June 13, 2016

INTERACTIVE SESSION ON STAMMERING BY JAIPUR SHG

When Ravi sir (Ravi Kant Sharma from Jaipur SHG) shared the news about Thalagiri and that they are inviting applications from people/organisations to conduct workshops, I was very excited. What happened henceforth and the proceedings which finally culminated in us conducting the workshop is a different ‘behind the scenes’ story which I will share separately. The purpose of writing this post, which (I apologise) comes two weeks late than it should have, is to share and spread the experience and the positivity that was experienced by Jaipur SHG members and others who participated.
The 3 hour long session cum workshop was conducted on 23rd May 2016 at St. Edmunds’ School, Jaipur under the platform provided by Thalagiri (www.thalagiri.com). Jaipur Self Help Group is not one of the most happening groups and we house about 20 people out of which only 4-5 of us are active members. Furthermore, the level of awareness and openness towards stammering is very less here. So, having promoted about the session through Facebook, WhatsApp and Blog, we were not expecting many participants. Me, Anurag Tetrawal, Chandraprakash Goyal had taken the responsibility to represent TISA and  had prepared a small presentation to talk about stammering and TISA. The session began at 8:15 AM with just 2 participants other than the three of us. The most exciting thing about it was that both the participants were young. Mr. Aditya Jain, who is a student of class 12th and Hitesh, a student of class 6th. It was overwhelming that a kid as young as Hitesh is aware of his stammering and came to attend the session all on his own. As we proceeded into session, the strength grew up to 11 and that multiplied our energy levels.

We began the session with a brief introduction and then asked everyone to introduce themselves and share their perspective on stammering. The complete round lasted for about an hour with some brilliant thoughts coming on floor. Mr. Aditya who came to know about TISA through this workshop itself, renamed PWS as ‘People with Superpowers’ and amazed all of us. The young boy Hitesh stammers and lisps as well but the confidence with which he spoke was commendable. During entire session we all advised him to speak and participate more and more in school activities irrespective of his teachers’ comments . Mr. Bablesh works in a call centre in Jaipur and shared the tough time he had faced. Mr. Yashwant and Mr. Pankaj Nawal are friends and had been associated with TISA for some time but could not attend SHG meetings. They shared the confidence they had built up during their initial career journeys and how they use it during their regular communication. Mr. Kuldeep too had joined TISA recently and told us how lack of confidence had developed OCD in him and reflected his never-give-up attitude. His friend Mr. Lucky who is a non stammerer too shared his views on stammering. He presented his positive mind frame and we all sensed the kind of support he extends to his friend. Mr. Pankaj Wadhwani and Dr. Rajkumar shared their long struggle journeys and the turnover points in their lives when they accepted stammering. Another non PWS Mr. Jatin who is my college friend expressed his desire to learn more about stammering and create awareness. Mr. Chandraprakash, a regular and old TISA member came in late but had a lot of techniques and motivational content to share.
The introductory session turned out to be a nice ice breaking session which resulted in active participation from all the participants further into the session. Anurag explained about the ‘Iceberg of Stammering’ while Chandraprakash threw light on the medical aspects of stammering. Both these received involvement from participants as everybody could relate to some part of it or other. We further explained about the techniques for controlling stammering and introduced them to the concept of ‘trans-fluency’ and TISA core value – acceptance. TRANS-FLUENCY was a new concept for all of the participants and drew a lot of attention and positivity. To present the practical approach of transfluency we demonstrated ‘Prolongation’, ‘Bouncing’, ‘Pausing’ and ‘Deep Breathing’ techniques.
Had we not had time limitation, the session could have easily extended upto  4 hours. The best outcome of the session was association of new members with TISA which means more awareness and acceptance level among PWS. This reflected in Jaipur SHG’s meeting on the Sunday after that which had maximum strength in past one year.  The session ended on a very positive note and the organisers invited us to conduct a similar workshop in Udaipur. We have not worked out anything yet but if it does then it will be posted here.
Me, Anurag and Chadraprakash have personally achieved great level of confidence after conducting this entire activity. This workshop is a big milestone for Jaipur SHG and we are elated that we achieved the major target that we set for us – to make people aware of stammering. We are looking forward to grab any similar opportunity that comes our way as this is just a beginning and we have a long way to go.

P.S. : We recorded the videos of the session and they will be uploaded shortly.

P.P.S. : It comes very late and our apologies for the same. Please find the link below for the videos of the workshop. Looking forward for your feedback.
TISA JAIPUR SHG THALAGIRI WORKSHOP-24 MAY 2016
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Soumya Saxena

7 comments:

Unknown said...

great work for sharing our activities

Unknown said...

great work for sharing our activities

Satyendra said...

Yesss. People with superpowers...
Plz dont let Udaipur opportunity slip by.. Make the best use of it. This is the royal road to growth, recovery and a better world..
Congrats from all of us..and thanks too.

Ravi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ravi said...

wow guys...When you have done is most needed for non stammerers to know..and be in touch with people and express yourself out as much as you can...and I know Jatin very well...he was my friend in school...and here I want to mention that when as a child I used to stammer Jatin used to make fun of me...and now you can see Jatin attending a session on Stammering...this clearly proves that PEOPLE UNDERSTAND IF YOU MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND...well done Jaipur SHG members...
Best wishes...

Anurag Tetarwal said...

very well written by soumya & Photography award goes to soumya...thanks Sachin sir and Ravi sir for supporting us...without a platform and without a group we are nothing...Without Sachin sir and Ravi sir we are nothing...!!!!

Soumya said...

Thank you so much Sachin Sir! IT is all because of your motivation and support that we were able to conduct this workshop. I will get into their contact and see when the Udaipur workshop can be organised.
And Ravi sir, you have been a founding stone for Jaipur SHG and it is all because of your guidance that we got this far. Looking forward to see you!