Self Help Meeting Information

Self help groups are designed for people who stutter and discuss issues around their stutter, as well as providing mutual support. You might even enjoy yourself at a meeting too. Please contact us for more details of these self help groups.

“Talking always helps”

You may be thinking ‘why would I attend a self-help group? What good would it do?’

Well, who better to tell you about a group than the members themselves.

Here is what some of our attendees have been saying about the groups that they have been attending…

• Before coming to the self-help group I very rarely spoke about my stammer, now I find it easier and it helps my confidence. It’s so much better to have it out in the open. Talking always HELPS!
• It’s very helpful to meet up with other people who stammer and to exchange experiences and feelings. It’s important to know that there are other people who have felt the same way.
• Facing up to your stammering and working on improving your relationship to it takes a long time, so it is great to have a regular meeting to chart your progress [as well as] receive and offer support.
• I have learned that I am not the only one with this problem, this gives me a little bit of confidence.
• It challenges me to engage in difficult speech situations. It empowers one’s confidence and self-esteem.
• It inspires confidence to face difficult speech situations whereas formerly I would have avoided them.
• It offers valuable support and focuses the mind on using compensatory mechanisms in every day speech situations
• It offers a desensitising effect to the stigmas associated with stuttering.
• The support group offers a positive atmosphere where goals can be set and reviewed.
• The self-help group allowed me to practise in a safe environment.
• It allows me to challenge myself without fear and to seek self-improvement.
• ISA is great to challenge me when I lose touch and practise on my stutter.
• Great for hearing other people’s [stuttering] problems’, identifying with them and helping each other in a safe environment.
• The self-help group brings confidence to people that they wouldn’t necessarily have.
• The great thing about the self-help group is that every meeting is different.
• When I came to the self-help group a few years ago, my knowledge of others who stammer was small. Since then I have gained confidence and heard others’ experience and it gives me confidence and reassurance about my stammer.
• I like going to the self-help group because it means I often meet people who stammer and I know I am not the only one.
• I was anxious about going to the meeting the first time but everyone there made me feel welcome and I realised I didn’t have to feel powerless about my speech.
• Being at the self-help group means I can share my feelings about my speech with other people who feel the same.
• The self-help group is a safe place to challenge myself with speaking openly about my stammer.
• Before I came to the ISA Self-help group I never said the word stammer, let alone openly discussed it with anyone. Now I can’t stop telling people about my stammer and how I am dealing with it step by step. And that’s thanks to the self-help group where we can all stammer to our hearts’ content and be proud to do so without judgement and be helped along week by week.

If you would like to attend a self-help group, you can just turn up on the night, there’s no need to call ahead. If you’d like to talk to a group member before you attend, let us know and we’ll put you in touch.