Bridging Dysfluency Theory and Clinical Practice Workshop Series

• Are you a qualified and practising speech and language therapist working with people who stutter as an integral part of your therapy practice?
• Are you interested in stuttering-affirming therapy approaches that support your clients to resist fluency norms and find value and meaning in their stuttering?

Join us for a transformative four-part journey bridging critical theory and clinical practice in stuttering therapy. An international advanced workshop series for experienced practitioners interested in a facilitated, group reflective learning opportunity. Note that numbers will be capped at 25 participants.

Workshop schedule:

1. April 28th 2025: Stuttering in Critical Focus - Led by Joshua St. Pierre, this workshop will set the theoretical stage, drawing from the insights of critical disability studies to highlight the value of dysfluency and transformative ways of relating to stuttering. 
2. May 19th 2025: Stuttering-affirming shared world building (1) - Led by Sam Simpson, this workshop will draw from the theory presented in the first workshop to build a stuttering-affirming therapy framework. This will be illustrated through practice examples and demonstration of an app that is currently in development.  
3. June 30th 2025: Stuttering-affirming shared world building (2) - Led by Chris Constantino, this workshop builds on the therapy framework presented in the second workshop and further explores theory into practice. Participants will be given the opportunity to consider ways to translating the framework to their own work contexts ahead of the 3-month break before workshop 4.
4. September 15th 2025: Theory into practice: Reflections and conclusions - This final workshop will allow space for practitioners to reflect on their learning from the first three workshops and how they have integrated this into their therapy practice during the 3-month break.

Time: 6.00pm-9.00pm (London, BST) / 11:00am-2:00pm (Edmonton, MDT)

Costings for all four workshops:

• Clinicians (Early Bird - April 11th 2025): £120 / CAD $210
• Clinicians (Standard Fee): £170 / CAD $292
• Students: £40 / CAD $68 (Maximum of 2 student places)

Don't miss this opportunity to broaden your perspective on stuttering-affirming therapy and enhance your clinical skills. Following the workshop series, participants will have the opportunity to take part in a project piloting the stuttering-affirming shared world building therapy framework presented and supporting app currently in development.

To attend, you need to be able to commit to all four sessions.

All sessions will be delivered by Zoom. You will need to ensure a private, confidential environment with reliable Internet connection and use of a working camera.

About the facilitators: 

Joshua St Pierre, PhD, is Canada Research Chair in Critical Disability Studies, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Joshua’s work invites Critical Disability Studies to consider the political and ethical dimensions of communication and its breakdown, and also seeks to conceptualize and generate resources for accessible and radically hospitable communicative practices. Joshua is an avid gardener.  

Sam Simpson is a speech and language therapist, person-centred counsellor, supervisor and trainer living outside London, England. Sam has a particular interest in critical disability studies, stammering activism and what stammering can teach us about ourselves and the world. In her free time, Sam enjoys going on long dog walks. 

Christopher Constantino, lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Megan, and sons, Augustine, Sebastian and Maximillian. He is a speech-language pathologist at Florida State University. He clinically supervises graduate students and researches how to improve the experience of stuttering. He teaches graduate classes on stuttering and counseling. Chris enjoys riding his bicycle.

Cancellation policy:

If you want to cancel your place on this course, please note that notification in writing is required:

• More than 28 days’ notice: If a full cancellation is requested an administration fee of £30 will be retained
• 28 days or less: No refund can be offered