Aster Group

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Aster Group become the first housing association to Get Deaf Aware

Interview with Jessica Scull, People Development Co-ordinator at Aster Group:

“Following on from a recent event we held with managers, it became apparent that some of our colleagues felt they couldn’t deliver an excellent service to our hearing impaired customers, and communication was a challenge. As a result, colleagues were keen to become more skilled in this area in order to deliver an inclusive service for all our customers, regardless of an impairment they may have.

After a lot of research Get Deaf Aware ticked all of our boxes on what we wanted to deliver - face to face training was key in this instance, as we felt you couldn’t engage fully had this been via a webinar. Having a room full of colleagues meant they could connect with each other and stay in contact after the event to support one another – the added bonus being that colleagues could approach the trainer individually when questions arose.

It’s really important to be able to communicate with your customers. An impairment shouldn’t create a barrier, those who are front line could benefit from this training to enable them to provide excellent customer service and widen the line of communication

From start to finish, it’s been a real pleasure organising our starter session with Get Deaf Aware – we’ve now put together two training days which are purely practical, following on from feedback. Nothing was too much trouble and the training was tailored to Aster, including discussing rent/repairs and wellbeing with our customers.

Communication has been widened and we have been able to offer the chance for our colleagues to be able to communicate better with our customers.“

Aster Group

Both a housing association and house builder, Aster provides safety and security through their reliable landlord and independent living services. Operating primarily in the South of England, they also supply a wide range of housing options in response to the housing crisis.

Aster’s vision is to sustainably grow the business, whilst taking into account the development of their employees and the culture of the organisation itself. Their ultimate vision consists of six separate goals: Respect, Pride, Commercial, Learning, Agile, and Innovation.

In summer 2018, employees from Aster Group successfully completed Get Deaf Aware face to face training.

Get Deaf Aware

Get Deaf Aware is the leading provider of deaf awareness training.

Whether you are an organisation looking to train your employees, a team looking to increase your communication skills, or an individual looking to increase your understanding of deafness, there is a solution for you.

In the UK there are around 11 million people who have some degree of hearing loss. That’s around 1 in 6.

Based on an independent survey, quite worryingly 70% of people said they would have little or no confidence in communicating with a deaf person. Almost 100% of those surveyed also believed that deaf awareness training should be part of every organisations training plan.

How can you become deaf aware?

If you or your organisation are interested in undertaking some deaf awareness training, you can request an information pack on our website at www.getdeafaware.org.uk. If you would like to talk to us about your specific needs, you can also give us a call on 0191 383 7915 or email info@getdeafaware.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Aster Group .

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