Gareth, his stammer and the McGuire Programme

[Floz]

Gareth, as we know, has a stammer. He has worked hard to conquer it, through the McGuire Programme, a course run for stammerers by recovering stammerers.

Gareth has passed his coaching qualifications and has qualified to be a course instructor - the youngest ever to qualify through the Programme. As we would expect - he passed with flying colours.

Part of each McGuire Programme course involved the participants speaking in public. Here is Gareth speaking on a programme in Stirling 2004.

The following thread brings together a small collection of newspaper and magazine articles and course reports that relate to Gareth and his involvement with the McGuire Programme.

Bournemouth 9th-12th Oct 2003 - Course Report

...

We had a special guest appearance from Sat evening onwards with the presence of Gareth Gates. Gareth is really working hard on his speech now and was a great example to the new students who were obviously excited by his presence. It was stressed though that how on the McGuire Programme everyone is the same. Everyone comes on to work on their speech and is no different from the next person whether they are a brain surgeon, a window cleaner, or a popstar. No-one is special. We are all special. This hit home and Gareth was treated as normal as the next guy. Any autographs and photographs were kept until Sunday afternoon.

…

Gareth Gates also did his best Russel Crowe impersonation from Gladiator. Good fun.

From the Sunday People. March 2004.

From the Coventry Telegraph 2004

Scottish Mail on Sunday April 04

No screaming fans, but Pop Idol Gareth is in fantastic voice

He usually plays to huge audiences of screaming teenage girls.

But pop star Gareth Gates appeared before a much smaller audience in Scotland last week - to give a lecture on how to deal with a speech impediment.

Famously, Gates became known for his pronounced stutter as he auditioned for Pop Idol, but he managed to overcome it to get to the contest final.

Early last week he appeared for an intensive four day course at a hotel in Central Scotland to talk to 55 people on the McGuire Programme, a course that is run across the U.K 'for stammerers by recovering stammerers'.

Among them were Graeme Duffin, guitarist with Wet Wet Wet, a footballer who used to play for Celtic and a young policeman.

Gates has been attending the programme for long enough to become a voice coach to some of the recruits.

Talking frankly to the group last weekend, he revealed he was driven on by his ultimate fear, 'the fear of repeated relapse'.

Using the techniques taught by the programme to keep his speech fluent, Gates told how his stammer was so bad he avoided certain words and sounds.

He said he found relief when he came across the progamme in 2001. He said: 'I picked up the technique quite well and for a couple of months I was strong'

But he revealed that the sudden fame thrust upon him when he lost out to Will Young in the Pop Idol final had knocked him off course.

He added: ' My career became number one priority. I learned the moment you make speech number two in your life is the moment things get difficult and you relapse, and I did'.

Gates admitted that his stammer had been a massive hurdle to overcome psychologically. He said: 'Putting myself up to perform, to be interviewed and voted on was an ordeal.

'Thankfully, the support I had from the programme helped me through'.

The programme was set up by David McGuire, an American who quit his homeland because his stammer made it impossible to find work.

Woman's Own June 04: Finding her Voice

Lifelong stammerer Janey Watt found that conquering her speech problem transformed her personality and won her a special celebrity friend. Believe it or not, even pop idols get stage fright. And when an attack of nerves make a star freeze up before a life show, it can spell disaster.

That’s exactly what happened on 7 February 2003 , just minutes before teen heart-throb Gareth Gates was due to broadcast live on Radio 1 to promote his single, Spirit in the Sky. Terrified that his stammering might ruin the interview, a distraught Gareth was considering abandoning the show altogether. For although the singer had managed to sing fluently in front of huge television audiences during the first series of Pop Idol in 2001, the stammer that had plagued him all his life meant he often found one-to-one conversations nerve-wracking.

At that moment, rendered speechless with fear, there was only one person who could help – his personal speech coach, Janet Watt. A qualified speech therapy instructor, Janey toured with Gareth and was on 24-hour standby to offer the young pop star support when it was most needed. As a former stammerer herself, Janey, 40, was perfectly placed to understand her star client’s anxiety.

For years, even the simplest social situations had been traumatic for Janey because of her severe stammer. ‘I felt a horrible mix of anger and self-loathing because of my speech impediment’, she says. ‘From the age of five, when I first started school, I had to put up with teasing cries of, “J… J… Janey” from the other kids.’The idea of making a telephone call or chatting to strangers in the street filled her with dread, and she became shy and introverted.

‘When you can’t make yourself understood, it creates a spiral of shame and guilt that drags you down’, she says.

In her job as an administrator at Lothian and Border Police, where Janey has worked for almost 25 years, she felt she was often overlooked for promotion.

‘It was frustrating because I wasn’t stupid’, she says, ‘I just had a speech impediment.’ Having tried conventional speech therapy and even alternative treatments such as hypnosis and acupuncture, without success, Janey was understandably sceptical when she first heard about the McGuire programme on television. But despite her initial reservations, she booked a place on a McGuire workshop being held in her home city of Edinburgh, in April 2002.

At the work shop, Janey along with all the other attendees, was made to introduce herself to a camera, in front of about 60 people. She froze, and it took her a full ten minutes even to utter her name. ‘It was so humiliating, I was in tears’, she says, ‘But it’s done the world of good and we are able to highlight how much progress everyone’s made by the end of the course.’ After a few hours of focusing on relaxation and ‘costal’ breathing – a breathing technique used by opera singers to help them prepare for high-pressure performances – Janey was able to feel a sense of control over her speech that she had never experienced before.

‘In one day I seemed to turn the corner’, she says, ‘I began speaking without fear, and it felt great.’

Janey left the four day course a changed woman. Two weeks later, she felt confident enough to apply for a promotion at work. The position of secretary to the Chief Inspector of Lothian and Border Police was an important one, involving inspectors work and dealing with members of the public. Formal situations had always terrified her, but this time, Janey was able to draw on her new-found courage.

