Lauren: Empowering Voices made me healthier, happier, and a more fluent person.

Happy me: Mastering costal breathing using the Empowering Voices technique and wearing my costal breathing belt.

Hey everyone, my stuttering journey is a little different than the majority of people I met through Empowering Voices.

My stutter began when I was 25, seemingly out of the blue. I work from home on the phone, supporting and advising distressed members of the public.

I don't remember the specific moment; I just remember realising I had been avoiding words beginning with W and T. As soon as I made this connection, all words that began with those letters began causing me problems. I have never repeated sounds or involuntarily slid on words; I have only ever blocked words.

I studied counselling at university, so I immediately went down the research route to try and find other case studies of a stutter like mine; this posed much difficulty. I found the majority of stutters that didn't start in childhood were triggered by a form of trauma. I did not fit into this category, so I felt very isolated. I couldn't figure out a reason why it had begun; this confused and desperate feeling caused a spiral of me blocking on many more words rather than just the specific letters it had begun with.

I tried to force myself through blocks for a few months without success; however, I was still only blocking at work.

I then went through a break-up around Christmas 2023, which made my blocking a lot worse than before. It wasn't a traumatic break-up, although my base anxiety level was raised as we still had to live together for a month or so. Around this time I began blocking in my personal life too. I felt very conflicted at this point as I was still trying to hide my stutter from friends and family. When I began to block, I would say I couldn't remember something, start coughing or change the subject so people wouldn't notice.

Me, with the Tame Your Stammer Pop-up. One step closer to fear-free speech.

After seeking help through YouTube videos, opening up to a few people I trusted or going to a safe haven to ask for advice, I didn't get anywhere and felt helpless. I received sympathy, but no, that's not what I wanted; I wanted a way to be able to speak as I once did. No one I had spoken to knew how to help an adult who started stuttering seemingly without cause or any family history of a stutter. I also knew no one who had a stutter and began to accept it was going to continue to get worse.

I continued on this path of my stutter affecting my mental health until October 2024. On a seemingly inconsequential Tuesday, I was in a meeting with my boss after crying over the fact that I couldn't talk to one of our clients who needed me. She suggested getting in touch with the charity STAMMA. From there, I was advised to have a look at the Empowering Voices course, and on that same day, I got a phone call from Ian. As soon as he started speaking, it was like a wave of relief came over me; I was actually speaking to someone who had a stutter! Someone who understands the constant anxiety of a seemingly simple conversation. The course I attended in Peterborough has made me a healthier, happier, and more fluent person. I stopped feeling alone, thanks to all the amazing people I met. I started believing that with the costal breathing technique, I could feel more confident and be more fluent.