Empowering Voices isn’t just about our three-day courses it also offers unparalleled ongoing FREE support.
We hold regular support groups and have active Facebook and WhatsApp communities, always on hand to offer help. Below, Daniel talks about the importance of a further strand of our support that he finds particularly useful: the Support Directory.
Anyone who has been on a costal breathing course such as Empowering Voices, or a similar course many of its members were previously involved with, will confirm on the final day of the course, you head home full of enthusiasm and positivity on how your new-found (or newly refreshed) skills will have a huge impact on your life. Costal breathing has given you a degree of control over your speech you never thought you would have. This is only underlined when you speak with good control in situations that would previously have been hugely challenging or that you would have avoided altogether. The breathing technique works beautifully!
It is, however, possible that after some time, this confidence in the technique might wane a little. Perhaps one speaking situation didn’t go quite as well as you would have liked, and a tiny bit of doubt creeps into your head. It’s important to nip these doubts in the bud and move on from them quickly with new positive experiences. The Support Directory is the ideal tool for such situations where you need to take a step back and regroup. Speaking to mentors from Empowering Voices will give you an opportunity to identify where you might need to fine-tune your technique and will give you the chance to practice your speech in a safe and supportive environment.
Perhaps you need to slow your speech down (a very common issue!), or push out all residual air at the end of speaking. Perhaps you need to reduce the number of words per breath or maintain more focus when speaking by, for example, making eye contact. You might also need to practice taking fast and full breaths and speaking immediately at the top of each breath. There are many aspects of the costal breathing technique that may need a little tweaking to make it work best for you, and speaking to someone on the phone who is experienced in using the technique can be a huge benefit.
I have been using costal breathing for over twenty years, and during that time, I have taken support in the form of a telephone list on countless occasions. I use it to rebuild my confidence when I am not using the technique as effectively as I want to, and I need to work on basic principles to get myself back on the right track. Don’t feel that you should only call people you know from a course or people you feel a particular connection with. It’s not so much about catching up with friends (although that’s obviously also nice!) it’s about working on your speech and getting your technique working well for you.
Don’t worry about not having anything to talk about if you speak to someone you’ve never met before, you will! Things inevitably begin with a chat about how your speech has been going recently or which courses you’ve been on. From there you will find that you quickly start discussing experiences you’ve had and what you’d like to get out of your conversation with the mentor. Before you know it, twenty minutes will have passed. Over the years I have had some fantastic conversations with people and have heard incredibly inspiring stories that have left me feeling as positive and motivated as I felt on my very first course. Calls like that can really have a huge impact on your mental attitude and move you on miles in your journey to controlling your stammer. As you become more experienced in using the technique you may also find that you want to challenge yourself more. When using the Support Directory I seek out landline numbers because this means that I may have to speak to a non-stammerer, give my name and ask for the person I want to speak to.
Taking the help and support from mentors has got me to a position now where I also make practice calls ‘in the real world’, not only to the support directory. This would have been unthinkable for me before I learned the costal breathing technique. Using the phone used to be a huge problem for me before I learned to control my stammer, and I would avoid it at all costs. Now it’s an important tool I use as part of my strategy for building and maintaining confidence in the costal breathing technique.
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