Janey passed the interview with flying colours and landed the job. ‘My collegues were amazed’, she says, ‘They couldn’t get over it. Now they tell me what an accomplished speaker I am.’

Janey’s confidence grew and she began to enjoy speaking to people. There was a downside though. A month after the McGuire programme workshop, Janey’s normal telephone bill of thirty pounds had rocketed to £284. ‘I almost fainted when I saw it’, she says. ‘I used to hate talking on the phone and avoided it like the plague.’

Having turned her own life around, Janey decided to help other stammerers by becoming a McGuire programme instructor. Qualifying in just over a year, one of her first jobs was as a voice coach to a very ambitious young man – Gareth Gates. Taking time out from her desk job, Janey mentored Gareth for several months, joining him on publicity trips to Belgium, Norway, Spain, Ireland and the UK. She provided the singer with one-to-one guidance as he dealt with magazine interviews, and television and radio appearances. The two became firm friends.

Now Janey’s success as a recovered stammerer has helped the star, and Gareth announced recently that he, too, has qualified as a McGuire programme instructor.

The Pop Idol runner-up says, ‘I never dreamed I’d be able to handle simple things like phoning up to order a takeaway, never mind speaking on stage at Wembley. Thanks to Janey Watt and Michael Hay, who taught me the McGuire technique, any situation in which I have to talk is no longer daunting.’

Looking back at his stage fright more than a year ago, 19 year old Gareth added, ‘Performing in front of massive audiences is always an ordeal, but thankfully the support I’ve had from Janey and the McGuire programme has helped me through.’

From the Bradford Telegraph and Argus June 2004. - just after he had passed his exams

Pop Star Gareth Gates says he has fulfilled many of his life's dreams after topping the charts and achieving celebrity status.

But the 19 year -old made a special trip back to Bradford to give an inspiring public talk about how controlling his speech problem is the one thing that really turned his life around.

To a crowd of about 30 people at Bradford's Central Library,Gareth spoke clearly and confidently about the days when he stammered through his live interviews on ITV's Pop Idol.

At an open day promoting the Mc Guire Programme,which helps stammerers fight the speech condition,the former Bradford Cathedral choirister from East Bowling revealed he now delighted in giving media interviews and loved speaking.

And he said he was now able to order a Big Mac from McDonald's,a snack he was never able to pronounce clearly before.

"Having that freedom to ask for the food you want and other things in shops makes all the difference in life",he said.

"Taking part in the McGuire project has completely changed my life and i would never have thought I could stand and talk to people like this".

Sun-tanned and relaxed,Gareth spoke for 15 minutes without a single stammer about how he took his first McGuire course in 2001 before pop idol.

But after clinching a place on the show his speech improvement was no longer his first priority.

"But eight months ago I got back on track,went on the course again and now I'm a qualified speech coach,"he said."This time I really put the work in and when I started the course I really was the worst one there.

"Everyone had to say their name on the first day and I just couldn't say my name and I broke down in tears in front of everybody,It's all about being aggreassive with yourself".

But after his emotional journey,which he said he would not have beem able to do without the support and encouragement of his parents Wendy and Paul Gates,Gareth said he now no longer feared interviews.

"I love speaking now.As soon as you take that step of faith and make your speech the number one priority in your life,that's all it takes."he said.

He said it was hard work,and likened it to being an athlete,as exercises in breathing must be done daily.

He said his new ambition was to run a Mc Guire programme and help fellow Stammerers."

"I've got where i want to in terms of my music career but now i want to reach as many people as i can" he said.

"People aren't in control of their own lives because they can't speak and i wnat to reach people and tell them there is a way out"

Hayley Dryden, 15, who has a stammer, travelled from Blythe, in Northumberland, with her family especially to find out more about the programme.

And she said she was delighted when Gareth rang her at home on Thursday evening to encourage her to attend the talk.

And the singer also took time to speak to her personally in the interval.

A tearful Hayley, who is a huge Gareth fan said "He has really inspired me and i will hopefully be going on the McGuire course in October"

Other recovering stammers also gave moving talks about their progress, and how many wished they had taken the course years ago.

They included Alan Rogers, 58 of Baildon, who developed a stammer at the age of three.

Close to tears he told visitors how at meetings it was like "creeping death" as he waited to say his name,

"You get to the point where you aviod those situations and you are always five minutes late but life doesn't have to be like that," said the maintenance manager. I went on the course and i couldn't believe that at the end of four days i could stand on a soap box and talk publicly. It was truly amazing.

Cambridge Course Report - August, 2004 by Alan Wyatt (Intern: Rich Whincup)

If the number of phone calls received following a course is an

indication of how successful a course has been, then the Cambridge

course has to be seen as a success. This week, from the time I get home

from work on an evening to the time I go to bed, I have been on the

phone either taking or returning calls from both new and older grads. I

try to return one call and by the time it's finished I have another 3 or

4 messages.

At the welcome evening and first day videos we were introduced to

sixteen people with ages varying between seventeen to early fifties

displaying a wide range of stammers.

Rich Whincup (undertaking his internship) and I had already decided,

that as fairly old grads, we wanted to instill the sense of discipline

that we had experienced on our first courses. This was made evident very

early on by confronting Kevin Phelps & Gareth Gates when they noisily

entered the room five minutes late. The look on Kevin's face as I bawled

him out and sent them out of the room was perfect. Yes, it was a setup

but I got the point across - thanks guys!

At the earlier session with the new students talking about demystifying

stammering, I asked Rich's wife Vicky, who was at the back of the room,

to unexpectedly pop a balloon. I don't know whether this has been tried

before but it had the exact effect I was after. It demonstrated muscle

response to fear - crouched shoulders (fight or flight) and sudden

intakes of breath (diaphragm contracting).

Thursday was the usual very hard work and everyone was rewarded by the

excellent performance given by the new students saying their names and

addresses late in the evening.

Although two of the original sixteen new students had left by Friday

morning, this did not detract from the efforts of those remaining.

It was always our intention that despite working tremendously hard, we

should also have as much fun as we could. Little word games (to aid

concentration) were used before breaks, sometimes involving everyone,

sometimes two or three volunteers, thereby ending sessions with smiles

on peoples faces.

Before one of the breaks on Friday morning, Terry Cardwell presented the

guidelines for DD in his own inimitable style. Immediately after the

break, I showed Terry's and Rich's first day videos. The effect was

stunning. Absolute uneasy silence (those who have seen these videos will

know the effect that it would have had). All I had to say was "do you

think this programme works?" I think it was at this time that the new

students and some older grads realised what is achievable if you have

the commitment. (Thanks Terry).

As usual, contacts were demonstrated to the new students on Friday

afternoon, every paired grad achieving the magic 100. Reporting back by

the new students was as disciplined as ever. Whilst Rich and I took the

new students in a split session on Friday evening, we gave the old grads

the option of a sports mentality game (the new tennis game in its latest

version) run by Gareth or a session on positive thinking and

assertiveness run by Nigel Cherry and Jonathon Holt.

Following the phone calls, early Saturday morning saw Rich and Terry

running a problem surgery whilst I led the new students in the checklist

and reading out loud.

Later on Saturday, some "big guns" arrived. As soon as Michael Hay,

Edouard Maze-Sencier (short version!) and Chris Meintjes arrived they

were pressed into service. The Harrison workshops, organised by Rebekah

Beevers, were a great success - so much noise in the room with lots of

smiling faces. Then it was time for the new students to go out and do

the business.

I am keen that unpaired old grads are set a challenge (apart from 100

contacts) before they go out. Twice in the past I have set a target of a

15 minute sprint drill. On this course I wanted something different. I

put a PowerPoint slide on the screen with options numbered one to six.

The throw of an oversized dice determined what their challenge would be.

The six challenges were 15 minute sprint drill, disclosures (the number

of disclosures determined by me depending on the person), walk away

drill, telephone hang-up drill, exposure, and bring someone that you do

not know to the public speaking. (It was funny how fate seemed to pick

the one least wanted).

I know that a lot of the grads felt uneasy about their challenge but all

stood up later and said that they were achieved, some even going further

than necessary.

Public Speaking, as always, was a great success. Brilliant sunshine &

large crowds (swelled by the efforts from the previously mentioned

challenges).

Reporting back, once again so disciplined, was a pleasure to watch and

listen to. Smiles all round!

Positive thinking and sports psychology were the subjects of the new

students split session on Saturday evening whilst Keith Ludwig and

Gareth took the older grads for a fun session ending with Family

Fortunes. From the amount of noise heard in the room with the new

students, I gather Family Fortunes was very well received!!

After the students had been sent to bed on Saturday evening, it was time

for the old grads to let their hair down with Matt Wilton's Karaoke

machine in the bar. What a night!! When we were evicted from the bar at

around 00:30, a group of around twenty sat on the grass outside talking

until one of the college Porters insisted we remove ourselves from the

grass - just like naughty school kids.

Phone calls, making and receiving, started off Sunday followed by a

motivational session by Gareth whilst new students were told about going

home. After breakfast a new idea was tried out, a separate session for

the under twenty year olds old grads where school/college/uni issues

could be discussed as well as a different form of goal setting.

The rest of Sunday morning was fairly normal giving some new PC's/CCII's

opportunities to show us what they could do in presenting the Hexagon,

Self Actualisation etc etc. To round off the instructional side of the

course, three staff trainers and two course instructors stood at the end

of the room for twenty minutes answering any questions that were asked.

Before starting the farewell speeches, there was a 45 minute break

during which Vicky (Rich's wife) & Sandra (my wife) held a session for

the friends and family that had arrived to watch the speeches. This took

the form of a short talk followed by question and answers about living

with a Mcguire grad i.e. changes, what to do, what not to do, etc etc.

We purposely kept Mcg people out of this session so as not to inhibit

any questions. This session was very well received - thanks ladies.

The farewell speeches included every new grad reading out a different

inspiration quotation before making their speech before a group of 65-70

people. It was during the so disciplined speeches that Rich showed how

much it had all meant to him - big man, big heart!

There are so many people that I need to thank in making the course so

successful, the new grads for their hard work and trust, the older grads

-without you, it would not have happened. The older grads that took

topics and checklist points - far too many to mention but you know who

you are. Grads that took split sessions as mentioned above.

Special thanks to Rebekah Beevers in taking the bookings and helping out

during the course.

Thanks to Michael, Edouard & George Samios who acted as sounding boards

and let me plagiarize some of their material.

Thanks to Matt Wilton (RD). I know how much work I put into this course

(and am still putting in). I can't even imagine what work Matt has to

do. Lots of respect for all RD's, past and present.

Thanks to Rich Whincup for asking me to supervise his internship. It was

because of Rich and his parents that I joined the programme four and a

half years ago so it was a real privilege and pleasure to be asked.

Thanks finally to our two wives who have had to put up with so much

during the last couple of weeks - water-carriers extraordinaire.

Finally, Rich, Vicky, Sandra and I are going out next Thursday for a

celebratory meal. We will raise our glasses to you all. CHEERS!!

Gareth's own course report from the Swindon course in Feb 2005 - the first course that he led, co-facilitaing with his friend Michael Hay.

Months of preparation. Weeks of careful organisation. Hours of clinical revision, and still I had to be excused 6 times within the first few sessions for

a "toilet break"! I was bricking it, for want of a better expression. But

once the nerves began to settle and those butterflies began to find gentle

formation in my stomach, I began to enjoy instructing.

There is no greater feeling than knowing you've had some input into changing

someone's life. Guiding them to the freedom they've so desperately been searching for. Hence the reason I jumped at Matt's idea of me instructing the 'Swindon 2005 course'. The McGuire programme has changed my life and so I couldn't let the opportunity of me giving something back, pass by.

Wednesday night was quite interesting; it’d been sometime since I'd spoken

to an out of control stammerer and, being so psyched about the course, I

found it an effort not to ask them 'if they'd like to cancel that?'! I got

by in the end and enjoyed my time with the new students. This evening’s events included 5 or 6 grads giving their testimony to how the McGuire programme has changed their lives; an inspiring and motivational session which gave the new students hope for the forthcoming few days.

My sleep was quite unsettled Wednesday night, hoping and praying we'd covered all bases and everything was ready. Surprisingly, this was my latest night on the course...and this was without alcohol!

James Tobin did a great a job of managing to get the students spitting and

blubbering on their feared words! So well done James, mission completed!

It was then that myself and Michael put on our Marigolds and got to work.

23 new students, all eager, pliable and hungry to learn. Some adopted the

technique well, others needed a little assistance. But all ended speaking

strongly and getting out their names and address (and feeling positive) by

the time Thursday was over.

And so began the four day drinking binge for lots of the older grads! But joking

aside, it was so refreshing to see the amount of grads that turned up on the

course. Never before have we had to have three sets of Harrison workshops

to accommodate everyone or had to split the older grads into three very large

groups to ensure everyone fit into the room! There was so much success on

the course and this is essentially down to the grads. They do the majority

of the hard graft, the long monotonous tasks. They shape and mould the new

students, into what they become. So a big thank you to everyone who attended the course, YOU made the difference.

Myself and Michael felt it was important to challenge and give responsibility

to other grads on the programme. This ranged from course instructors to grads not more than a few months old (...in McGuire years). The tasks varied from reading out dinner pairings to teaching a thirty minute session to everyone.

Our only requirement from everyone was to deliver the allocated information

in a new & fresh manner. Michael and I felt that each course is done in the

same old way, using the same old methods, often by the same old people; which is fine for the new students but for lots of the grads who turn up on every course, this becomes a little tedious. So, not only would the new students be learning a vital part of the technique, the older grads will be viewing it in slightly different light. Everyone really stepped up to the mark and

used a different analogy or prop, of some sort, that would make their session

stand out and therefore encourage people to remember. Aaaalan Wyatt dressed up as a judge and delivered the Laws in a way I've never seen before! ... Something so simple, but so effective.

Thank-you to all the grads that accepted the challenge and delivered well.

All the students had achieved a certain level of disciplined fluency and

by the time Saturday came, all were eager to get out on the streets and face

their greatest fear. By 3pm , everyone had congregated in the centre of Swindon for public speaking. Some of the students were a little apprehensive to start

off with, but eventually they were up there, enjoying the people of Swindon 's

attention. It was incredible. They began to believe in what we had told them

and, most importantly, believe in themselves.

By the time Saturday night came, everyone had well earned a celebratory drink. Me, Michael and Matt cracked open the champagne and began to enjoy the fruits of our labour! Everyone really let their hair down and blasted out some tunes on the karaoke. Myself and Michael kicked it off with 'Summer Nights'...obviously I was John whilst Michael enjoyed being Olivia! Winks took to the stage with his rendition of 'I've had the time of my life', which went down a storm! ... Just in case any of you was wondering what the 'JUST REMEMBER' line was about... forget it, it's a personal joke between myself & winks! ... it did catch on though! Such a great night.

Sunday came and everyone was both physically and mentally exhausted, but

the mix of emotions created a buzz in the room. Speaking to the new students

one last time enabled me to see how excited they were about taking their

new found technique out into the real world. Excited about having a conversation with their parents for the first time. Excited about telling their partner they loved them without any struggle. That's what it's about.

Thank yous:

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone. I'm not going to list you

all...you know who you are. But a couple of people do stand out:

Matt - I've accomplished some of my wildest dreams and achieved lots

of my life ambitions, but instructing was the next milestone. It's because

of you that I was given this opportunity. Thank you. I hope our friendship

continues to become stronger and stronger.

Dave McGuire - It's because of one man's dream and desire to help people

that we can now enjoy our freedom to speak. Thank you Dave, you inspire me

and always will.

Keith McManus - It ran perfectly! … that's down to you. Thank you.

There were certain people on my first course that inspired me as a new student.

Heather Lucey (my course instructor), I was speechless when you walked into

the room on Thursday. Thank you for being there, it really did mean a lot;

Martin Coombs; your one of my main inspirations on the programme. Without

you, I couldn't enjoy saying my name... 'cos lets face it, it is a beautiful

name! George Samios; again, you're one of the people I hoped and prayed would come. You being there meant so much. Aaaaalan Wyatt (...& the lovely Sandra!), thanks for being there whenever we needed you, I felt safe having you around!

The list is endless...

Michael - Thank you for all you've invested in to my life. I couldn't have

imagined sharing my first instruction with anyone else. We made it fun right

from the start and had some giggles in the process! I'd have never been a

course instructor without you dedicating 6 months of your life to me and

my recovery. Thank you.

One last thought;

Saturday afternoon. Public Speaking.

Stood there, watching the students was indescribable. I had a lump in my

throat from start to finish. I remember turning to Michael half way through.

We both nodded and smiled. We'd done it. We were living our dream, and helping

people on their way with theirs.

Link to the newsletter here

Reply from Julie Brooks. Course participant on the Swindon course led by Gareth and Michael Hay

I would like to say a big thank you to Gareth Gates and Michael Hay for instructing such a fab course and Matt and Keith also for organising and preparing it. It came to my attention that Gareth Gates has an amazing confidence, no wonder! He is a very successful person and has inspired people all over the world. This got me thinking: “How can one person be so confident and successful and the people standing next to him are not?”

