June Recap

June Recap

Thank you everyone for joining us on Monday night. 24 of us came out: 21 PWS, 4 first-timers, an SLP, a student, and a supportive sister. A very special welcome to the brave first-timers who came out! We introduced ourselves, split into two groups, and here is some of what was discussed:

One member talked about a recent career choice he decided to take, partially due to the stress caused by stuttering. He is now his own boss, and the money is still coming in as before, which is cool. His stress level is much lower, but he is still a bit conflicted. It is tough sometimes to weigh the mentality of I should persevere even though stuttering sometimes makes a situation stressful, vs. I should take myself out of this stressful situation.

One member who is finishing college and thinking about careers said that she is focusing on fluency, and is not afraid to tell people that. We often talk about acceptance in our group and stuttering it out, but everyone in the room agreed that approaching stuttering is a very individual thing, and you are the one who gets to decide what you want out of speech therapy/support at any given time.

The idea of accepting your stuttering did come up in the one group, and the challenging transition of getting to this mindset. This is a unique path for everyone, and there is no one right end goal either. One member who spent much of his life being covert felt that for him getting to a better place happened with a combination of: some speech therapy that dealt with acceptance, generally allowing yourself to stutter, seeing other successful people who stutter in our community…and picking their brains, staying resilient, and attending an NSA annual conference which will blow you away with inspiration!

A brave first-timer mentioned that she had never met a person who stuttered before tonight, and she talked about how challenging it is for her to talk in general, in social situations as well. She mentioned that it has been challenging at times to make new friends. Tonight she was reminded that we are now all her friends!

At the end of the night we headed across the street for a drink, some of us stayed a bit longer, had an extra drink, and further bonded during our post-NSA meeting outing on this beautiful summer Monday night.


NSA Annual Conference

The 32nd annual conference is taking place during July 4th week. Click here to find out more information and to sign up. This is really a special event, and if you’re on the fence about going, please reach out to us for questions. There are probably over 30 of us heading down from the NYC area (probably much more), so come, you will not be alone. And once we get down there, there will be another 1,000 PWS waiting for us!

– Michael & Stavro | www.nycstutters.org