Caron Wolfenden

About Caron

I trained at the Centre for Deaf Studies, University of Bristol completing my Diploma in Deaf Studies in 1996 and qualified as a BSL/English Interpreter in 2002 via the PostGrad route. I later got involved with training and assessing interpreters (A1 assessor qualified); had a variety of roles in ASLI (co-running London/SE region; led in setting up the original ASLI mentoring programming; training lead for ASLI); am a trained mentor myself and then qualified as a Supervisor in 2017, achieving a PostGraduate Certificate, so now offer professional practice/reflective supervision for interpreters.

My work experience is varied - I had a previous career in the City of London in finance and see the rub between business models of interpreting compared to the social/ally model that we mostly work by. I have worked for several agencies as a staff member and held management positions, plus worked in a freelance capacity. My current mix is freelance work (mainly face:face post-Covid) in community and professional settings, VRS (staff) and supervision…plus I have recently qualified as a yoga teacher so am enjoying that new challenge in my life.

I have presented at national and international conferences and have a sense of curiosity that means I will attend events as much as possible and never want to stop learning. I am a regular efsli attendee and nothing can beat the buzz of a conference full of interpreters - for all of our online presence, we really need to be in the room to network and develop relationships with each other.

At the heart of what I do and believe, is a sense of social justice and equality. I strongly believe we need to work with both Deaf and hearing professionals to promote the rights of any individual and our ethical decision-making is key to the promotion of our profession. I am a proponent of the practice professional model and see that, along with continuous reflective practice, as central to our success. I have always had supervision and cannot imagine life without it - being in 1:1 supervision and in a group, keeps me grounded and healthy. I hope the supervision I offer, provides that too.

I live in a beautiful part of Devon, with walks and yoga on my doorstep - my original roots are London, but I’m not sure I could live without sheep as neighbours any more, or without our wood burner! The occasional City trip is always good though and I look forward to networking with you, wherever you are :)