Last year I participated in a course called People with Potential through an organisation called Edinburgh Cyrenians. This was a 3 week course and focused on building self confidence and team work, which was brought together by taking part in several activities such as, climbing up a 40ft climbing frame and walking blind folded through the woods. More importantly as a recovering stammer, I found very interesting the fact we had the opportunity to see how the brain works. Do we see with our eyes or our brains??? This point I found intriguing!

There was a one week residential course that was all about how to break through to excellence, being the best you can possibly be. This is used by Corporate, education, social groups but most of all Military leaders and sports professions, to become a ‘very successful person’. First of all the following text will show you how to make things you want happen. I know I would like to be a very confident fitness instructor and hopefully have a chain of fitness centres in the next 10 years! But the goal of the McGuire Programme is to be an Eloquent Speaker.

Break through to excellence- this will cover many things that interlink with the McGuire programme so you will recognise but will discover more!

Out of control stammers are self trained to react in certain ways, we call this how we are conditioned. Do you remember looking away from a person whom you were speaking to, because you were too ashamed to look them in the eyes? This is conditioning. I can’t say my name so I look away, I use high shallow breathing, I tense up and I use tricks and I don’t give myself time to pause and centre myself.

Do you only see what you want to see? Have you had a conversation with someone and they laugh? You thought they were laughing at the stammer. Why wouldn’t they be laughing at the context? We call this a blind spot a scotoma. You created a picture and blocked out with your senses what your picture did not want to see. This is because you taught yourself over the years that the person only noticed the stammer. You are so negative towards the stammer that this is the only thing that you thought could be the possible answer. You do not believe in yourself to a funny confident person. This doesn’t mean another truth is not there.

I learnt on the people with potential course that our subconscious will do what ever we tell it. If we say to ourselves ‘I can’t, I don’t know’, then because we have told this to ourselves so often it believes this to be the truth! We have to be careful of how we self talk to ourselves. How we think and who we speak to is more important than we think! The right help can make us see what is really there.

Example – Is your diaphragm controlling you or do you control the diaphragm?

You are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time. You therefore block out other ideas and information. You ‘lock on’ to many ideas and beliefs about yourself, then you miss out on other possibilities. You therefore only see and agree with the information that we have looked onto. The rest is ‘locked out’.

People learn in different ways. If you don’t understand one way, you may understand another so don’t say to yourself that you are stupid. All negativity is recorded in the subconscious. A well researched fact states that if we are more positive about our lives, a better life starts. So if we do not understand the checklist or laws it does not mean we are slow or stupid, it just means we need another explanation that we can relate to and understand.

We all forget information we don’t care about. If we are not interested in one subject we will not take in the information as we are selective information gathers. The part of the brain that protects us from input you don’t care about is the reticular activating system- this only lets through things that interested you.

You don’t except compliments, praise or accept your success in life. You gain high self esteem if you can accept all your good qualities and achievements. Feeling the emotion and telling yourself immediately will build your self esteem and confidence, you feel worth it and you attract positive experiences and people into your life. The subconscious records these positives as being truths. Do you remember the first time you made a public speech? Smiling from ear to ear, confidence rising and feeling that you can do anything in world.

“Only by changing some of your beliefs about yourself would you know what your true potential is” by Pacific Institute.

What do you want? You need to programme into your mind exactly what you want. You need to practice, practice and practice until it is easy to see yourself succeeding. By doing this you can change and improve. Your thoughts build into beliefs and self images. Once your version of the truth as we have told it to ourselves is stored, you will then act like it.

How often do you expand your comfort zone? When you are no longer satisfied with the same things we expand comfort zones. Your life becomes exciting and adventurous rather than a scary new situation that you want to avoid. You can visualise exactly what it is going to be like, what emotions you are feeling. You should be seeing yourself confident, relaxed, happy and successful recovering stammerer.

What exactly do you want out of life? We, as recovering stammers need to write one line affirmations. We say exactly what we want to happen in each point in our lives, as if it’s happening already. We should read, picture and feel this and pause to let it sink in. We should try to do this twice a day morning and night.

In my opinion Gareth Gates is successful because he can accept praise, believes in himself and is a positive person!

Hopefully, this will help you all. Now I know the tool to become successful and reach my potential, my life has become more positive. What about you?

“If it’s to be, it’s up to you”

Emma Middleton (course participant) wrote:

I found Swindon the most inspiring,

enjoyable, refreshing and motivating course I've ever been on. This

was because the old grads' needs were made as important as the new

students, and so everyone benefited. I can't find a fitting word that

does Gareth justice, but let's just say he could give up the day job!

Extract from March 2006 course report (Swindon)

One of the highlights of Saturday is undoubtedly the Harrison

Worksop, brilliantly led by Gareth Gates. This got everyone buzzing,

the atmosphere in the room was amazing as everyone was letting go

and having fun! My only regret was that Gareth didn't use the

whistle that Winks had lent him to move the Harrison coaches around,

it is supposed to be the most powerful whistle in the world. Quite

why Winks needs this, we will never know ;-) The New Students felt

empowered and were ready to show unsuspecting members of the public

how eloquent and confident recovering stammerers can be.

