Our chapter meets:
2nd Tuesday of every month
From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
In the Los Angeles- SFV chapter, we try to have interesting and fun meetings centered, of course, around the various aspects of our stuttering. We believe in equal time- so no one can monopolize the conversation. Speaking at meetings is entirely voluntary.
Our meetings begin with reading the NSA "Welcoming Words". Next is a general round of about 2- to 4-minute introductions. If a topic of interest comes up, we discuss the topic in a roundtable style. If the attendance is particularly high, we break into groups. Our roundtable discussions are primarily used to get everybody to participate, by talking about a certain topic. Sometimes we do mock interivews or "phone calls" between members to practice anything particularly difficult for us. We usually end with 4- or 5- mintute speeches, during which time we have the floor to talk about anything we please, speech-related or not.
All participation is voluntary. We encourage each other in doing whatever our individual target goals are: stuttering more openly, working on speech therapy techniques, or trying out new speaking behaviors such as eliminating word avoidance or substitution. But at all times, just being there is enough. Some meetings include visits from local speech-language pathologists, students, or others who have insights or interests on stuttering. Our primary goal at our meetings is to encourage everyone to speak without fear, embarrassment, or shame. And we always seem to have fun with whatever we talk about.
