How I Got My Stutter Back And How It’s Helping Me Stay Mentally Healthy – Willemijn

WillemijnAbout the Author:

My name is Willemijn, and I’m an artist and person who stutters from the Netherlands. Since graduating from artschool, I have been working as an illustrator and volunteering for the Dutch National Youth Council to help improve mental health services in the Netherlands.

Through my art project JustStutter and by connecting with the stuttering community, I’ve found acceptance and at times, even joy in stuttering. By sharing my work and helping organize activities and events, I hope to give back to the community and support others on their journey.


This is a clip from my keynote speech at this year’s ISA World Congress for people who stutter in Finland. In that speech, I shared my personal journey with stuttering and mental health, and how stuttering taught me lessons that helped me recover from OCD.

To quickly sum up the lessons I shared: stuttering showed me that suppression is not the answer, a lesson that helped me begin allowing some loss of control in my thoughts and feelings. Later, when my mental health was at its lowest point, stuttering reminded me of the value of being unconditionally kind to myself, which helped me survive.

These days, stuttering even helps me maintain the mental fitness skills I need in order to stay mentally healthy. How? That’s something I explore in the clip above. In that video, I talk about what I practice daily to help embrace my natural stutter, and how those practices help me in other areas of life as well.

In hindsight, this speech was the first time being on stage felt as enjoyable as it did when I was a kid. When I was a kid, my stutter was spontaneous and effortless. Only when I started trying to fix my stutter, it became a problem. First because I was covert, and then because I had forgotten how to actually allow my stutter to happen.
For years, I subconsciously resisted my stutter, even when I no longer wanted to. In recent years, stuttering-affirming therapy has taught me how to let go of that resistance. And now, I feel like I’m finally getting my stutter back. There are moments where my stutter flows out uncontrollably and effortlessly again. And it feels wonderful.

Thank you to everyone who was there and who made me feel so at ease that I could experience the same confidence on stage that I had as a child. Thank you to the stuttering community for helping me embrace my identity, and thank you to Vivian Sisskin for helping me get my stutter back. 

If you’d like to watch the full keynote speech, you can find it here: https://youtu.be/NgZIj23FiB0

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How I Got My Stutter Back And How It’s Helping Me Stay Mentally Healthy – Willemijn — 19 Comments

  1. Dear Willemijn

    Your keynote speech is of great value. I feel fortunate, and grateful, that you spoke about your journey and what you have learned, since it helps me with my journey.

    Thank you, too, for wiring this ISAD paper. I hope that this message from you reaches many people: “Only when I started trying to fix my stutter, it became a problem. First because I was covert, and then because I had forgotten how to actually allow my stutter to happen.”

    Thank you
    Hanan

  2. Hello Williemjin!

    Thank you for sharing your story! It’s inspiring to see how embracing your stutter has been a key part of your journey. It beautifully highlights how important self acceptance is when it comes to something personal such as your stuttering!

    I also wanted to ask what advice would you give to someone who is struggling to accept their stutter, especially if they’ve spent years trying to suppress it?

    • Thank you for your comment!

      Hmmm… Acceptance can be a big step, and there a lot of small steps you can do before you work on acceptance. I think the first step is to learn to be kind to yourself no matter what. It’s possible to do that even when acceptance is not possible yet. It makes the journey a lot easier and softer. To have compassion towards yourself, whatever your stutter decides to do or however you react to it. You might discover things that you want to change, but even those things can be done with kindness.

      I think acceptance is more of an undoing than a doing. Acceptance happens when we don’t try to change the present moment. And I think it will also help to practice that in situations that are not stuttering related.

  3. Hello!

    I want to say that your message is so power for me as a young speech therapist who also struggles with mental health, high expectations, and control. My own mental health journey is always still progressing, but I love how this perspective allows me to help guild my own clients through their journey. Stuttering more freely and comfortably is something I love and want to guild my clients with. I am so happy to have read your post, and I appreciate you sharing your experiences.

    • Thank you! I’m sure your experience with mental health and your guidance will be of great support to your clients. ❤️

  4. Thank you, Willemijin, Thank you for posting, and for including an excerpt from your keynote speech. That is a good lesson, about embracing your stutter, in contrast to the period that you were a covert stutterer. I appreciate your sharing how being more accepting of your stutter also helped with your mental health challenges.

  6. Hello Willemijn, I appreciate how you framed secondary behaviors as “resistance behaviors” and learning to allow your natural stutter to flow. I love your art! – Ana Paula Mumy

  7. Hello! First off, I want to appreciate you sharing your story greatly! I love how you connect stuttering to your mental health. Your perspective on how stuttering can be a source of growth is impressive. How has your perspective on control and acceptance changed since your difficulties at a younger age?

    • Thank you so much! I think I have slowly learned to see the urge to control as a very human experience, and to be understanding of that urge to control. It’s like I’m viewing myself as a little kid who is scared of uncertainty. That helps me to slowly let go of that control. Acceptance comes automatically when I stop trying to control or fix the past/present/future.

  8. Dear Willemijn,
    Your story was truly special and thought-provoking. I love how you reframed your stutter as something to embrace rather than fix. It is such a powerful message of self-acceptance and healing. The connection you made between stuttering and mental health was inspiring and showed incredible insight and emotional strength. Way to go on how you’ve turned your experiences into art and advocacy to support others. Thanks for sharing
    -Kim

  9. Hello Willemijn,
    Thank you for sharing your beautiful story about getting your stutter back. I find your journey so incredibly inspiring! I loved how you turned stuttering into a grand strength, along with a tool to spread awareness and to help others. I also thought that your speech was amazing! I found it beautiful how you took what you had learned from your mental health journey and applied them to stuttering. This reminded me about how we are continuously growing and evolving. It also reminded me that we need to continually practice self patience, acceptance, love, and kindness.

  10. What can I say, Willemijn. Your keynote is one of the best I’ve heard, and I’ve heard many. The journey you’ve made, the raw honesty, and the zillion life lessons, not just for PWS, but to all who struggle, it’s such a gem, I’ll share it with as many, and as many times as I can, as this should be shown in all schools, in all therapy rooms. I’ve been a fan of yours for many years, and my admiration only grows. Keep being you and keep talking. <3

    Anita