Happy New Year CSA Community!
On behalf of the CSA Board of Directors, I’d like to extend warm wishes to you, your families, friends, supporters and allies, for a new year full of health, love, joy, peace and abundance.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank you all for:
- your membership in our CSA stuttering community
- your participation in our events and support groups
- your generous donations, be they financial or contributions as volunteers, volunteer Board Directors each with their own specific role and expertise, speakers, panelists, article writers, mentors and advisors, and
- your courage and your support of each other, helping in your daily lives to educate and raise awareness about stuttering with the general public
Thank YOU everyone!
As the CSA Board of Directors and volunteers celebrate and plan for this new year 2025, we also reflect on activities and accomplishments of the previous year!
2024
2024 was a monumental year for the CSA as we continued to grow our support and resources, both in person and online, for those who stutter, their families, and their allies and to promoting awareness and understanding of stuttering with the aim of helping persons who stutter live as effectively as possible with their stutter, and to achieve their full personal and professional potential.
Below are just a few highlights of the year:
Joint Annual Conference: We connected our Voices!
The Association bégaiement communication (ABC) and the Canadian Stuttering Association (CSA) realised a long-standing dream this year to host a joint annual conference, which, based on feedback received, was a tremendous success, with record attendance too!
The conference, held in Montréal at Le Nouvel Hotel, showcased:
- both English and French workshop speakers and panelists
- family and youth programming also offered in English and French
- the Québec début of Words Left Unspoken - Documentary about comedian and motivational speaker Joze Piranian’s life as a person who stutters (directed and produced by Josiane Blanc)
- great food and networking opportunities
- a banquet talent show and dance
- inspirational keynotes by Bhavna Bakshi and Michel Montreuil
The ABC and CSA are both keen to host another joint conference in the future!
A special thank you to Board Directors, David Liu (Conference and Events Planning Coordinator), Alexandra D'Agostino (Family and Youth Programming Coordinator), Lisa Wilder (Artistic Coordinator), Catherine Moroney (Secretary), Audrey Bigras (Présidente) and Myriam Fauteux of the ABC and to all the conference planning committee members and on-site volunteers, workshop presenters, keynote speakers and to all who attended!
In addition, the CSA also raised just over $20,400 CAD with our annual conference donation thermometer, developed by Board Director Leah Hoover, thanks to generous donations of conference participants and our family and youth programming sponsor, Harmonize for Speech!
Launch of CSA’s First National Ad Campaign
Thanks to the pro-bono work of CSA partner, john st, and CSA Board Director Jordan Bloom, john st and the CSA launched CSA’s first ever National Ad Campaign “stutter.ca” on International Stuttering Awareness Day (October 22, 2024). The campaign highlights the unique voices of 410,000 Canadians who stutter by illustrating 410,000 ways to say “stutter.ca”, all of which lead to the CSA website “stutter.ca”. It included advertising on the Weather Network, in cinemas, on posters, along with a radio and a TV news interview and succeeded to bring great awareness to our stuttering community!
Thank you john st and Jordan Bloom for this BRILLIANT campaign that continues to raise awareness about the CSA, our national community, and our important mission!
More frequent online Let’s Talk Events
Online Let’s Talk Events continue to be popular. We offered five of these in 2024, all of which were recorded, and are still available to you by registering:
- Let's Talk: Finding Your Path to Acceptance
- Let's Talk: Beyond the Fear to Self-acceptance
- Let’s Talk: Stuttering on the Job – Navigating Workplace Realities
- Let’s Talk: Breaking the Ice: Embracing Authenticity in Dating
- Let’s Talk: Two Canadian Stuttering Studies: What? Why? And how?
More Support Groups
New in 2024
- Prairie Online Support Group, thanks to Board Director, Rhea Bhalla
- University-College Student Online Support Group, thanks to Board Director David Liu
Planning underway for
- Guelph Support Group
- Toronto Support Group
and thanks to Board Director in the role of Family and Youth Programming Coordinator, Alexandra D'Agostino:
- Parent Support Group
- Young Adult and Teen Support Groups
- MineCraft Support Group
Expert Technology, Website and Content Expansion
New initiatives have included:
- new VoIP phone system, retaining our existing phone numbers, thanks to volunteer Zachary Seguin and Board Director, Arun Khanna
- monthly Employment Advocacy articles, contributed by our new Board Director, Mathew Yaworski, in the role of Employment and Advocacy Coordinator
- increased content in the Get Support Speech therapy and For parents sections as well as Learn more sections, thanks to Board Director, Carla Di Domenicantonio, in the role of SLP Liaison
- bringing event registration (and for the conference, the option to toggle between French and English) into the website, thanks to volunteer Zachary Seguin in the role of Website Developer
2025
Major plans are underway for 2025, as we develop a new five-year strategic plan.
The following are a few projects ongoing or planned for launch in 2025:
- 2025 annual conference
- Let’s Talk events
- Support Groups
- ‘Schools Initiative’ which raises awareness with and provides support and on-line tool kits for teachers, school SLPs, parents and students
- Canadian Stuttering Awareness Week
- Social media and marketing reach expansion
- Podcast development
- Technology support for volunteer and fundraising management
- Website development and updating (including branding)
- Policy review, publishing and development
- Constitution and Bylaws review and updating
The CSA Board of Directors is looking forward to continuing to grow our services and support with the launch of a new strategic plan in 2025. We are dedicated to our mission and though many of us work full-time paying jobs or are full-time students, we are passionate and committed to raising awareness and supporting the Canadian stuttering community from coast to coast to coast. We can’t do this without you, our volunteers, members, supporters and generous donors and sponsors.
Together, we can make our world a better place for those who stutter where we can all ‘connect our voices’ and where we can each have a voice!