I recently had the great pleasure of attending the Canadian Stuttering Association annual conference for the first time last week. The conference was held in Montreal, Quebec and was less than a four hour drive for a friend and I so that clinched our decision to attend.

It was a joint conference with the ABC (Association begaiment communication) which is the French speaking arm of the Canadian stuttering associations. It meant that there were workshops in both English and French, which was richly inclusive to all.

I loved the conference. There was a total of 150 people, which opened the door to get to know people better than in situations where there are large groups of people.

The Workshops were fantastic, something for everyone, and anytime we were together as a group, announcements were made both in English and French.

I did a workshop on recovering from the shame many of us deal with stuttering, which turned into a great discussion about what if you’ve never been able to let go of shame. What if shame consumes your every moment?

My friend Nicole did a workshop on stuttering and grief, which gave people a different perspective to look at stuttering. She encouraged us to look at how we felt about perhaps having given up some of our dreams when we realized that stuttering made us better at some things than others.

I met a lot of first time attendees and thought what a great experience to step into the stuttering community in a smaller setting. Many first timers came up and spoke at the final open mic session.

The CSA’s motto is “Our Voices Matter” and I came away from the conference experience definitely feeling like that. Plus, it didn’t hurt that I saw friends that I hadn’t seen in quite a few years.

This was my first international conference and I am so glad I went.