The Shepherd Centre welcomed the opening of its newest facility servicing the needs of young children with hearing loss and their families across the South-West and Far Western Sydney areas on July 30.
The centre was opened by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, delivering on his government’s 2022 election promise to fund the project. Another Government-funded centre is also set to open in Launceston, Tasmania later this year, following the recently opened Hobart centre. This continues to see The Shepherd Centre delivering on its mission to provide its wraparound expert services across New South Wales, the Canberra region and Tasmania.
“We are honoured and excited to have Prime Minister Albanese open this purpose-built, much needed centre for the people of Western Sydney. Everyone involved has worked tirelessly to ensure this development was delivered to provide local, accessible support for children with hearing loss and their families wherever they live,” said The Shepherd Centre CEO, Dr Aleisha Davis.
“But our work is not done yet. We know not all children with hearing loss and their families can access the crucial early intervention services they need. We will keep working with the Government to ensure NDIS supports what it takes to provide specialised services for those that need them most,” continued Dr Davis.
The South-West and Far Western Sydney region is the fastest growing area in NSW. The number of children needing cochlear implants and hearing devices continues to rise and require lifetime care and maintenance. Numbers in the program grow year on year. The new integrated centre brings world class, evidence-based services to the doorstep of families, reducing travel time and costs for families to get to appointments elsewhere.
The centre employs specialists across the fields of audiology, listening and spoken language therapy and family & child counselling, ensuring Western Sydney children can learn to listen and speak and have a world of choice. This is facilitated through The Shepherd Centre’s team-based, early intervention program with specialised, qualified professionals.
The centre will cater to children as young as a few weeks of age, to enable the development of listening and speaking skills during the critical early years. The team-based, early intervention, wraparound model has produced incredible results with 100% of its graduates in 2023 attending their local school of choice, and children able to achieve spoken language on par with their hearing peers by the time they start school.
A local Campbelltown family is excited to see the new centre open in their area. Nazrin is the mother of one year old Kadir, who was born with profound, permanent hearing loss. Kadir had cochlear devices implanted in both ears when he was 7 months old and is seeing the benefits of The Shepherd Centre’s wraparound care. Nazrin said,
“The Shepherd Centre’s wraparound care model and team have been really important for Kadir, and we are seeing the ongoing benefits to his development – he is now speaking, saying ‘mumma’ and ‘dadda’. He loves his sessions at The Shepherd Centre which foster his listening and spoken language skills, and joining group activities empowers us to be confident knowing he is learning in real world environments,”
“The Shepherd Centre’s new Oran Park location has made it incredibly convenient for us to access the specialised hearing care that our son needs, and as parents we feel like the Shepherd Centre team has been the best choice for our child.” said Nazrin.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said,
“Children with hearing loss deserve the best possible start in life and the best possible care and support. “Opening this state-of-the-art facility here in southwest Sydney will be life-changing for these children.”
