Report from Limerick Self Help Group Meeting

Date: 2 February 2009

Report:

This was the first self-help meeting that I attended in Limerick. I found it very constructive and it was helpful to meet other people who stammered. The format for the meeting was the following.

* Introduction of new members
* Watched BBC Stammering DVD
* Monthly round-up
* Discussion of next agenda

* We watched the BBC DVD on stammering. It was based on the lives of 4 people in the UK who stammered. Each person on the DVD spoke about their stammer, how it affected them and different coping mechanisms they used. It was a very insightful DVD and it was interesting to see both overt and covert types. The message that seemed to get through was that stammering was just one aspect of us and does not define who we are. We could each identify with someone on the DVD and the feelings of anger, denial, frustration and finally acceptance that our stammers are a part of who we are. There was a discussion regarding this afterwards.

* During the monthly round-up, we discussed how each individual was getting on since the last meeting. We all spoke about individual difficulties, issues around fear-avoidance and various therapy options available for stammerers. We felt that, as a group, stammering is catastrophised as a much bigger problem than it actually is. We also discussed issues such as eye contact when speaking, confidence and voluntary stammering.

* We decided on a date for the next meeting, March 2nd (to be held upstairs), and it was agreed that one of our members would seek to do a radio interview with a Limerick local radio station to raise the profile of the self help group in Limerick and increase the awareness for people who stammer.