About Hear Together
Hear Together is all about living well with hearing loss.
We work with children and adults with any type of hearing loss.
We believe that connecting with other people is at the heart of living well.
Our activities develop the confidence, skills & knowledge that help people to communicate, participate & thrive.
Our experienced team have worked with deaf and hard-of-hearing people for many years.
Meet the Team!
Sarah Allen
Sarah started work as a Speech and Language Therapist in 1989 and joined the Nottingham Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme (now NAIP) in 1992. She went on to work as Specialist Advisor for hearing impairment in Nottingham from 1999-2015. During this time, she completed a Masters degree in Research Methods.
Following a secondment to the NIHR Biomedical Research Unit for Hearing, she joined The Ear Foundation as Research Lead and subsequently as Chief Executive.. Sarah is now trained as a Registered Intermediary supporting children within the justice sector.
Sarah is a founder member of Hear Together. She leads the team and works primarily with deaf babies and toddlers.
Diana Harbor
Diana is dual trained as a Speech and Language Therapist and Audiological Scientist; she is also a registered Educational Audiologist with RCCP. She started work as an audiologist and research associate in 1999, working for the MRC Institute of Hearing Research. In 2001 she joined the Nottingham Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme (now NAIP) as a specialist speech and language therapist.
In 2006 Diana joined The Ear Foundation developing the education programme, delivering courses and creating education resources. She also co-led activities and summer residentials for teenagers with hearing loss. Diana is currently a practising educational audiologist and SLT for Leicester City SEND service, runs her independent SLT practice, Khuluma.
Di is a founder member of Hear Together and leads on Training as well as working with d/Deaf children and teens..
Lisa Grzeskowiak
Originally trained and working as a primary school teacher, Lisa changed roles and began work as a Communication Support Worker in a Focused Provision Unit for Deaf children in a Nottingham secondary school. While there, she began her Teacher of the Deaf training and after gaining her qualification, worked within and then led the provision for eight years.
Lisa has also completed her BSL qualifications to Level 6 and has regularly volunteered for a number of Deaf charities.
In 2023, Lisa joined Hear Together to coordinate events and activities for D/deaf young people. Lisa is passionate about building the social development and confidence of D/deaf young people and sees her role at Hear Together as the perfect opportunity to realise this passion.
Didi Crisp
Didi started to lose her hearing when she was 5 years old due to measles and has always been a consistent user of hearing aids.
She worked as a dental nurse for the NHS and when she retired, she started as a volunteer for Hear Together.
Didi now runs several of our Hear2Help clinics using her own experiences to help support others.
Melissa Koc
Mel runs several of our Hear2Help clinics using her skills and experience as the Mum of a child with hearing loss.
Rachel Lightfoot
Rachel supports us all with her organisation and efficiency!
Our Trustees
Nick Tedd
I'm Nick Tedd & I'm delighted to be part of Hear Together on the board of trustees.
I'm an Artist, Blogger & I own 3 hair salons. I see myself as am an ambassador for the hearing loss community & am determined to succeed at life & have positive experiences.
My role as a Hear Together Trustee is very important to me to leave things better for others and myself ‘next time'. It is my intention to bring my experience and stories to Hear Together so that other people with hearing loss can see that we are not alone & that the more awareness & education we can give people the better it will be for us all.?
Julie Mather
My name is Julie Mather. It has been my privilege to work as a teacher of the deaf in Nottinghamshire for forty years now and for The Ear Foundation in different roles.
Easy & fluent communication is something most of us take for granted. Cochlear implants & digital hearing aids have brought great benefits to lots of deaf people but there are still many, often unseen, challenges associated with deafness.
I am delighted to be a trustee of Hear Together. The team is composed of incredibly knowledgeable, creative, & positive people who make a real difference in helping deaf people to connect with each other and live well with hearing loss.
Claire Page
I experienced hearing loss and became a hearing aid user as an adult. I'm surprised at how challenging the whole experience has been for me, not only because hearing loss is not obvious to others, but also the impact can vary so much from day to day depending on the environment, who I'm talking to and even the weather!
I'm keen that everyone has the best opportunity to communicate effectively with others. I believe it's important to educate people about the impact of hearing loss and how they can help. When someone says 'Oh, it doesn't matter' instead of repeating what they said, the sense of isolation that creates can be massive.
I'm an internal auditor in the NHS, so as a Trustee I also bring skills in supporting governance, risk management and internal control.
Our Volunteers
Suzanne Harrigan
Suzanne is a Speech & Language Therapist with lots of experience supporting children with hearing loss and their families. She currently works in independent practice, providing advice and consultancy to families, manufacturers and education services, as well as supporting children with a range of speech, language and communication needs.
Suzanne loves working with pre-school children with hearing loss and is delighted to be supporting the lovely team at Hear Together to provide fun, support and advice through the pre-school sessions
Clare Allen
Clare has worked as a Speech and Language Therapist with children with hearing loss since 1988, completing the specialist MSc and Advanced Clinical Studies Diploma, Speech Therapy with Deaf Children in 1995.
She joined the Nottingham Paediatric Cochlear Implant Programme (now NAIP) in 1996 before moving to The Ear Foundation in 2015 to lead the Family services and nationally recognised multi-disciplinary assessment team..
Clare is a founder member of Hear Together. She currently leads the SLT Team at the Royal School for the Deaf, Derby and continues her passion for working with deaf children and teenagers by volunteering for us whenever she can.
Robert Braithwaite
Isabel Widdowson
Our Policies