December 19, 2019 - Danelle Gournaris is a native Minnesotan hailing from central Minnesota. When she was 14 months old, she lost her hearing due to spinal meningitis. She comes from a hearing family and is the only Deaf person in her family. Growing up (and still now), she used spoken language and American Sign Language (ASL) but preferred to use ASL. After graduating from Paynesville High School, she went to Gallaudet University in Washington DC where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, and two Masters degrees in School Counseling & Guidance, and Administration & Supervision. After completing her schooling, she worked at a psychiatry treatment center in Maryland as the program coordinator. Then she moved to Florida, where she worked as a Family Counselor for the DHH program at Seminole Middle School in Plantation, Florida. While in Florida, she also became a Deaf Mentor for a literacy program serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing toddlers, preschoolers, and their hearing families. Upon moving back to Minnesota, Danelle was a Deaf Mentor under a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services Division grant for five years. In 2012, she became the Deaf Mentor Family Program Manager at Lifetrack. Danelle’s husband is also Deaf, and together they have three hearing children.
Danelle wears many hats in her role as the statewide Deaf Mentor Family Program Manager at Lifetrack. She is responsible for managing the program’s budget, recruiting and hiring Deaf Mentors, as well as processing family applications into the program, doing outreach work, and giving presentations. She also does a lot of joint, collaborative work with other agencies to provide the best services possible for hearing families with DHH children. Danelle also supervises a Lead Deaf Mentor, a Program Assistant, and 29 Deaf Mentors at Lifetrack who work with several families across the state of Minnesota.
Danelle is passionate about providing support and resources to families. She appreciates seeing enthusiastic families who want to learn ASL and seeking to understand more about their child’s experience with their hearing loss. Danelle says, “it is inspiring that they care about their DHH child and want to give them the best language access possible.” She enjoys monitoring the DHH child’s language acquisition developments. Danelle enjoys reading the latest research on language deprivation and considers the Deaf Mentor Family Program as a preventive measure for language deprivation.
Danelle does not experience communication or accessibility barriers in her work despite being Deaf. While Lifetrack is a hearing organization, they provide her with ASL interpreters when needed and have done a very good job with that.
Danelle’s advice to others is “Aim for what you want to become and don’t set limits for yourself or allow others to set limits for you. Believe that you can and do it! ” This is particularly true when Danelle works with DHH youth; she encourages them to dream big and reach for the stars because she believes they can!
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
