About the authors
 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 using with clients would be effective for people who stutter. Nora now treats people who stutter in her private practice. Nora and Elizabeth Kapstein have known each other for 20 years meeting at the San Diego NSA conference in 1995. Learn more about Nora’s practice www.NoraOConnorLCSW.com |
 Elizabeth Kapstein is a person who stutters and a licensed clinical social worker living in New York City. Elizabeth has been involved locally /nationally with stuttering self-help organizations for 20+ years. Elizabeth focuses on working with the whole person and specializes in trauma- and addictions-informed therapy using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Relational Therapy, EMDR, Psychodrama, and expressive therapies at www.ektherapy.com |
 Jeff Shames is a clinical social worker and writer who has presented at numerous conferences for people who stutter. With Elizabeth Kapstein, he co-founded the Manhattan Stuttering Group in 1994. A native of Tulsa, OK, in 2004 Jeff co-produced the award winning personal documentary film Spit It Out. In 2017 the film is being streamed online to reintroduce the film to new audiences in the stuttering and other communities. Sample footage can be seen on You Tube at “Spit It Out Jeff Shames.” He can be reached at spititoutfilm@gmail.com. He is a psychotherapist at Lighthouse Guild, and lives in New York City with his wife, Elisa DeCarlo. |
What do worries and negative thoughts elicit? They can flood us to the point where we cannot think straight or only think in constricted, black and white terms.
Breaking Out is designed for participants to create and infuse supportive skills to manage emotional responses and frozen moments during the stuttering experience. Combining therapeutic techniques from Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Psychodrama, and Relational therapies, this therapeutic model offers supportive techniques and tools that are useful for people who stutter.
You’ll be introduced to mindfulness skills to tolerate distress and regulate emotions. Participants will be led in grounding and resourcing exercises that are shown to be effective in managing worries and negative thoughts and in developing resilience.
