Stutter school grows confidence
Jack Hoetjes is keen to walk the talk. Conversation now flows easily for the recovery stutterer, who attended the McGuire Programme more seven years ago in Palmerston North.
It helped to tackle his fear of speaking, with techniques for concentration, assertiveness and non-avoidance. He now wants to help other stutterers.
‘‘The McGuire Programme has really turned me around,’’ says Hoetjes, ahead of the programme’s Christchurch refresher course for graduates in July.
It gave him ‘‘a bag of tools’’ and a new-found confidence that enabled him to do things he never thought he was capable of.
As a bakery purchasing and inwards goods manager, Hoetjes has led a team for the last two years. It is a role that relies heavily on communication.
Having the confidence to instruct others is easy now but it was different in his 20s and 30s.
‘‘I’ve had a stutter for as long as I can recall.’’
Hoetjes says people with stammers or stutters are affected by perceptions, intentions, beliefs, emotions and behaviour, with things like stress playing a huge part in bringing on speech blocks.
‘‘At first it didn’t bother me. You just get on with what you do and enjoy playing. As I got older, I became more aware that I had something different to other people.’’
Through his schooling and university days it always ‘‘bugged’’ him and affected his confidence.
He recalls the time he once phoned his now wife, Julieanne, to ask her on a date. Answering to her parents, Hoetjes could not get out her name. He is still plagued by the memory of a primary school production, where his stutter played up on his one punch line.
‘‘There is a lot of guilt and a feeling of letting people down.’’.
While at university, Hoetjes wanted to be a primary school teacher but, because of his stutter, was told to consider another career path.
He went on to do stutter courses and saw speech-language therapists.
Through ‘‘hard work’’, he learned to control the condition.
‘‘There is no magic dust that someone can sprinkle on you.’’
The McGuire Programme was run over four days for new students and graduates wishing to do refresher courses, like the one in July. Hoetjes says the programme he attended pushes people with stammers out of their comfort zones and encourages them not to avoid situations out of fear of stuttering.
‘‘It gives you a far greater understanding of what happens to you.’’
Techniques include the ‘‘hit and hold’’, which means being assertive on the first sound and breathing in relation to speaking words because stuttering occurs when the diaphragm freezes.
Hoetjes next goal is to become a lead instructor. ‘‘It’s giving back after what I’ve come through."