The USA/Canada region of The McGuire Programme - Beyond Stuttering were delighted to offer our first online course.

During the pandemic, we worked hard to accommodate the requests received to bring our programme to those who could not attend courses as we had to cancel all of them. We were delighted to be able to bring hope to those who wanted help with their stutter and to welcome them to the McGuire Community.

We are thrilled to report that our first virtual course took place in December and it was a huge success.  For years we have had many inquiries asking us to hold online events but we always believed that new students needed to be immersed in our traditional residential course setting in order to get the basics as a first step to taking advantage of our huge support network. 

"Stuttering and Avoidance had always been interchangeable concepts for me. Why engage the world when I could just hide in the isolating yet comforting cocoon of my silence?

I avoided every speaking situation that I could and those that proved unavoidable never failed to trigger deep feelings of shame, embarrassment, and anger. 

I despised being “different”. I despised this merciless affliction that prevented me from saying the words to express my thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I despised myself.

I have been an overt stutterer for as long as I can remember. I learned of the McGuire Programme™ and attended my first course when I was nearing forty.

The 2020 Washington, DC, McGuire Programme course almost didn't happen.  The COVID-19 pandemic was just starting to get serious in the USA, but attendees were polled and decided to hold the course.

Though some had to head home early, everyone made the most of their time at the course and was glad that they came.

It was a truly international course, with members from the UK, Sweden, Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, and across the USA coming together to help each other overcome their fears of speaking.  Said one new student,

Vice President Biden is well known in the stuttering community as someone who has struggled with - and overcome - his stuttering.

He made the most of a unique opportunity to elaborate on the challenges we all have faced every day of our lives, and I was struck by how much his words embody two foundational McGuire Programme beliefs: