Dear friends of Irish Stammering Association,

We hope you are keeping well and able to look forward to a break over Christmas.

While 2020 brought many challenges and disruptions to our everyday lives, Irish Stammering Association have also developed new ways to help support people who stammer.

We would like to take some time to thank each of you for your support during this challenging and unpredictable time. Many of you have attended our events online this year and it’s been great to see so many people who stammer getting in touch, whether you are brand new to ISA or a lifetime member. So, thank you.

Some of the changes we implemented this year as we evolved with the challenges we faced included moving our support groups for adults online. Our ISAYiT! Drama group also embraced the move online as well as a parent support group and our relaunched teens support group.

Our women’s phone group continues to thrive and connect women who stammer around the country. While we anticipate some face-to-face support groups will return in the future, we will keep our online options open too, so we can support people around the country.

If you’d like any information about our services you can contact Kate Reilly in the ISA office at info@stammeringireland.ie

Our Employment Support service was launched in January 2020 with Georgina Dunlevy joining ISA in the new role of Employment Support Officer. Our plans had to be adapted once restrictions came into effect in March so we’ve been running a series of online monthly advice clinics, workshops and talks to support those from an employment and education perspective.

You can contact Georgina at es@stammeringireland.ie

National Stammering Awareness Day moved online for 2020 and was extended to a week, with events ranging from parent support to accessing higher education, as well as a more reflective discussion about stammering and society.

Part of ISA’s outreach is to engage with media and aim to change public people’s perceptions of stammering. ISA had a feature on national radio where Mark, Veronica, David and Jonathon were talking about stammering on Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live with Andrea Gilligan. You can listen back here

Our website was redesigned and relaunched in 2020 by Conor Foran who also publishes Dysfluent Magazine. ISA are building up content of features and articles on our website to support a range of different ages and needs. If you would like to contribute a feature or article or suggest topics for us, we’d be delighted to hear from you.

Our Annual Report from 2019 is also published online to show our stakeholders the activities of the organisation.

We will be moving to a new mailing system in 2021, if you do not wish to receive updates please opt out by contacting kr@stammeringireland.ie

We’ll be back in January with support groups for adults, teenagers and parents. We will have our full schedule of events for 2021 listed on our website from January. Any feedback or suggestions on what you would like to see are always appreciated.

Nollaig shona daoibh!

David Heney

Chair

Irish Stammering Association