Article in The Times April 2006 - about stammering and the McGuire Programme in general

S-s-stuck for words

From Moses to Marilyn, former stutterer Iain Finlayson is in good company

Aesop, Lewis Carroll, Winston Churchill, the Emperor Claudius, the orator Demosthenes, the writer Margaret Drabble, King George VI, the actor James Earl Jones, Gummo Marx, Somerset Maugham, Marilyn Monroe, Porky the Pig, Tiger Woods, the novelist John Updike . . . all these people are stutterers — even, apparently, Moses, who according to Exodus iv,10 said unto the Lord: “O my Lord, I am not eloquent . . . but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”

For us stutterers, there’s comfort in associating our difficulty with similarly afflicted celebrities. And the thing is not to suffer in silence. Stutter, a provocative and imaginative new book by Marc Shell, a recovered stutterer and professor of comparative literature at Harvard University, points out that stutterers are often isolated, though they tend to deny it.

That’s how I used to feel. For most of my life, I’d pass only the occasional remark in company. Conversations circled around in my head like planes in a holding pattern above an airport unable to land. Talking to myself in my head, I was wickedly witty. I silently laughed a lot at my terrific unspoken jokes. Best time I ever spent was when I met a happy deaf-mute guy in a New York bar: we passed the evening scribbling to one another on beer mats.

But then it all changed and the speechorientated world, the glorious global babble, opened up to me as a participant. It started four years ago when I was an out-of-control stutterer, virtually incoherent. Then I took part in something called the McGuire speech-recovery programme — something I wrote about in The Times not knowing what the outcome would be. Well, it’s been successful.

Now I can articulate by controlling my breathing, pausing to formulate my words and talking assertively in a deep and breathy tone, to the extent that a friend once remarked: “Darling! You sound like some terrible old actress!” I like to imagine that I sound more like a laconic Gary Cooper than a tanked-up Tallulah Bankhead, but any technique that gets my words out is fine with me.

There is a continuing debate about whether a stutterer is genetically predisposed to dys- fluency (the technical name for stuttering or stammering) or whether stuttering is a learnt behaviour. (Is it, for example, acquired for some obscure personal benefit?) It has often been believed to be “infectious” and anxious parents or teachers will sometimes isolate stuttering children from siblings or schoolmates.

But not all people with family predispositions end up as stutterers, and not all people who live around stutterers become one. There are usually other contributing factors, both physical and psychological. In Shell’s case, in the year or two after childhood polio, he says: “Paralysis probably affected my physical ability to speak fluently . . . dread of paralysis of both body and speech meant anxiety about both stumbling and stuttering.” Stuttering, of course, is basically a fear of stuttering. The more a challenging word or situation is avoided, the more feared it becomes and the fear is continually reinforced, creating a vicious circle of dysfluency.

The McGuire therapy uses the technique of deliberate dysfluency as an aid to speaking more or less fluently. The idea is to “come out” loudly and proudly as a stutterer, to stutter without shame, to desensitise oneself to the embarrassment of dysfluency, to talk with newly acquired techniques. By squarely facing the stutter, its potency diminishes and disappears.

The process is rather like learning a second language. It’s not uncommon for stutterers to have trouble speaking their mother tongue but to speak another language fluently. Shell, brought up in a Hebrew- speaking family in Montreal, says that he learnt three foreign languages in his life: English, French and Fluency.

The novelist, and stutterer, Margaret Drabble has asked: “Why are there so many professional writers who really stutter when they speak?” The answer lies in language: novelists, poets and other writers develop a vocabulary, style of expression and tone of voice that is their own identifiable language; because they have difficulty with the spoken word, they create a substitute in writing. In my case, critics comment encouragingly on the fluency of my books but I don’t often talk them. I wrote my school revue because I couldn’t perform it. I sang on stage because I couldn’t speak on stage. Again, this is not uncommon. According to Shell, Marilyn Monroe stuttered in her early years. “She overcame her stutter on stage not by speaking normally but instead by breathy singsong,” he writes.

Some speech therapies, including the McGuire Programme, use this technique, too, teaching stutterers to adopt a deep and breathy tone, to speak from the chest rather than from the thorax.

Like some actors, opera singers also learn the technique of breathing from the lower (costal) diaphragm rather than from the upper (crural) diaphragm to maximise the flow of air over the vocal cords. The result is a moderated fluency and, as a bonus, a sexy voice.

All through the time I stuttered severely, a poem from Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses stayed with me: “I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.” My shadow was my stutter.

Like Peter Pan, I’ve lost it but, unlike Peter, I’m not going looking to reattach it.

Famous people with a stammer.

Taken from this site which providea details about a number of famous people who stammer.

Gareth Gates - by Gina Waggott (England)

"I lived through my music because I couldn't speak well," said an 18-year old Gareth Gates when asked about how stuttering had affected his life. Now in his early 20's, Gareth still lives through music as an international star, never letting his speech hold him back.

The British public took Gareth to their hearts after his participation in "Pop Idol," a talent show format that has since been recreated around the globe. Week by week Gareth sang his way through to the finals of the competition, despite struggling to speak between songs, to the judges, or to the press, who put stuttering on the UK map along with Gareth's increasing fame.

Since then, Gareth has had a string of hits in Britain and abroad, and continues to speak openly about his speech after his participation in the McGuire Programme. Although he still says he finds some speaking situations a challenge, he will never back down or give up, saying "You shouldn't let it stop you from what you want to do."

Gareth is currently in the studio recording his third album.

Gareth leads another McGuire course in August 2006 - in Galway.

To be continued ......

[Floz]

Gareth led a course in Galway in August 2006. Below are a collection of reports and comments

From Michael Hay's blog Mucho Habla

Just got back from the Galway McGuire Programme course late last night. Great craic indeed. I really enjoyed this course for a number of reasons.

The course was being instructed by Gareth (Gates) and he did a great job. I think everyone was impressed with his instructing style and ability to hold the room. This was his first real test as he was instructing on his own and he passed with flying colours, and then some. The course had a great mix of discipline and fun and that was all down to Gareth. Galway also seemed to enjoy listening to him speak at the public speaking on the Saturday…

On the plane over we were chatting about what it feels like to instruct a course, being a part in changing other people’s lives. It’s a great feeling to be able to do such a thing and it’s also a great feeling to be able to put back into the programme what you’ve gotten out of it yourself. There’s nothing like watching the goodbye speeches and seeing the new students articulate their thoughts and emotions. We wondered what the new students would be like.

