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From: Joe Klein
Date: 30 Nov 2007
Time: 14:35:53 -0600
Remote Name: 66.195.14.141
Hi Lisa. You wrote: "...people who stuttered indicate that they felt they weren't representing who they really were and that change is scary. What recommendations can you give a future therapist on how to address those issues in therapy?" Wow, those are the biggies: self-acceptance and change. I believe they are related. If you don't accept who you are, and are afraid to be who you are, you can never be anything different. It is only through self acceptance and loving who you are that you are able to change who you are (Carl Rogers). I know that sounds like a big paradox, but if you are so tense about who you are, and trying so hard not to be you, the only thing you can be is something you don't want. The only way to be the person you eventually want to be is to be you... now, how the heck do you help someone get there? By letting them be them. By letting them find out about them. By totally accepting them and who they are right now. That means letting them experience their stuttering through things like voluntary stuttering and freezing, for you to model stuttering in your own speech, for the two of you to explore, fearlessly, the person's stuttering and their fluency. There could be (and should be) a book written just on your question... Take care, Joe.