Emma Lucy | Local Hero

Emma Lucy was nominated for a Depictions of DN and later placed in the Top Ten. We had a fantastic conversation with Emma over Zoom where we asked her questions about her nomination, win, and more about her role within the Communication Specialist College.

Emma is a Wellbeing Tutor and is a qualified yoga teacher who has also trained in special yoga for Autism and ADHD. Emma runs sessions for wellbeing and they are crafted around what the students need on the day. Whether it is mindfulness and meditation focused or more dance and drama based. “So, these are all sessions that support the students in doing what makes them feel good. How they feel at the start of the session and acknowledging how they feel at the end.”

Emma spoke of how her sessions moved to going online during the pandemic on their Facebook page. “Monday to Friday, every week during lockdown, I went live at 11:11am. A nice time, because a lot of our students were enjoying the lie in!”. Emma said how most sessions ranged between 15 to 20 minutes long, and it was a great opportunity to do a bit of mindful breathing and practices, gentle stretching, and conversation.

As Emma works in a Communication Specialist College, it’s really important for her to make the sessions accessible to her students. “Within those Facebook Lives, I'm using signed supported English. So, it's not full British Sign Language, because British Sign Language has its own grammatical structure, that doesn't involve speech. It might involve some lip patterns, but the structure is different. Whereas, what I'm using in those videos is Sign Supported and speaking at the same time. I'm signing along with it, so that it's accessible for both the Deaf and hearing who are watching.”

We asked Emma how it felt to be nominated for a Depictions of DN and she said “It was a surprise at first. And it was quite humbling, but also an honour to be recognised. It also felt like an opportunity to share what the College is doing as well and that we are here and that we are working with such a range of learners and that that community within our college is really important. The fact that we were able to celebrate that is really wonderful.”

Emma told us a story that represented a moment of joy for her from the last year: “I think, during lockdown when I was doing the Facebook Lives, it was really nice that I sometimes received emails afterwards from students saying that they took part and my mum was involved, and we enjoyed this, and we did that, and we'll see you tomorrow and have a wonderful day! Just receiving that afterwards and knowing how much of an important part of their day that is, and that they looked forward to it. That was really sweet.”

When we asked Emma why she felt the job was important to her, she said “I think the society that we're all living in now can be such a stressful one and can be very overwhelming. Working with the students that I work with, life in general can feel more overwhelming and more stimulating than any of us could possibly imagine. I think having the opportunity to try something that might help with that is so important. So, I think it's really important that we make it available to them here so that they know ‘I want to do yoga, I feel better, like maybe I can't get into words, but it feels really good’. As they transition out of college and as they move on through their life, they have these tools that they can take with them wherever they go. So, while they're here, I think it's really important that they're accessing it and learning about how important our well-being is, and how we can support our mental health and keep our mental health as healthy as possible.”

Thank you for chatting to us Emma. You are a local hero! Congratulations on placing in the Top Ten Depictions of DN.

Find out more about the Communication Specialist College here: https://www.deaf-trust.co.uk/college/

Our Top Local Heroes have taken part in a film shoot with artist James Lockey as a way to profile their work and celebrate their achievements. Along with a beautiful film score composed by Hayley Youell, the film was featured in this year’s DN Festival of Light.

Watch the Depictions of DN Film by James Lockey here:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyzO1E-FF6Y