When talking is the best medicine

Stroke survivors are helping others with their recovery, as part of an NHS speech and language therapy support group. We spoke to them and therapist Lucy MacKechnie about how these dedicated volunteers are helping people find their voice again.

Every week, at Canterbury Health Centre, a group of stroke survivors come together for one hour to practice what many of us take for granted – talking.

Led by stroke survivors and volunteers Derek Bright, 63 and Tasha Clarke, 52, the support group has become a lifeline for people who can feel lonely, frustrated and isolated by the speech impairments, also called aphasia, they experience after a stroke.

The group is supported by Speech and Language Therapist Lucy MacKechnie and Speech and Language Therapy Assistant Jane Smith and, no matter what the level of speech ability, people always have a smile on their face.

Derek and Tasha began their stroke recovery with Lucy to help them regain their essential communication skills. When their professional therapy support ended, they wanted to continue their progress and support others. Feedback from a patient consultation group Derek and Tasha were part of led Lucy to contact our Voluntary Services Team, which helped put together the peer support group.

Tasha, who thanks to Lucy’s support was able to return to work part-time, used her therapy sessions to work through different things including structuring writing emails and being involved in meetings. But she didn’t want her progress to end there.

She explained: “Lucy said it’s all about practice and talking. This is our way of practising talking. I live on my own, another member, Graham, also lives on his own, so we don’t talk to other people every day. This is really good to get people together to speak and practice. We’re all in the same boat; other people don’t understand what we’re going through.”

Lucy said: “We support patients and their families to communicate as much as possible in all aspects of their lives.

“But recovery doesn’t just happen during speech and language therapy sessions. Each patient needs to continue practising and carrying over what we are working on in therapy into their everyday communication, to help regain not only their speech, but their confidence. Everyone needs different support at different stages in their rehabilitation, if we think the support group will help, we will refer them to the volunteer team.

“For many it is the only chance they may have to talk to people who completely understand what it is like to live with aphasia. It is so important to all the group members, for example, one member who usually comes by train, cycled the whole distance – a 28-mile round trip – when the trains were on strike.

“When Tasha began speech therapy she lacked confidence and now she is confidently leading others in conversation each week. Despite Derek still having difficulties of his own, he refuses to see the negative and brings his positive can-do nature to the group each week, making the coffee and tea, which he manages with the use of his good arm. They are both providing a service to others that makes a big difference to the lives of those they serve.”

For Derek, life before his stroke four years ago was very different. The published author still has significant communication and mobility issues, but the group offers him an opportunity to learn while exploring new relationships, making new friends and sharing others’ experiences.

His wife, Mandy, said: “People with aphasia can often get isolated and only speak to the same people. This group helps Derek to speak with and meet new people who are going through the same thing.”

Steve Laver, 66, likes to share how he helped his recovery at home, in case it could help someone else. “After my stroke I couldn’t talk. I went back home and couldn’t tell you what things were.

You know exactly what you want to say and it just won’t come out. “I put sticky notes on everything, the toaster, the door, the fridge. Every time I went to sit down I could see them. I’d say the words and it worked the muscles in the brain.”

Joyce Vetterlein, 79, a new member to the group, experiences moments of frustration and complexity with her recovery. She enjoys going to the group, making new friends and picking up those all-important tips to help her progress.

For everyone else, just her being there is enough. Her smile brightens the room and when everyone talks about what they’ll get up to in the summer, you can see the excitement on her face.

Steve added: “Graham loves gardening. He can’t talk as much as some of us but when he explains how we should be doing things, his shoulders come down, he’s relaxed and there’s a smile on his face. That’s all we want, for everyone to come here, relax and smile.”

Communication problems are common after a stroke. Around one-third of stroke survivors have problems with speaking, reading, writing and understanding what other people say to them.

Speech and language therapy can help with speech, written communication, non-verbal communication, drawing and communication aids or other equipment. Find out more about our service.

If you need information and support, or you know someone who has been affected by stroke and want to help, visit www.stroke.org.uk

To join #TeamKCHFT as a volunteer, contact the Voluntary Services Team on 0300 013 2045 or kentchft.engagement@nhs.net.