There was, as always, a mix of real covert and overt stutterers. All of them, however, had great control over their speech after only 3 days and spoke to strangers on the streets of Galway as well as doing public speaking. The goodbye speeches on the Saturday night were quite emotional as the students spoke extremely eloquently from the heart.

There was a real energy amongst some of the grads too. I’ve not been on an Irish course of 2 years and it seems that there is a new batch of grads who are just really motivated, energetic and strong. A terrific bunch of people and I made some great new friends. This just makes me really pleased for Joe O’Donnell, the Irish Regional Director, as I know a lot of them could do staff training and move forward to do great things in the Irish region.

Met some old friends and made some great new ones. Thank you Joe and thank you Galway.

From a Blog by Hein van der Merwe, a McGuire course participant

Galway with Gareth Gates

The Galway course I attended this weekend was the biggest one I ever attended. We had about 70+ recovering stutterers in the room at any time. Gareth Gates was indeed the course instructor and he did a very fine job. He as been on the program for four years now and really is a good example to us all. The preparation and effort he put in and the way he handled the course really impressed me.

Report from the Ireland MgGuire programme blog

This August 2006 course was a milestone of the McGuire Programme. It was the 10th anniversary of the McGuire Programme coming to Ireland, our first Irish course being held in Bray, Co. Wicklow in August 1996.

11 new students joined us to begin their recovery from stammering. Videos showed that we had a split camp: 70% covert and 30% overt. Just remembered, there were 11 new students on the August 1996 course as well….strange!

Gareth Gates was our course instructor for the weekend and on Wednesday evening he gave a short presentation on the programme and on his own recovery.

We had a Speech & Language Therapist attend the full course and she was very impressed with our teaching style, enthusiasm, dedication, support network, etc. She even took to the soap box on the Saturday and delivered a very positive speech.

We decided to run a split session on the Thursday morning to warm up the grads for their three busy days ahead. While this session was taking place, the new students had 11 very strong grads opposite them to get the costal breathing underway.

Throughout the course Gareth got the grads involved in formulation games as part of the pre-break routine. This worked well over the weekend and lightened the atmosphere.

All 14 refreshers from the April 2006 course attended this course. This was the first time that this happened, in my memory.

All new students had little or no difficulty in giving their names, addresses and phone numbers to the group on Thursday night.

Friday morning began with disciplined phone calls from the new students followed by a session for all on the checklist. At this stage as on most courses, more and more grads were on the floor giving their well prepared presentations.

All the new students decided to stay with the programme and I wish them success.

Friday lunchtime, about 100 grads made their way to Galway city centre and nearly all achieved their target of 100 contacts.

Friday night, Sylvester Carruth ran a very enjoyable ‘fun’ session with the grads while Gareth took the new students.

As it was our 10th anniversary, we arranged a party to celebrate the momentous occasion. After the final course session on Friday night, we all were treated to supper, champagne and of course a lovely cake. There were also pictures of grads and instructors from each course 1996-2006 on display.

More disciplined phone calls on Saturday morning. Gareth showed us a video he and Michael Hay done as a preamble to the Harrison workshops. Michael O Shea ran an excellent Harrison Workshop which was followed by street contacts.

Public speaking was held on Shop Street and a very large crowd gathered to hear the speeches. It had been printed in the local newspapers that Gareth would be in town on Saturday afternoon so there were fans of his on every street corner waiting to catch a glimpse of him. The speeches were fantastic. Each new student did not hold back in getting up on the soap box. Nearly all new students made the 100 contacts.

Family and friends arrived on Saturday night for the farewell speeches and quite a lot of grads stayed till the very end of the course which is a great indication of the commitment the grads have towards this great programme.

There was an international flavour to his course as we had grads from UK, Norway and South Africa attend and I have to say, they were all excellent as were the army of Irish grads.

A big thank you to Gareth who inspired us all throughout the course. He’s a man of great qualities. He’s charismatic, mannerly, confident, knowledgeable, caring, supportive to name but a few. Oh! He’s a great singer too.

His use of technique was outstanding throughout the course and the new students and grads were privileged to have Gareth as their course instructor. I know Gareth will instruct again in Ireland in the not too distant future.

I also wish to thank Pauline and her staff at the Salthill hotel. We’ve been holding courses in the Salthill hotel for over 3 years. Just before we all began to arrive to the hotel on the Wednesday of the course, Pauline briefed all her staff (receptionists, waiters, cleaners, bar staff) on dealing with our members. She explained about not finishing off our sentences, maintaining eye contact, giving us time to speak, etc. Thanks Pauline.

Finally to Dave, a big thank you from all the ‘McGuires’.

Gareth's own report from here

McGuire Programme

Course Report - Galway, August 2006

Gareth Gates

06:00 hours. BEEP BEEP! The Alarm sirened persistently like a ‘Guards’ car! A couple of snoozes later, I was up and in the shower! And so began the journey from Hell! But to be concise; Delayed Flight + Delayed Train + Broken Down Train + STRESS = a 13 hour journey from London - Galway! Urgh!

I arrived at the hotel completely differently to how i’d envisaged. I wanted a couple of hours to get familiar with the place, have a warm up, have a shower… It was completely the opposite. I walked in at about 7:55pm and we began the first day videos at 8pm! The course had begun…

It became very apparent, from the first day videos, that we were dealing with a whole mix of different stammers; A nice mix of overt and covert. Michael Hay did a fine job of getting the new students leg slapping, coin jingling, b-b-b blocking on their feared words… mission completed! The students did well and I admired their courage. Shortly after, I gave my introduction speech; highlighting the key elements of the course such as; Course approach and Goals, Physical locations of a block, Approach Avoidance, and generally giving the new students an insight into what a stammer is. We broke to have an early night.

