About us - what to expect
We will instruct, motivate and support you during your recovery from stammering. However, it is up to you, through the strength of your personal motivation, to work hard enough and long enough with us to get the best results from our Programme and to help you succeed.Three or Four Day Intensive Course
In the first stage, to give yourself a strong foundation for your recovery, you will attend a three or four day (depending on the region), residential intensive course. You should be prepared to work very intensely to learn the techniques that will help you to overcome your stammer.
Accommodation
During your first intensive course, we recommend that you stay in the hotel where the course is held and that you share a room with an experienced graduate of the Programme. This graduate will assist you during the course. If you prefer to stay in a single room, we will do our best to meet your requirements. We will organise and provide you with details of the accommodation.
Personal Coach
Following your first course, you will be assigned a personal, certified, Primary Coach. Your Primary Coach is your first line of support and will be available on call to help you, especially through the important, sometimes difficult, initial stages of recovery.
Six Week Follow Up Workbook
You will be given a workbook containing a structured support plan for the first six weeks of your recovery following the course. This initial period is crucial to your progress and the workbook will help you to keep focused on the continuing work you will be expected to do to maintain recovery.
Lifetime Follow Up Support
Lifetime follow up support is provided for you after your first course. We don't just train you in the McGuire technique and then let you go your own way. We positively want you to succeed and we will work to help you succeed. In addition to your Primary Coach, other coaches and graduates are on hand, in person or on the telephone. There will always be someone you can meet or call to discuss any of your speech problems and who will plan ways and means with you to resolve any speech-related issues that may arise during your recovery.
Course Manual
You will be given a copy of the course manual during your first intensive course. This manual incorporates all you will learn on the intensive course. It also provides broader background information that fully explains the reasons for the techniques and the thinking behind them.
Support Groups
Support Groups operate throughout the world on a weekly or fortnightly basis to provide personal contact, active support and special sessions designed to help you practice your new speaking habits with other graduates in your area. One day and weekend refresher events are also arranged by support groups to help reinforce your improved speaking skills.
Further Intensive Courses
Once you have paid your membership fee, you become a lifelong member of the Programme and you are welcome to return to as many intensive courses as you like. You become a graduate of the Programme when you have completed your first full course. The additional courses you choose to attend are opportunities to consolidate your skills and understanding as well as helping to train new students in the technique. Even in the early days of your recovery, you will be able to assist, inspire and support new students on their first intensive course.
Telephone Support
The Programme has developed a worldwide telephone support network to which you have full access. This enables you to obtain guidance and support from experienced coaches whenever you need it. All coaches are experienced graduates of the Programme who have undergone special training to support you during your recovery.
Online Support
There is also a worldwide private Internet discussion group where you can make contact with other graduates to discuss various issues, gain support and share information. In addition, many of the coaches on the Programme can be contacted online via VoIP services such as Skype or iChat.
Training Opportunities
The McGuire Programme consists entirely of graduates who have themselves been through the Programme. All our course instructors, coaches and administrators are recovering stammerers. We run training courses for graduates who wish to develop their skills and use these skills to support other people who stammer.
Lifelong Membership
The lifetime membership entitles you to access all the Programme resources listed above. The Programme is here for you to use as much or as little as you want. Our aim is to help YOU to recover from YOUR stammer, and to start enjoying this wonderful sport we call speaking.