At 35, Still Finding My Feet with Stuttering—A Positive Journey

Today's featured guest is Andrea Navarra. Andrea Navarra is a 35-year-old Italian living in Malta. He holds a BSc in Nursing from Rome and an MSc in Green Economy from Bournemouth University, where he specialized in carbon management, renewable energy, and environmental law. He began his professional journey in healthcare as a nurse (2014–2021) before transitioning into environmental sustainability and occupational health and safety. He currently works as an EHS Manager. Outside of work, Andrea enjoys cycling, trekking, photography, scuba diving, and indulging in good music, movies, and great food. Andrea first remembers stuttering around age 7 or 8, when his mother took him for a speech assessment and he began speech therapy. Around age 9 or 10, he also tried autogenic training, a relaxation technique. At 18, he joined a therapy group led by someone who promoted his method on Italian TV, spending a couple of weeks in Rome practicing an approach based on acting speech models. While he isn't sure he fully adopted that method, the experience gave him confidence and strength. Even though he still stuttered, it didn't bother him much until he was 28. Around that time, stuttering became a significant challenge again. Andrea isn't sure of the exact reason, though many suggest adult responsibilities can cause stuttering to return or feel more troublesome. He tried adapting the Italian technique to other languages without success. Later, while in the Netherlands, he underwent another therapy that combined speech therapy with psychological training focused on stuttering, but he didn't find it helpful.  Since then, Andrea has continued learning by listening to podcasts, reading, and engaging with the stuttering community. He's discovered there are many different techniques and approaches, and while he may explore another path in the future, for now he is still finding his way in managing his stutter. I truly believe that there is healing in sharing, and I want to thank Andrea for sharing his story with me today. LINKS: Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-navarra/ Thank you to Noah Swiderski (owner and producer of Briton Beats) for your outro music.  Thank you to Epidemic Sound for the intro music.  https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Thank you to Mike Russell for that voice over outro.  https://musicradiocreative.com If you would like to support this podcast, then I would love a cup of coffee: buymeacoff.ee/mslpodcast      Website:  https://mystutteringlife.com