Virtual Parent Groups in English
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Are you a parent, grandparent, or caregiver of a child, teen, or adult who stutters? Join us in a space for parents, guardians, and relatives to connect, share ideas and concerns, and learn helpful strategies to best support their young person who stutters. For information on our Spanish Parent Group, please click here.
You are welcome to email the facilitator directly with any topics you may be interested in discussing. Their email addresses can be found in their biographies below, as well as in your Zoom confirmation email.
Upcoming dates
We meet on the second Saturday of every month at 12:30 PM Eastern, and the group lasts for approximately an hour.
Our group will meet again on:
- Sat. October 11th, 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Eastern
- Sat. November 8th, 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM Eastern
Note to SLPs and graduate students
Thanks for your interest in stuttering support groups! Groups play an important role in normalizing stuttering and fostering acceptance, growth, and resilience. We are grateful to so many therapists for spreading the word about our no-cost virtual groups. If you are looking to attend a group, please note that we do not offer opportunities to observe or participate in these peer support groups. For SLP educational and training opportunities, please see our one-day events and annual convention. We also recommend visiting our YouTube channel to watch panels of young people who stutter, parents, adults who stutter, and presentations by fellow SLPs. Join our mailing list below to get the latest updates about upcoming CEU and training opportunities.
If you have any questions
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at friends@friendswhostutter.org
Here’s what we talked about recently
We had some great conversations about how our children are settling back into school and fall activities. We also shared ideas on how we can support them as they build friendships and connections with others. We wrapped up by talking about the upcoming Friends One-Day Events and the Friends Annual Convention in 2026.
— Kendra Wagner on facilitating the Friends Parent Group in September
Mee the group facilitators
Adannaya Brown (she/her) is a parent of a person who stutters, dedicated advocate, friend, and student of the stuttering community. A relentless chaser of joy, her favorite pastimes are reading, dancing, and staring at the sky. She lives with her husband, four children, and two dogs in Aurora, Colorado. Email Adannaya
Jason Cassell, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist who has been in practice since 1999. He is board certified in clinical social work, and has advanced training in psychoanalysis, trauma, and mindfulness. He is in private practice in New York City where he treats men, women, adolescents, and couples, including many patients who stutter. He helps his clients process and work through their feelings of shame, fear, and pain. In the past he has conducted workshops for speech therapists on counseling techniques at Friends, the National Stuttering Association, the American Institute for Stuttering, and New York University. His wife Kristel is a person who stutters and he has been a part of the stuttering community for the last 10 years. Email Jason
Tricia Zebrowski, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, and a speech-language pathologist specializing in stuttering. Her clinical, research and teaching expertise is stuttering intervention, with a special focus on teenagers who stutter. For over 20 years, Tricia directed UISpeaks for Teens, a residential therapy program for teens who stutter. Her most recent work attempts to uncover the ways of thinking that facilitate teenagers’ decisions about their stuttering. Email Tricia
We are John & Erin Samenuk. Our son is a young adult who stutters. In July 2015, we attended our first Friends conference. It was transformative in our understanding of stuttering. We, along with our family, have returned to five more conferences. Each time we have become even more rooted in this strong and supportive community of Friends. We look forward to supporting other parents on their own journey. Email John & Erin
Cheryl Goettsche, MS, CCC-SLP is a parent of a young man who stutters. This led her to becoming a speech-language pathologist and discovering Friends. She teaches undergraduate and graduate students at SUNY New Paltz and CUNY Lehman. Cheryl also supervises undergraduate clinicians at the on-campus speech and hearing center. She has worked in a variety of settings including preschool, hospital and telepractice. Email Cheryl