At a Glance: Advocacy and leadership skills development in a community of APSEA specialists and peer mentors with lived experience
Grades: 3 and up
Schedule: Scheduling is flexible based on student availability – to be determined following registration.
Mentor Students – Weekly, October to December. Flexible scheduling, January to March. Weekly, March to June
Mentee Students – Weekly, March to June
APSEA’s Deaf Mentors, Harry Purney, Chrissy MacNeil, and Meg Stewart welcome students to join them for opportunities to meet others with lived experience, amp up their confidence and skills, explore what mentorship means, and create a network of positive role models who have lived experience in navigating life as students who are Deaf or hard of hearing in the Atlantic provinces.
Created to allow regular access to mentoring from both APSEA professionals and peers, AMP will follow a framework of responsive, relevant learning, and multiage design. Registration for all grade levels will take place in the fall, after which students will be grouped as either mentor students or mentee students (as appropriate and in consultation with itinerant teachers). Mentor students will meet weekly with Harry, Chrissy, and Meg for the months of October to December, working together to identify commonalities and areas of interest, and learning valuable leadership and mentoring skills. These mentor students will have the opportunity to continue meeting with the Deaf Mentors for the months of January to March, and flexible scheduling during this time will allow accommodation for semester changes and exam schedules. In the spring, mentee students will join the weekly meetings with both the Deaf Mentors and the mentor students, learning directly from peers who have identified appropriate skills to develop and information to share based on lived experience.
Under our Deaf Mentor’s guidance, students in the APSEA Mentorship Program will have opportunities to:
- Become part of a deaf and/or hard of hearing community
- Participate in group discussions and activities
- Develop teamwork skills
- Practice facilitating group discussions and activities
- Practice goal setting
- Develop leadership skills
- Improve planning and organizational skills
- Learn about and practice advocacy skills
We welcome any students in grades 3 and up who qualify for APSEA service to take part in this meaningful, community-building initiative.