Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Cheasman and Everard from the World Congress in Portugal (Ep. 537)

stuttering, StutterTalk
Christopher Constantino, Carol Cheasman and Rachel Everard

Carolyn Cheasman and Rachel Everard join Christopher Constantino from The International Fluency Association’s 2015 World Congress on cluttering, stuttering and other fluency disorders in Lisbon, Portugal. Cheasman and Everard are asked about their presentation Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: Therapist and Client Perspectives which they describe as a mindfulness based approach.

Cheasman and Everard are also asked about their book ‘Stammering Therapy on the Inside: New Perspectives on Working with Young People and Adults.’

Rachel Everard and Carolyn Cheasman are presenting a two-day weekend workshop at Boston University, September 12 & 13, 2015. The workshop is titled Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Speech and Language Pathologists and is sponsored by the Stuttering Foundation at stuttering help.org and Boston University. This two-day workshop will provide valuable training on the methods of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

Carolyn Cheasman has worked with adults who stutter at City Lit, London (the UK national specialist centre in adult stuttering therapy) since 1979. She has experienced interiorized stuttering herself and so brings both personal and professional interests to the field. Having completed post-qualification training in personal construct psychology and person-centered counselling, she went on to train as a mindfulness teacher and now teaches mindfulness to people who stutter, speech and language therapists and the general public. Carolyn is also involved in student training and is a clinical tutor at City University, London. In 2012, Carolyn was honored to receive the International Fluency Association Clinician of Distinction award.

Rachel Everard is a specialist speech and language therapist whose decision to train as a therapist stemmed from the fact she stutters herself and from her life-changing experience of receiving therapy at City Lit. Since qualifying in 1996, she has worked in a variety of settings, including community clinics and mainstream primary schools, before joining the City Lit team in 2001. Due to her own personal experience of stuttering, she strongly believes in empowering people who stutter and in the benefits of group therapy. She also believes in the value of self-help and has had a long-standing involvement with the British Stammering Association. To complement her skills as a speech and language therapist, Rachel has completed a certificate in person-centered counseling. Rachel may be contacted via email: Rachel.everard@citylit.ac.uk.

With their colleague Sam Simpson, Ms. Everard and Ms. Cheasman co-edited the book ‘Stammering Therapy on the Inside: New Perspectives on Working with Young People and Adults.’

Christopher Constantino is a person who stutters and a PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Memphis. Chris is doing his clinical fellowship in the Shelby County Schools in Memphis and is conducting a research study to understand and contextualize the experiences of passing as fluent for people who covertly stutter.