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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 10/17/02
Time: 9:42:49 PM
Remote Name: 12.212.230.104
Hi Jamie,
You ask some great questions! Let me see if I can answer them...
Q. How did you find this courage?
A. It's not so much courage but a reaction to a situation. I discovered it when I finally realized the truth to the saying that happiness is not so much what happens to you in life, but your reaction to it. You really don't have much choice about what happens to you, but you DO have a choice in how you react to those things which happen to you. You can choose to become a victim or you can choose to use what you have and live life to the fullest. That's what I chose.
Q. Were you teased as a child?
A. Honestly I don't think I was. I don't know why wasn't, but I have no memories of being teased.
Q. Have you ever received therapy?
A. Yes, primarily in my teenage years (in the time of the dinosaurs... ha, ha!) It was an early form of fluency shaping which worked wonderfully - for a few weeks. Then I relapsed back to where I was. I did this for FOUR YEARS, ages 10 through 17, and never discovered why each year I would relapse. Back at that time we didn't understand the iceberg analogy of stuttering - which explains that phenomena perfectly. We've learned SO MUCH in the past 10 years! Fluency shaping without an understanding of the emotions involved in stuttering is simply not enough for most stutterers, including me. If you're really interested in the full story, send me an email and I'll tell it to you. My email address is russhicks@mail.com. Also check out my home page at www.russhicks.com for some more details.
Q. It seems as though your therapy is to touch the lives of so many individuals by stuttering and this in turn helps you to deal with the stuttering.
A. Yes. It's been said that the main objective to stuttering therapy is to teach your client how to become his or her own therapist. I learned fluency shaping at one time, and how to deal with the emotional baggage at another time, totally unrelated to stuttering. It's only when I connected those two critical parts myself, did things begin to "click" for me.
Q. One more question, When and How did you begin to love your stuttering?
A. This is a relatively recent event which began when I joined the National Stuttering Association (kicking and screaming) in 1985 and when I joined Toastmasters (also kicking and screaming) in 1988. My totally unexpected success in Toastmasters in the early and mid-1990's really clinched the deal. Again, that's a long story. Give me an email holler and I'd love to share that story with you.
Excellent questions, Jamie. I really hope you'll email me. I think we have a lot to share. You sound like a potentially dynamite SLP!
I hope to hear from you.
Take care,
Russ
RussHicks@mail.com