About the contributors:
 Elizabeth Kapstein is a person who stutters and a licensed clinical social worker living in New York city. Elizabeth is trauma and Addictions informed therapist trained in Psychodynamic Relational Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, and Motivational Interviewing. Elizabeth has been active in the stuttering self-help community and co-founded Passing Twice (www.PassingTwice.com) and the Manhattan Stuttering Group. Elizabeth has a private practice in NYC at www.ektherapy.com. |
 Elizabeth Mendez-Shannon (LMSW, PH.D.). Dr. Liz is an Associate Professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Having worked in Harlem, New York as a Program Director, she brings a wealth of social work experience and leadership in two key areas: Latino issues and integrated health care. Dr. Liz is also active in community organization and grass-root movements related to the stuttering community. She has been part the love in FRIENDS, SAY and NSA |
Dr. Gina Davis is a clinical psychologist who stutters. She has a private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
 Nina G is by night is a comedian performing at comedy clubs, keynote speaker and children’s author of Once Upon an Accommodation: A Book About Learning Disabilities. By day she is a counselor at a community college where she works with students with disabilities. In 2015 she premiered her one-person show, Going Beyond Inspirational, and produced the first ever comedy compilation album of all comedians with disability aptly titled Disabled Comedy Only. Be on the lookout for the release of her Tedx video, Be Every Day Ally. www.NinaGcomedian.com. |
 Nora A. O’Connor is a person who stutters and a licensed clinical social worker living in Los Angeles, California. Nora is trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Trauma Resiliency Model. During her career she began to recognize that interventions she was learning and using would be effective for people who stutter. Nora now treats people who stutter in her private practice. www.noraoconnorlcsw.com |
 Jeff Shames has been active in the stuttering support world for more than 25 years, and has presented at numerous conferences. Jeff is creator and co-producer of the award-winning personal documentary “Spit It Out,” a funny, poignant portrait of his coming to terms with his stutter. Currently he works as a psychotherapist at Lighthouse Guild. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Jeff lives in New York City with his wife, Elisa DeCarlo. |
This forum provides an interactive, open conversation with a collective of Mental Health Professionals coming together to discuss ways to think about the role of mental health therapy and practitioners in the stuttering community. The focus will be on how we understand and improve our connections with ourselves, partners, family, siblings, parents, friends, work colleagues, and/or children.
We will focus on;
1. Understanding yourself, others, and community through the lens of mental health
2. How you work with your partners/members who do/do not stutter
3. Communicate better and strengthen your closeness and connection
Themes will be used in this forum throughout the conference. Each day we will start a discussion topic, linked below. Please tell us your thoughts, experiences and questions.
To interact in this forum, you must be logged in. Select any of the blog links below, where you can read the topic for that day and interact with the experts using the ‘comments’ feature. Your comment will need to be approved, which might take a couple of hours before it appears in that page. Please keep your comments and questions in context of the discussion topic for that specific post.
More importantly, we hope you enjoy the forum!
