Your stories

Aribah’s story

My stammer has not disappeared and still appears at times, but it no longer defines me. Living alongside it has taught me resilience, empathy, and patience which I use every day in my training. It has also given me a deeper understanding of communication, helping me connect with patients and colleagues in a meaningful way.

When I was younger, my stammer felt like a wall I could never climb. Speaking in class, reading aloud or even answering my name in the register could leave me frozen with fear. I struggled every day, feeling frustrated, anxious and sometimes invisible because I could not express myself as I wanted to. I dreamed of becoming a mental health nurse, but for a long time I believed it was impossible. How could I follow a career that relied on communication when speaking was so difficult for me.

I am now in my second year of training to become a mental health nurse. Communication is at the heart of everything in this role, and every day I am learning to support patients, work closely with families, and contribute as part of a multidisciplinary team that includes consultants, doctors, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other healthcare professionals. I regularly give handovers and have taken part in management rounds in front of senior staff, including deputy lead nurses. These are moments I once feared, but now I face them with confidence, showing that my stammer does not limit what I can achieve.

To anyone who stammers, I want you to remember this: your stammer is part of you, but it does not define you. You can still follow your dreams, whatever they are. Facing your stammer, acknowledging it as the elephant in the room, gives you the courage to use your voice, show your strengths, and achieve more than you ever thought possible.

~ Aribah – 2^nd year student mental health nurse (living alongside my stammer and following my dream 😊). Michael Palin Centre client.

Lewis’ story

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: you are not alone and asking for help is one of the bravest, most important things you can do. The MPC did not just help me find my voice; it helped me find pride in who I am.”

My journey with a stammer began as soon as I could speak. Growing up, I felt all the stereotypical struggles that many people who stammer know all too well: the hesitation before speaking, the frustration when words wouldn’t come out, the fear of being misunderstood, and the anxiety around social situations. Every conversation felt like a challenge, and I often avoided speaking altogether. Over the years, I sometimes hid my true self, afraid that my stammer would define how others saw me. It took years of convincing by my parents before I finally made the step to go to therapy. Looking back, it was the turning point I did not know I needed.

When I was 17, I had the opportunity to attend a two-week intensive group therapy programme at the Michael Palin Centre in London. The support and guidance I received there helped me express my real self more freely and shaped me into the person I am today.

One of the most powerful things I experienced was the sense of community. For the first time, I was surrounded by people who truly understood. I learned that there was support out there and I was not alone. I gained confidence in myself and began to open up. The experience helped shift my mindset. I stopped focusing on how I thought others perceived my speech and started to see that people value your behaviour and actions far more than your fluency.

The course helped me realise that stammering does not limit you. In fact, it can bring strengths. It has made me more understanding, emotionally intelligent, and self-aware. These are qualities I do not think I would have developed in the same way otherwise. It is not a flaw. It is a superpower.

Since attending the MPC, I have gone on to achieve things I once did not think were possible. I completed a master’s degree in Biomedical Science and I now work at AstraZeneca, where I am part of the Global Graduate Operations Programme. This role involves constant communication, presentations, and collaboration. A big part of what motivates me in my career is working with people and supporting them by helping provide life-changing medicines to patients. I have a real passion for helping and supporting people, whether that is through my work or in other parts of life.

Outside of work, I have followed my passion for sport and have had the honour of representing England in bowls. I now also lead the junior team for Bowls Lancashire, something I am really proud of. Not just for the sporting side but because I know how valuable it is to mentor and support young people, just as I was supported.

To anyone going through a similar journey, embrace it. Speak with confidence. And know that your stammer does not make you any less, it makes you more. Because in the end, it is not a flaw. It is a superpower.

We’re so grateful to Lewis – for sharing his story and Lewis ran the Run Tatton Half Marathon, raising over £2,500 for the Michael Palin Centre. “Each place on the MPC therapy programme costs £5,800 and I wanted to help make sure others could have access to the same life-changing experience I had.”

~Lewis

Joel’s story

Why did you come to the MPC? What impact was stammering having on your life?
I came to the MPC because I felt that my stammer was an obstacle to reaching my full potential.
I couldn’t maintain eye contact and I couldn’t talk to people at large distances. I was very self-conscious about my stammer.

I wanted to meet other people that stammered. Growing up in Uganda, you do not run into many people that stammer so I was always left with a feeling that no one fully understood my struggle. Prior to attending the 2- week intensive course at the MPC, I had been working with my therapist in Uganda for about a year. In our sessions, we focused on breathing and relaxing as a conduit to alleviate my stammer. That year was the first time I received speech therapy. I was 17 years at the time.

How did therapy at the MPC help?
One of the reasons that I joined the MPC was because I couldn’t talk to people at long distances because I stammered too much…well fast forward 7 years and I found myself lecturing an aerospace engineering class in front of about 100 students when I was in graduate school at UCLA. 17-year-old Joel could never have in his wildest dreams seen that he could one day be standing in front of that many people explaining the complexities of supersonic flow. 17-year-old Joel was too shy to even order food through a drive through where no one could see him.
The teaching apprenticeship at UCLA helped me land an internship at NASA Langley Research Center where I researched about landing on Mars using carbon dioxide in its atmosphere as an oxidizer.
I am currently a propulsion(aerospace) engineer at Northrop Grumman in Florida, USA.
The strategies from therapy that I still use today are maintaining eye contact, staying in my stammer until the tension goes down and a little of the flowing technique. Funny story about the flowing and staying in stammer technique. I used it at my sister’s wedding in 2022. I gave 2 speeches at 2 separate occasions of my sister’s wedding. At the beginning of both speeches, I sang. My singing caught everyone off-guard, I do not know whether it was the quality of my voice or the fact that I was singing but within no time they all joined in. The singing was meant to reduce the tension for myself and flow into my speech. Now I think that I might start all my speeches with a song now!

What did the coming to the MPC mean for you?
My time at the MPC truly changed my life, from the friendships that I made to the techniques that I learnt from the amazing therapists.
2 months after completing the 2-week course at the MPC I wrote an email to my speech therapist in Uganda: “The camp was one of the best things that has ever happened to me as well as one of the best decisions I have ever made :). I am so glad I listened to you, it was absolutely fantastic. I loved every second of it. It was absolutely life- changing for me.”

What advice would you give to others thinking about therapy at the MPC?
One piece of advice I would give my younger self would be that this therapy is going to change your life. Do not be shy young Joel, stammer freely and unapologetically, be your complete yourself, because in that way, the therapists and the friends that you will meet at the camp can help you best. I wish I had known about the many resources that were out there for people that stammer.
Your stammer is a beautiful thing that makes you unique. It took me many years to realize this. It doesn’t define you, but it is one of the components that makes you this incredible human being.
When I was young, I tried so much to hide but now when it comes up, I absolutely embrace it. As you will see through your journey, sometimes it is better to lean into your stammer than hiding it.
One final thing – you are going on to do great things just like I have done, wishing you the absolute best!

~Joel