I didn’t sleep easy on wednesday night. A mixture of excitement and nerves kept me from falling asleep. I certainly could have done with a few pints of Guinness to help assist, but I refrained! …and felt better for it in the morning!

All 11 new students turned up to the first session on the Thursday morning. All eager to beat the habit that had tormented their lives for too long now. You could really see this in the eyes of the new students. With this attitude, it wasn’t long before we started to see results. From then on in, the course went swimmingly and by the time thursday evening came all new students were able to stand up and recite their names and addresses. A very emotional evening… and again an early night for me!

The majority of Friday was filled with the older Grads taking sessions to which they’d prepared prior to the course. I felt it was important to give as much responsibility to the grads as possible. It not only stretches and challenges them, but it’s healthy for the new students to hear other peoples view and perspective on things.

When assigning responsibility, I’d asked all grads to deliver their presentation in a new / fresh manner. A way that the older grads may have not seen or heard before… but still highlighting the key facts. This way it keeps the older grads on their toes as I’m sure they get a little bored with hearing the same old lists, said in the same old way, presented in the same old way. Most grads stepped up to the challenge. Some grads really excelled… Ger McGrath was one to name but a few. His session on the Rules and directions with his pre-prepared sign post was fantastic …and Diarmuid Dorney with his full judge attire will most probably stick in peoples minds for a long time to come. Well done guys and thank you.

Friday night: A select few decided we’d push out our comfort zones in the bar. I introduced a little game titled ‘Ibble Dibble’ ! And in case anyone was wondering what the hell the black cork marks were on people’s heads… they’re called ‘Dobbles’. ‘Ibble Dibble’ is a speaking game that challenges the formulation of both fluent and ‘non-fluent’ speakers alike. I must say, us recovering stammerers certainly did better than you fluent speakers… didn’t we monica?! …well apart from Mark Spiers (aka bob aka britney!) who really let the side down and ended looking like he’d spent a whole afternoon down’t pit! I pity the fool!

It was this night that a few of the McGuire girlies took the liberty to teach ME a song! Or at least a phrase from a song… it went something like ‘Hey baby let the free birds fly’ ! I can’t get it out of my head… I just hope I don’t sing it in the wrong company! Thanks Girls. After a few glasses of champagne (to celebrate the Irish McGuire praogramme’s 10th year

anniversary) I retired, looking forward to the day that lay ahead.

Saturday came and it was time to put everything that we’d learnt to the test. The new students were physiqued about doing contacts. Most of them really couldn’t wait to get out there. So after a very well led Harrison Workshop by Michael O’Shea, we did it. People went at their own pace, but most secured 100 + contacts. Well done guys. This was followed by public speaking. Which again, went amazingly. The people of Galway really accepted us well and the new students excelled. Again, a very emotional afternoon.

A little more work led up to the goodbye speeches. Thank you for everyone’s kind words and well done to everyone who got up.

Saturday night was certainly a night to remember. I’m not going to list all the drunken antics! …but lets just say we achieved the goal we set out to get… a lock-in at a club or pub! And we managed to get back in-time for breakfast …before bed! Well done to those that held out the whole night, and pity on those that didn’t! Glad we all met a new friend, SCOTT! Arrrrgh!

Thank you’s

I’d now like to take this opportunity to thank everyone. Without the older Grads the course just wouldn’t be possible. They do the coaching, not me. So thank you to all that turned up.

Thanks to everyone who took a session: Elizabeth Drummond, Sandra Kelly, Brendan O Carroll, Barry McGee, Ger McGrath, Aoife Corbett, Michael Donovan, Darren Benham, Brian Cornelia, Michael O’Shea, Gareth Meaney, Diarmuid Dorney, Sylvester Carruth, Sadia Bytyqi, Victoria Bell, Clairemarie McGrath, Mark Spiers, Oonagh Sheridan, Philip Reiley, Brendan Hyland, Colin Reddington, Michael Hay. And the Refreshers that read the pairings: Finbarr Farmer, Niamh O’Kane, Kevin Honer, Maggie Bloomer and Laura McKernan.

Thank you to all the staff at the Salthill hotel for their hospitality and doing things at the drop of a hat. It’s certainly one of the best hotels i’ve attended a McGuire course in. I’ll be back!

Thank you to my UK McGuire possee! Michael Hay, Jayne McElhone & Mark Spiers, for all your love and support. We’ve always been there for each other, and always will be. Thanks guys, you inspire me.

Joe - Instructing a course on my own was my next milestone in life. Thank you so much for giving me that opportunity. I didn’t realize how hard an RD works, but working closely with you over the past few months has really opened my eyes. I have allot of respect for you mate, thanks.

Dave McGuire- As i’ve said, It’s because of one man’s dream and desire to help people that we can now enjoy our freedom to speak. Thank you Dave, you inspire me and always will.

The list is endless…

Although, one person in particular really inspired me on this course. Sadia Bytyqi. Her charisma and eagerness to get more and more involved never ceased to amaze me. I think she should be an example to all of us in that it doesn’t matter what age you are, or how much you think you ‘know’, hard work and dedication is all thats required. Her discipline never fluctuated once. Well done Sadia, and thank you.

Final thought;

Stood there on Saturday afternoon, listening to the new students speak so eloquently was indescribable. A phrase that someone once said came flooding back to me; The new students didn’t get down off the soap box, they got up from it. And that summed it up for me. We don’t have to accept everything we’re given in life. Apathy stops us from moving forward. We do, however, have a choice. You make that choice. And you take ownership and responsibility of whatever decision you make. Because remember, only you can make a difference.

Gareth Gates

Recovering Stammerer