The buzz of a second in-person course in the UK this year continued in Manchester with 80+ people attending. This was a mixture of new students, people returning for their second course, older graduates looking to take the next step working on their speech and coaches who return to not only help themselves but to support the new students on their first steps to controlling their speech.  

Ben Browett and Paul Paluch did an amazing job instructing the course with a good balance of discipline required to succeed and have fun. You would never have thought that this was Ben’s first instruction since passing his Staff Training to become an instructor only a month ago. Paulina Byczewska organised the course brilliantly and her natural organisational skills meant the course ran really smoothly.

To be a new student on the McGuire Course you need to want to change and feel ready to ‘take on’ your stammer. You need to be ready to confront those negative habits, thoughts, feeling and emotions and be prepared to do whatever is needed to win. The physical technique is the foundation taught and this need to be practised over and over again until you get it right. This is partly why the courses are so intense, long hours and taught in an adult way. All new students proved in the meetings before the course that they wanted it badly and that they would give 100% and trust the programme and all the many coaches teaching them.  

All 7 new students had lots of challenges to confront. Never did they avoid this despite all having high fear levels. The course is delivered in a certain way to increase confidence in our speech and to build up too wanted to take on these speech challenges. All of them brought bags of courage with them which made a huge difference when dealing with a stutter and having to confront those tricks and avoidance techniques from the past. The change in the new students thought the course was remarkable thanks to their determination and the skills of the instructors and coaches.

Two weeks on from the course and the new students (now graduates) have still been following directions, calling their coaches daily, the phone list of coaches, attending the two weeks of daily zoom meetings and pushing out of their comfort zones. Some have needed support to help reduce the fear in the more challenging situations, but they have all done it. Some have been working hard to kill the fear of certain words or sounds facing them, but they have all done it. There is no cure for stammering however even though we stammer, this does not have to stop us from saying what we want to say when we want the say it. The stammer does not need to control us anymore. Such courageous winners, every one of them.