This year we got together again with some beautiful people who stutter to learn and discover with each of them one thing about stuttering, dealing with stuttering, or overcoming stuttering.

Even though all the participants have different backgrounds and some use the techniques and some don't, quite surprisingly all the participants talked about the internal part of stuttering. The one we oftentimes even don't quite see ourselves.

Are you ready to learn something new? Let's dive into it!

Ayo Adesanya

The topic Ayo picked for this conversation was "Going beyond the surface level of stuttering."

Stuttering is much bigger than just speech impediments. There are fears of stuttering, stuttering shame, negative feelings about it, hiding stuttering, stuttering anxiety, avoidance and holding back.

So, we want to address all those. There are techniques that Ayo talked about and that he uses to bring more structure and make speaking easier and there are personal development concepts that we can use.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Ayo Adesanya: https://www.stopholdingback.org/

StopHoldingBack on Facebook

StopHoldingBack on YouTube

StopHoldingBack on Instagram

Lisa Greenleaf

The topic Lisa picked for this conversation was "Conquer the fear."

We usually start thinking about conquering the physical part of stuttering, which is quite natural, but the fear of revealing ourselves is probably the biggest part of stuttering. And it's mostly invisible to other people. So stuttering this way tends to put us in a box where we often feel trapped.

We talked with Lisa about how we don't have to feel trapped.

One of the things that helped Lisa was finding the nearest National Stuttering Association chapter, meeting other people who stutter, and developing a mindset that stuttering is nothing to be ashamed of.

For more, go to the video.

Peter Louw

The topic Peter picked for this conversation was "Don't hold back!"

We talked about how repressing our emotions and other defense mechanisms (denial and rationalization) can play a role in developing a stutter.

We discovered that repressing emotions mostly happens subconsciously so we want to engage the mechanisms of releasing our emotions. We talked about how journaling and being expressive and assertive can help in this regard.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Peter Louw: “Stuttering as a mindbody disorder” book

Stuttering as a mindbody disorder Facebook Group

StutterSense blog

"Coping with stuttering" free book

Christopher Jackson

The topic Christopher picked for this conversation was "Be comfortable with people seeing you block."

And that's a huge topic! Christopher put it very clear and straightforward. Without being comfortable with revealing yourself, your stutter, and your improvement efforts there's very limited space for improvement.

The more you can be OK with yourself, stuttering, and working on stuttering the more you can improve.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Christopher:

Chris Jackson on Instagram

Callum Schofield

The topic Callum picked for this conversation was "Why I'm not a stutterer."

We talked about how stuttering should not identify who you are as a person. Stuttering is a small part of you. This is a nice phrase, but how do we really feel this way?

Callum shared his life-changing experience with the Starfish Project. It's interesting that the same method and techniques "didn't work" for him when he took the course for the first time and "worked" for the second time.

It demonstrates that the method and techniques are important of course, but our internal determination and commitment are at least as important.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Callum: theschofieldstories.com

The Schofield Stories Podcast

The Schofield Stories Instagram

Rick Scoutto

The topic that Rick picked for this conversation was "Covert Stuttering."

Rick learned about the term "covert stuttering" recently when he attended the National Stuttering Association conference.

Trying to hide stuttering is one of the key elements of stuttering that we want to change because stuttering is not something to be ashamed of. As long as we hide stuttering it grows stronger and we disconnect from the speaking environment even more. So we talked about how stretching our comfort zone can improve your confidence in speaking.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Rick:

Find Rick on Youtube

https://www.scugp.com/

Rick on Facebook

Rick on Instagram

Sean Azimi

The topic that Sean picked for this conversation was "We're not stutterers. Stuttering is what we sometimes do."

First of all, Sean goes live on Facebook with great personal development tips every day. Every single day! It's quite a challenge even for "regular" people. So, we talked about how he actually does that, what drives him and what helps him with his stuttering.

Even though Sean stutters he doesn't seem to struggle with stuttering at all. He doesn't seem to be affected by stuttering at all. He seems to be totally free from stuttering even though he obviously stutters.

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Sean:

Sean on Facebook

Chase Gillis

The topic that Chase picked for this conversation was "How to grow from bad speech days."

Wow, what a topic! I often hear from people who stutter about having their "good" and "bad" days. And it's kind of implied that we want to have fewer "bad" days and more "good" days.

But what if it's the bad days where we can learn and grow? So Chase shared how we actually can do that!

For more, go to the video.

Learn more about Chase:

Follow Chase on YouTube

Follow Chase on Instagram

Altogether - Learn One Thing

We had a beautiful conversation with Ayo Adesanya, Lisa Greenleaf, Peter Louw, Christopher Jackson and Chase Gillis.

It's so great to have people who stutter with so different perspectives collaborating and cooperating in real-time! I'm sure you'll be inspired, motivated, encouraged, and learn one thing that you can implement in your life right away!

For more, go to the video.

Individual interviews with the participants of the event:

Ayo Adesanya - https://youtu.be/XWDyyM5DPAU

Lisa Greenleaf - https://youtu.be/ieqGYkb8WdE

Peter Louw - https://youtu.be/3ppUvkDe1wc

Christopher Jackson - https://youtu.be/rLqTOujIuIM

Callum Schofield - https://youtu.be/gvzSZnhfabQ

Rick Scoutto - https://youtu.be/vifUxXI7VtA

Sean Azimi - https://youtu.be/uoNpglmzkgM

Chase Gillis - https://youtu.be/wY6i5QAh3IQ