Stammer Therapy Has Started
Yes, you read it right. Stammer Therapy has started its journey of creating an impact on the lives of stammerers, whose issues are ignored by many, if not all. However, the start was not easy as it sounds. So, do you want to know our progress in completion of goals, the challenges we faced, any impact created, or how would we carry this idea in future? If yes, lets jump into that.
Did we achieve our goals?
We initiated our project as an awareness advocacy campaign that reached its apex by arranging sessions for stammerers. We, by grace of Allah Almighty, succeeded in both. We were able to engage as many people as we can in our webinar session to make people aware that if this psychological condition is left untreated, can create serious set back to our life. Our aim was to engage youngsters more as they can use the social media power to let our mission grow. The basic moto was to cease the practice of cracking jokes on stammerers. And we incorporated it in their veins by using emotional video clips that no one could repeat bullying a stammer after watching that. Here is a glimpse of our webinar session.
We have accomplished a great deal but we still have work to do. We haven’t achieved all our set goals. We are on the road of it and on that road, we have learnt some hard lessons along the way.
Were there any challenges? If yes, how did we overcome it?
It is well said that whenever you are about to mark difference or initiate something new, hurdles and challenges shall find your door. Right from planning till execution, we faced serious barriers as some stammerers did not agree to get counselling and treatment sessions. It was difficult to win hearts of sufferers because they had believed to live with stammering till they die. In order to overcome it, we molded our task and arranged motivation webinars so that they could realize the worth of these sessions. To make our idea more professional and authentic, we not only developed a website for our idea but also created 2 google forms for our 2 major stakeholders that are stammerers and speech therapists. You can check it on our website (Link is attached).
Moreover, arranging a speech therapist was a difficult task. We found 2 speech therapists in our personal network’s and proposed them our idea, they really liked the cause and agreed on rendering their services for us. But we needed more therapists in order to fulfil the demand coming up from stammerers. We reached many but none was able to provide services free of cost. Somehow, we managed till trial sessions, if we were satisfied by their sessions, we will agree on funding therapists as well. For that, collection of funds is also a big problem. These are days when people lie, betray, ditch for the sake of money. To locate sponsors and then convincing them was something really hard. We are in the process of making it happen and we will.
What was the outcome?
We were quite fortune that despite of all the hurdles, we managed to create impact amongst people for whom the whole project was designed. These were the days where we were most happy and satisfied. We were excited that finally our efforts were about to bore fruit. We arranged an awareness webinar to make our friends and youth aware of this problem so that we can have more hands to manage it. The outcome of our advocacy campaign was a successful webinar and upcoming proper session to our very first candidate. People are getting aware. People want to give us free services particularly student of final year and recent graduates from psychology and speech therapy departments because the want to get their hands on work experience. People are liking our idea and ready to fund us. This is what we believe as our outcome of all struggle and day and night hard work. Our sleepless nights helped make Stammer’s therapy an existence and a power to help the sufferer.
How many people were we able to impact?
In terms of awareness, we were able to engage more than 100 people through our Facebook page and webinar sessions in a very short duration of time. We raised awareness through our Facebook posts and webinar sessions and taught our audience that their is no magical pill to cure stammer but there are speech therapies that can prove to be beneficial in lessening the effect of stammering. Apart from awareness, we were approached by 10 to 12 stammerers for therapy sessions, out of which 4 to 5 has already started taking their sessions with our speech therapists. We succeeded in availing services of 2 speech therapists who are working with us without any charges. The impact could be more but due to COVID, we had some restrictions and because of these SOPs, our working circle was very limited and bounded.
But, would they change their approach in future? Yes, if the they follow and practice the tips and techniques given by their speech therapists, they will surely feel improvement in their speech. So, when stammerers find themselves getting better through these sessions, they will find a way to change their approach and will develop self confidence and communication skills.
How would we continue this project in future?
In the long term, we will require funds in order to pay the professional speech therapists because it is unlikely that they will stick with us without paying them in the long term. Once we get recognized, we will charge basic minimum fees to the stammerers so they will be more serious to take sessions and in turn it will help us in paying their speech therapists. Moreover, as the quarantine gets over, we will pitch our idea in incubation centers so they can fund us. We are looking forward to expanding our message and service all over Pakistan.
Still, if you have any queries or suggestions, we would love to hear from you. You can reach us on Gmail, Facebook page, or our website.
Gmail Id: stammertherapy@gmail.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Stammer-Therapy-105176211560152
Website Link: https://hyvjkokygdayhjj8xjqswg-on.drv.tw/www.stammer.com/