"Getting Below the Tip of the Iceberg":
July Study day on Gestalt therapy and stammering
By Nigel Hardy

When I received a leaflet in the post, from my Speech and Language Therapist in mid July promoting a Study day and Workshop organised by the Michael Palin Centre I was curious to find out more as I had not previously attended any such programmes.

The guest speakers were Dr Woody Starkweather and Janet Givens who were stopping off in London en-route home to the States from the four day conference in Gent where they had also given a presentation. The subject was stammering and therapy using the Gestalt approach, which I had never heard of. It concentrates on the psychological approach rather than conventional speech therapy technique of block modification and easy onset.

When I arrived at the St Pancras Hospital conference centre on the day I was surprised to find about sixty other people attending, the majority of whom were Speech & Language Therapists, of which three stammered. We the stammerers were in the minority numbering a mere half a dozen.

During about fifteen minutes' introduction given by Woody and Janet they described their background as stammerers who then became therapists and the organisation they formed in the States, the Birch Tree Foundation. [Ed. Note: Woody is a speech therapist, only Janet is a stammerer.] They asked us all to get up and put ourselves into one of three groups: Stammerers, Therapists or other professionals. The three therapists who stammered could choose which of the first two groups to join, they all chose to join the therapist group.

The six of us in the stammering group were to sit in a semi-circle in front of the fifty or so other people, everyone facing Woody and Janet at the front, and suddenly with little preparation the six of us were straight in the spotlight, similar to being on stage. They produced a box of tissues and put it in front of us explaining that it was important to cry if we needed to, as if we had done this before and knew what was expected of us. Woody then asked us to imagine a picture of our stammer - a form of art therapy. We were all unprepared for what was to follow - sharing our picture in front of everyone. I felt enormous sympathy for my neighbour who was speaking with considerable difficulty before me. This public speaking put him into a very tense position, which in turn put the pressure on me; I wondered if my stammer, now very much under control would resurrect itself when it came to my turn. Much to my relief though I managed to describe my picture with relative fluency.

This was followed by two of the group again being put in the spotlight individually by doing an exercise of talking to their stammer and reversing the role, using their picture. Whilst I was fascinated by this approach, I had great concern for the second person who had no experience of this, and again had considerable difficulty with his stammer. His anguish was painful when he had to fight to control his emotions as well as battle with his stammer. This is where the cultural difference is so prevalent; the tissues were there to use, but the British inhibitions prevent us from crying in these situations, whereas Americans break down with relative ease.

Over lunch an inevitable formation of small groups occurred and time for a post mortem of the morning's events. Various things came out of the discussion I was in, which raised questions in my mind about the way the programme had been organised. Those in the stammering group were quite unprepared for having to speak up in front of an audience of fifty plus. This was public speaking, and for those whose stammer still haunts them it can be somewhat traumatic. More emphasis should have been put on one's right to privacy, indeed one member of the group exercised that right.

Had the speakers taken the opportunity at the start of the day to outline in greater depth how the programme was to progress, then we the stammerers might have been aware that we were expected to speak in public, and those who felt uncomfortable with that prospect could have opted out. Also an hour's discussion could have been avoided in the afternoon when serious concerns were put to the speakers about the programme and its objectives. Had I not been sitting in the front row I would probably have left and gone home at this point.

Full credit though must be given to the Michael Palin Centre for organising a very interesting day and filling so many seats. I came away at the end glad that I had gone along to find out what else is available to stammerers. There is no hard and fast rule as to which form of therapy will help someone, and possibly Gestalt Therapy may be of enormous help to some sufferers by encouraging them to feel at ease with their stammer and regard it as a friend, and not the enemy. I believe confidence building should lie at the centre of therapy, though I am not sure Gestalt Therapy would not have been of much benefit to me in my days of receiving therapy when I needed to learn to restructure the way I spoke. Used with the correct procedure and by those professionals with the appropriate skills, I believe this is one form of therapy out of several that can employed.

Summer 2001