Life Stories

by Matt Holdback As far as I was aware I had a pretty normal childhood, we started off just me and my older brother who is about 18 months older than I am. Then about 3 years later my younger sister arrived and everything was great, the perfect family. We lived in a nice big detached house in … [Read more...] about Mental Health Awareness: Selective Mutism – My Story

by Lindsay Whittington, Co-ordinator and founding member of SMIRA Looking Back 35 years. It’s a long time, but that’s how long my involvement with selective mutism has been, both as a parent and through my work with SMIRA. My daughter was just 18 months old when, on reflection, the problem … [Read more...] about Looking back… and moving forward

Hi, my name’s James, it’s July 2013 and I’m 23 years old. This is the first time I’ve ever put my thoughts on selective mutism into words. I realise this won’t be the same for everyone; this is simply my own view of it. I’d like to share my story. I’m not sure of all the details, but this is how … [Read more...] about Thoughts on Selective Mutism by James Redrup

Every morning I catch the bus to work. I smile and chat with various familiar faces I see every day. We talk about all kinds - the weather, history, family trees, days out, holidays. When I arrive at work I wave, smile, laugh, gossip, chat about anything and everything. That's before I've even taken … [Read more...] about Jennifer Anne’s Story