Colin Marsh, elected as a BSA trustee last summer, and a member of the Institute of Careers Guidance (ICG), talked in this workshop about efforts to raise awareness of stammering among careers advisers.

Careers advice is especially topical at the moment given the number of people made redundant, and the scare stories in the press about unemployment amongst recent graduates.

Colin stressed that if you need careers advice, it's there. Do use it. All Universities have a Careers Advisory Service, though not always called that. Apart from helping their own graduates (which may be available in later life as well), they usually provide a service for graduates of other Universities for a few years after graduation.

Increasingly, Colin pointed out, the emphasis is on 'employability', and University students are encouraged to make use of the services provided by their Careers Service to help with C.V. writing, with 'mock' interviews and help to find work placements and internships. A stammer should never be a bar to accessing quality career information and guidance and help with making the transition from education to employment.

All school-leavers and unemployed young people should have access to a Connexions Personal Adviser, said Colin. Also for adults, the Government has decided that there should be more readily available careers advice in England from 2010. We are at least moving towards a stage, he said, where any adult should be able to walk into a local careers centre and get careers advice for free. This is already available in Wales and Scotland.

There are also resources and a phone service at http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk.

Increasingly, also, there are Careers Advisers working in private practice, and the 'find a careers adviser' section of the ICG website can point you in the direction of such careers advice (www.icg-uk.org/findacareersadviser.html).

The Institute of Career Guidance has stated its willingness to work closely with the BSA to ensure that no-one who stammers should feel excluded from access to information and guidance.

Colin also stressed the important role of speech and language therapists in this process. If someone who stammers tells their therapist that they are worried about getting a job, or going to University, the SLT could help by contacting a Careers Adviser on their client's behalf and talking the issues through, so that the Adviser is better able to help. No one should feel that a Careers Adviser cannot help them because of a speech difficulty.

Extended version of article from the Winter 2009 edition of Speaking Out, page 8.