Adult therapy & courses: Finding a qualifed SLT Treatments offered by SLTs Alternative approaches

Adult therapy and courses

Counselling may be part of a comprehensive treatment approach. This form of talking therapy can be helpful for people who stammer who feel they might benefit from talking about negative feelings, unhappy experiences and the effects of their stammer upon their lives. Counselling can be particularly helpful in providing support for those struggling to make changes in the face of intense feelings.

There are different theories and approaches to counselling. The two most commonly used approaches are person-centred counselling and psychodynamic counselling. Whilst both types of counselling can be of benefit to people who stammer, person-centred counselling is most likely to suit the stammering person's needs. In person-centred counselling clients identify issues and difficulties they feel they would benefit from looking at and maybe working through. With the support of the counsellor, clients are then encouraged to help themselves work towards feeling happier about themselves and their lives.

Depending upon training, some speech and language therapists offer counselling for people who stammer. Alternatively, you can find a reputable counsellor by contacting your GP or the British Association for Counselling (www.bacp.co.uk).

Using counselling in stammering therapy At the International Fluency Association conference in 2006, Jackie Turnbull introduced an interesting model to illuminate different stages in the counselling process.

Research into the experiences of counselling for adults who stammer Some results from a research project by David Jones. His interest came from his own experiences as a covert stammerer and from a desire to improve the service that people who stammer can expect from their counsellors.

What sort of treatments do qualified speech and language therapists offer?
Alternative approaches

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