) interpreters and found Lesley. Lesley had a long career as a BSL interpreter, and she very kindly offered to interpret as a volunteer. 

Lesley told us that many Deaf families won’t try to access support services thinking that there are too many communication barriers. But she knew that Mari was different, Mari was determined to get help.

Paula also wanted to help Mari and gain an understanding of the Deaf community, so she went on a Deaf awareness course and learnt some BSL phrases. In their sessions together, they would watch videos of Mari interacting and playing with her children. Called Video Interaction Guidance (VIG), it’s a relationship-based support that looks at parents’ interactions with their children and their attachments. It helps parents to gain confidence, communication skills and improves wellbeing.

Watching the videos was invaluable to Mari. Lesley would interpret Paula’s comments on the videos, and advice to help her interact with her children. 

Mari said: “Lesley’s support opened doors for me. Thanks to Home-Start I’ve gained strength and improved my relationship with my children. This has really boosted my confidence; their advice really helped me take back control from family members who doubted my ability to manage.”

Both Paula and Lesley have seen this growth first-hand. For Mari, this support has been life changing. Mari said: “I’ve never had anything like this. Never. I really appreciate Paula and Lesley, they’ve saved my life.”

Lesley’s support was recognised recently when she was awarded the Digital Volunteer of the Year award at our volunteer awards. Lesley hopes that she can support more Deaf families and grow a Deaf community.