About Sarah Jane
Hi! I'm Sarah Jane Etherington — a BSL/English interpreter, trainer, consultant and coach, with 24 years working alongside and within the Deaf community.
Over the years, my work has taken many forms: interpreting in courtrooms and hospitals, leading interpreting teams and services, training the next generation of interpreters, and — more recently — coaching individuals through ADHD coaching. What ties it all together is a single idea:
People. Practice. Progress.
Whatever the setting, my work starts with understanding the person in front of me, looks honestly at what's actually working in their practice, and builds meaningful, realistic progress from there.
My Experience
I've been a BSL/English interpreter since 2009 — seventeen years of interpreting practice, and twenty-four years in the Deaf community more broadly. Over that time I've worked across legal, medical, emergency, education, corporate and professional settings, with particular depth of experience in police, family, criminal and civil courts.
Alongside interpreting, I've held leadership and operational roles within Video Relay Service (VRS) provision, including leading the interpreting team and service at 999 BSL as it grew — giving me first-hand experience of what it takes to build and sustain a remote interpreting service, not just deliver within one.
I've been a trainer since around 2014, and a mentor in various roles since around 2004, delivering CPD, conference presentations and workshops for interpreters and language professionals — at association events and previously within employment. I'm now bringing that experience out more broadly on a freelance basis. In 2024, I was named Interpreter of the Year at Sorenson.
Most recently, I qualified as an ADHD coach, bringing a coaching lens to the professional development work I now do, and hold a Level 5 Diploma (CMI) in Leadership and Management. In 2026 I brought the different strands of my work together as a Professional Practice Consultant, reflecting my availability for consultancy, coaching, training and CPD work across the sector.
What I Believe
I believe good professional practice isn't something you arrive at once and keep — it's something you keep tending to, deliberately, throughout a career.
I believe interpreters and professionals deserve development that's built around who they actually are and what they actually need — not generic, one-size-fits-all content.
I believe understanding a person's context — their role, their setting, their history, their capacity — has to come before any advice about how to move forward.
And I believe progress, properly defined, is realistic, sustainable and genuinely felt — not just a certificate or a checked box.
What I Do
Coaching
One-to-one coaching, including ADHD coaching, to help people understand what's getting in the way and move forward with clarity.
Interpreting
BSL/English interpreting across legal, medical, education, corporate, VRS and professional settings.
Consultancy
Supporting organisations and services — particularly in interpreting and VRS contexts — with service development, operations and navigating change.
Training
Workshops and training for interpreters, Deaf interpreters and language professionals, delivered with real practical grounding.
CPD
Structured, thought-provoking CPD — built to be interactive, not just informative, and designed around genuine professional need rather than hour-collecting.
Why Work With Me?
What I offer is a combination of hands-on interpreting experience across some of the profession's most demanding settings, leadership and management experience building and running an interpreting service from the inside (backed by a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management), formal training and coaching qualifications, and a deep, lived understanding of the interpreting profession and the Deaf community it serves.
I'm not approaching this work from the outside looking in. I've sat in the interpreter's chair, led the team behind the service, and now help others navigate the same profession with more clarity and intention than I sometimes had along the way.
Let's Work Together!
Whether you're looking for coaching, interpreting, consultancy, training or CPD, I'd be happy to hear from you.