Meeting – 2: Mangalore SHG

The second meeting of Mangalore SHG was held on Saturday 19^th August 2017. The theme of the meeting was Tackling Fear. The meeting was attended by six of the members. The venue for the meeting was Fatima Retreat House – Jeppu. An interesting element of the meeting was the participation of Sr Cynthia, a speech therapist at Fr Father Muller Medical College, who came to the meeting with a pws, Mr Joel Martis. Sr Cynthia was present for a short time and shared her happiness at the formation of the Mangalore SHG and wished the Group well. She shared her views on stammering and how it was a dream for her to start an association for stammerers on the lines of our SHG. She has completed her Masters in Speech Therapy for the USA and shared her experiences and knowledge on the matter.

The meeting then commenced with an activity called Candy Introductions. Every participant picked four different colored candy from a sweet box. For every candy picked, the participant had to state something about themselves. The introductions were then followed by a talk on Tackling Fear by an invited guest Rev. Fr Francis D’Souza, Administrator of St Anthony’s Ashram – Jeppu. Mr Ivan Saldanha, florally welcomed Rev Fr to the meeting. Rev. Fr began his address by asking the participants to note down key strengths of each participant. The participants were then asked to elaborate on each of their strength, thus reinforcing their self-belief and confidence. He spoke of the importance of perseverance; the ability to work and try harder towards attaining our goals. He also spoke about the importance of positive attitude. As an example, Rev. Fr spoke about the positivity with which a senior Priest in his parish approached life even after losing his legs to diabetes. He stressed that the strength to remove fear rests inside us and it is up to us to bring it out. Fr also mentioned few relaxation techniques to handle stress and instructed all the participants to practice it.

The talk was followed by another activity called Fear in your Hat. In this activity, the participants were asked to note down their biggest fear of their life in a slip of paper and drop it in a hat. The paper notes were then shuffled. Each participant was then asked to randomly pick a slip of paper and read it aloud. He then proceeds to offer his views on how the particular fear could be addressed. The group also then elaborates on the fear. The activity forced each participant to offer advices on his own fears from a third man point of views. This enables the person to realize the way forward to address his own fears. During the activity the techniques of Voluntary Stammering, Prolongation, and Bouncing were discussed and applied.

Post the activity, curtains were drawn on the meeting by each of the participant setting a target for the next meeting. It was also decided that the next meeting will be held on September 16^th, 2017. The group then interacted over tea and snacks and moved on to face the world, better equipped and more confident.

The Mangalore SHG is indebted to Rev. Fr Melvin Pinto for his generosity in allowing us the use of the venue for the purpose and for this continued support for ours cause. To Mr Ivan Saldanha, well, what can we say? But, THANK YOU!

Congratulations and thank you to all the participants for mustering the courage to take stammering by its horn and bend it to its knee!

A big shout out to Mr Joel Martis, our young pws as he moves on to Stanford, US for his Masters. All the best Joel!!!

Sumith, Santhosh, Harshith!! take care fellas!!

That’s it for now!

Bye bye!

BBBBBBBBinu!!!

Coordinator – Mangalore SHG.

25/08/2017