Ireland - course report
Galway, 04 Nov 2009
Course Report by Joe O DonnellHi all,
Our final course for 2009 saw 21 new students arrived in the Salthill Hotel in Galway in order to deal with their stammering problem. 3 of the students were female, 18 male and 2 were under 18 years of age.
Approximately 50% showed covert characteristics and 50% overt.
Peter Connolly was the instructor on this course and on Thursday morning he began with explanations of: why we stammer, areas of speech blocks, cycle of panic, cycle of blocking and diaphragmatic breathing followed by drilling of the breathing, phonating sounds, hit & hold, block release and on to the checklist.
Further sessions were run on cancellation, deliberate dysfluency, stairway to eloquence, what to do with a feared word, approach avoidance conflicts and assertiveness.
Split sessions were run at various stages throughout Thursday for the grads on discipline, drilling hit and hold, checklist, directions and laws, motivation, stairway to eloquence, how to move forward in recovery.
Like on the previous course, we decided to run a split session on the new students reporting back on Thursday night in order to speed things up. This proved very beneficial as we had many course instructors and interns attend the course. The new students showed great character and courage and of course good solid technique.
Friday morning sessions included reading aloud, checklist, directions, laws, assertive rights, overkill.
And so, the new students and graduates headed onto the streets of Galway for contacts and disclosures. The weather was mixed but the graduates persevered to achieve their goal.
Split sessions for the graduates were held on the self-actualisation, moving forward, hexagon, and a quiz ran by Brendan O Carroll.
Friday night reporting back by the new students was also a split session and the students showed great technique.
Saturday included sessions on reading aloud and sports mentality.
The Harrison workshops were organised and run by two very able graduates Conor Judge and Padraic Hamrogue and their team of 14 coaches. It was a fantastic session as everyone let go and had fun speaking. Thanks Conor and Padraic.
Public speaking was held on Shop Street at 2pm and despite the rain, a few hundred people gathered to hear the new students, refreshers and graduates speak powerfully from the soap box.
Family members of the new students arrived on Saturday evening to hear their loved ones deliver very emotional and disciplined farewell speeches. This was yet another special moment in many people’s lives.
Thanks to all the grads and refreshers who took time out of their lives to attend this course to help the new students and each other on the road to freedom.
Thanks to the grads and refreshers who did presentations on this course. You all prepared well and it showed on the day.
Thanks to the refreshers and grads who read out the pairings lists and those who showed their video on the course.
To the instructors, interns and staff trainers for all the behind the scenes work that very few people get to see.
A big thanks to all those who did one to one sessions throughout the course.
To Dave McGuire, for this wonderful programme and for taking time out to talk with each student on the Saturday afternoon.
A big thanks to Kathleen Connolly for her work in helping Peter and many other students and graduates in their recovery.
To our course instructor Peter Connolly, a huge thanks to a truly inspirational man who put so much thought, drilling and preparation into making this course a special one. Peter is a great individual who has a very warm way with people and I can’t wait to see Peter instructing again.