Hillcrest Hearing Aids of Centerville and Dayton, OH

Cathy Kooser-Fathergill Hearing loss is a subject very near and dear to my heart. THE KOOSER PROGRAM: The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss was developed as a direct result of my own personal struggles with hearing loss. As a young woman, my severe hearing loss caused significant emotional pain. I remember feeling a deep sense of sadness, anger, embarrassment and frustration. I felt all alone, as if no one, not even my loved ones, understood what I was going through. Eventually, I realized I needed help dealing with all of the negative emotions I was experiencing, but had a difficult time finding it. Very few mental health professionals are educated about the psychosocial impact of hearing loss and most programs available are for those who are deaf – I was not deaf.

After much searching, I was able to locate a counselor who was knowledgeable about this issue. I found the counseling to be very beneficial. Consequently, I decided to return to school so I could help others as I had been helped. In 1999 with a degree in social work, I developed THE KOOSER PROGRAM: The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss. The workshop encompasses a highly interactive holistic framework that seeks to provide education related to all aspects of hearing loss. Traditional aural rehabilitation programs generally focus on audiograms, amplification and communication strategies. THE KOOSER PROGRAM: The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss includes these subjects but also spends considerable time presenting important information regarding assertiveness skills, self esteem, the emotional impact including grieving, and how hearing loss affects relationships. These additional topics support a well rounded education regarding the impact of hearing loss and how to live with it in a positive and effective manner.

The goal of THE KOOSER PROGRAM: The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss is to improve the quality of life for those with a hearing loss as well as their loved ones through education and support. It is my wish that everyone who attends this workshop feels empowered to take responsibility to make helpful and necessary behavior changes that will impact their lives in a positive way. Although hearing loss plays a role in shaping and defining those of us who experience it, it does not have to stop us from becoming who we were meant to be nor from living the lives we were meant to live!

Hearing loss is a communication disorder that affects the entire family. It is strongly recommended that a support person attend. This workshop strives to educate family members as well as the person with the hearing loss.

Quotes from Workshop Participants:

“The KOOSER PROGRAM workshop is a wonderfully informative and deeply moving experience. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have been a part of this life changing workshop. It allowed me to face my fears and for the first time in three years, I am able to acknowledge and accept my hearing disability. It is truly an eye opening experience; an experience not without personal healing. The facilitator, Cathy Kooser, is not only well prepared and very knowledgeable but very supportive and truly an inspiration to others! I appreciate her honesty, her compassion and her ability to make participants feel so relaxed..”
	Sheila Hilditch Workshop participant, November, 2005

“I feel empowered now to deal with my hearing loss constructively.”
	Bob Gillis Workshop participant, August, 2004

“Coming into the seminar I was clueless. I didn’t know what to expect. I was drawn into myself as I had become somewhat of a hermit; living in the dark. When the second day of the seminar concluded it was as if someone turned on a light to help me find my way again.”
	Ed Sollenberger Workshop participant, November, 2003

“I think the workshop is very beneficial, . . . I just wish I had it when I was 19. I think my life would have gone a lot differently. I would have been saved a lot of embarrassment, a lot of depression, a lot of self-doubt.”
	Linda Mercer Workshop participant, April 22, 2004

“I felt as though, in two days, I learned an incredible amount about a world I’ve lived in for 30 years, a world of which I was profoundly ignorant.”
	Workshop Participant August 5, 2005

“Buying hearing aids without taking Cathy’s class, is like buying a car without knowing how to drive."
	Dick Fowler Workshop participant, April 10, 2003

“I learned great empathy for Donald and all the things I had misunderstood before, I now understood. . . . I think it’s one of the greatest things for the spouse of someone who has a hearing problem.”
	Linda McCready, Workshop participant, Februrary, 2004

“My husband, who has good hearing, said that every spouse and family member of a hearing impaired person should be made to attend the class because it provides better understanding of the different world in which the hearing impaired person must live.”
	Linda Pitcher, spouse Workshop participant, April 22, 2004

If you are interested in attending our workshop, please contact Leslie Iannarino at (937) 291-8842 or leslieiannarino@sbcglobal.net. Patients of Hillcrest Hearing Aids are eligible to attend this workshop as part of our Complete Hearing Health Care Program, included with the purchase of a hearing instrument from Hillcrest Hearing Aids.

Click Here View and Print the The Kooser Program: The Hidden Impact of Hearing Loss Workshop Form

For Professionals interested in becoming a trainer for The Kooser Program, please contact Cathy Kooser-Fathergill at (937) 291-8842.