Group Therapy
How does group therapy work?
Looking to meet others who stutter, to feel a sense of belonging, and to work on your individual goals as you do therapy together? Weekly group therapy may be just your fit! Meet me for a consultation and let’s find out! You will fill out a case history and various assessment forms prior to our scheduled Zoom meeting. Group therapy has approximately six clients that meet at the same time each week and is very different from a support group. You learn new skills and concepts, practice in pairs and with the group, and you have personal assignments each week.
- Mock Interviews & role playing
- Paired phone practice
- Avoidance Reduction Therapy
- Meditation and HeartMath techniques
- New groups opening all the time!
Get Started with a 75-Min Virtual Consultation
Benefits of Group Therapy
- Opportunity for transfer and carry-over of skills to new partners
- Increased resiliency through connection and belonging
- Social skill development
- Inspiration and learning from group members
- More affordable than individual therapy
WHAT CLIENTS SAY:
I have gained a lot of confidence working with you.
RAY | GROUP THERAPY CLIENT
Frequently Asked Questions
Everyone is different. I’ve had clients get what they need in a few months and some need a few years. You can accelerate progress by attending an intensive course, if it’s appropriate for you. You can accelerate your progress by following through and independently putting into action what you are learning in sessions. What you do outside of sessions matters. Weekly group therapy sessions and individual therapy sessions are ongoing with progress check ins.
It is the word commonly used in Great Britain for stuttering. In the United States I find people often use the word stammering to describe a more mild form of stuttering.
Stuttering that occurs in someone who has never stuttered in the past, after a neurological trauma or disease. It can begin after a stroke, traumatic brain injury, with neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and even drug use. It is also possible for someone who had developmental stuttering as a child (which mostly or completely resolved) to begin stuttering again after neurological trauma. Developmental stuttering is the most common form of stuttering which begins in childhood. Neurogenic stuttering typically has an adult onset.
Stuttering which occurs in an adult who has never stuttered in the past, yet there are no medical factors present. The initiation of this stuttering may be linked to emotional stress or trauma that the individual has recently experienced. For example someone who went to war and saw his friends die in front of him or a person who was almost run over by a bus yet had no injury to their head. This form of stuttering is rare.
Everyone experiences normal disfluencies such as repeating a word or using fillers or even having a hard time with language formulation under pressure or when unprepared. This is not the same as stuttering, where the feeling of loss of control, accompanying anticipation and avoidance behaviors are involved. These true stuttering moments fluctuate and are not only during the above mentioned situations. Telling someone who stutters that ‘everyone stutters sometimes’ or that ‘you do also’ usually comes from a kind place and good intentions, but it is inaccurate and also invalidating of the person who stutters experience.
Avoidance Reduction Therapy is based on the work of Joseph and Vivian Sheehan and has been expanded upon, taught, and promoted by clinician Vivian Sisskin. This approach to therapy focuses on becoming aware of and reducing avoidance behaviors, struggle, and fear. It includes stuttering openly. It involves components of identification and desensitization. It does not include working on controlling speech or any physical speech strategies.
