NAU student starting support group for people who stutter in northern Arizona | Arizona Daily Sun
A graduate student at Northern Arizona University has started a stuttering support group for the Flagstaff area.
Aspen Jester is in the process of earning her master’s degree in clinical speech language pathology (SLP) and will be graduating from NAU in May.
She will be incorporating some of her studies in the field (and in behavioral neuroscience and speech-language-hearing: sciences and disorders during her bachelor’s degree at the University of Kansas) as well as her experience as a person who stutters to the task of leading the new support group.
The group meets on the first Monday of each month from 6:20 to 8 p.m. in the Health Professions Building on NAU’s campus. Adults and teens 13 years and older can attend, and the program is open to people who stutter as well as their friends and family members and other interested locals.
The new support group is a local chapter of the National Stuttering Association (NSA); the next-closest chapter is based in Tempe.
Jester said she first learned about the organization in speech therapy as a child and that this spring she received an association scholarship.
“About in October of my first year in graduate school, I began to realize that there aren’t any resources in Flagstaff for people who stutter,” she said. “Support groups for people who stutter are a very important addition to the therapeutic process.”
Jester also said she wanted to increase her advocacy and thought that starting a support group would be the way to do so, as she had been attending a different organization’s stuttering support group virtually.
She then reached out to NSA, connecting with a regional chapter coordinator, who led her through the process of starting a new support group. She also said that NAU’s Communication Sciences Department and especially Judith King were also “extremely helpful” in starting the group.
The group’s first meeting was in October. Though turnout was low, Jester said this was expected for new groups. She expressed optimism that the program would grow over time. The first session focused on sharing methods for advocacy and education to SLP students.
She has plans to offer a variety of support as it continues. Jester will lead the sessions, sharing resources, leading informal topic-based discussions and providing a space for connection.
Eventually, she said she hopes to move to a book club format, going through different resources collectively.
“I think it’s important to connect with the people who stutter in the community,” she said, “create an opportunity for everyone to share both their experiences, their recent new findings about stuttering, their emotions, their feelings, just create a trusted space.”
The plan is for the group to run year-round and continue even after Jester’s graduation. While she will be moving to Denver for an internship, she already has plans in place to ensure the group continues.
She also has plans to stay involved with another chapter of NSA after her move.
“I plan to always be an advocate and an ally for the stuttering community and always be involved in that group therapy area of things,” she said. “I think it’s helpful for me as a person who stutters, and it’s also just a very rewarding feeling. I have always loved helping people who stutter and the population trying to find their voice; that’s kind of why I went into speech language pathology.”
More information can be found at westutter.org.
Those interested in attending the Flagstaff support group are encouraged to fill out a Google form that’s linked to the QR code on the group’s flyer, or RSVP by emailing flagstaffnsa@gmail.com.
See the original article on the Arizona Daily Sun.