Believe. The first thing that I gained from Lee’s book was the belief that I was able to stop stuttering. Then I transformed this belief into a reality! My name is Brian, I am a Sports Massage therapist from Catalonia and I am currently studying a BSc in Physiotherapy. I work in Wales with my own business, Massage Wrexham.
I have been stuttering since I was a child (around the age of 6). Stuttering prevented me from doing a lot of activities that I wanted to do. It stopped me from studying what I wanted to study, I felt it stopped me from being myself and growing as a human being. In high pressure situations, I was stuttering with 90% of my words. It would stop me from saying my own name, saying my thoughts, emotions, feelings…
In 90% of my conversations, I was focusing on planning my words, changing them and avoiding my “feared words”. This was not a life, speaking should be fun, enjoyable and interesting, not a battle that you have to fight every single day, and usually you always lose it. I felt that I was always losing the battle, until I found Lee’s book. I tried different speech therapists and psychologists during my life, the psychologists being the ones that helped me the most. The sessions that I had were mainly focused on acceptance, forcing myself to stutter so I could not fear it and I would stammer freely. Those methods were great, sometimes I could feel the benefit from accepting my stuttering and stuttering freely. However, I was feeling that if I was able to speak fluent with some people, why not with everybody?
When I first saw Lee’s YouTube coaching sessions, I was fascinated by his approach, and I decided to read his book. While reading his book, I understood that he really believed in his method, in helping others. That was amazing! The book was a combination of science-based research and personal experience. What pushed me to join WSSA team was the fascinating world of neuroplasticity, a topic I have been enjoying studying in university. I joined WSSA, did their courses, and read some of the books they have there. I have had sessions with one of coaches from their team, Javier Valcázar, an amazing coach and a great human being!
After 8 months of being part of WSSA, my speech has improved dramatically. I still have some word repetitions or what I call “mini blocks”, which even fluent people have in some occasions. However, I am able to communicate effectively using the crutches and not appear speech disabled any more. With continued work, I am confident that I can improve even more and reach the next goal, learning to love to speak in all situations. My feared situations have been reduced dramatically and are continuing to fall. Also, the mind training is something that changed my life, made me explore myself at a deeper level and to love to do it daily.
Thanks to Lee, Javier and the entire program for everything, long life to WSSA!
Brian, Wales, United Kingdom –June, 2021.
