Media

VoiceStory – ‘The Pitfalls of Perseverance’ speech now live

VoiceStory – ‘The Pitfalls of Perseverance’ speech now live

My speech titled ‘The Pitfalls of Perseverance’ is now live on the VoiceStory YouTube channel. A huge thank you to Winston Yeung and all of the VoiceStory team for this opportunity to speak and share my perspective.

This speech was a challenge to write because I have struggled with the idea of perseverance over the years. My father taught me the importance of working hard and persevering when things got difficult from an early age. I tried to follow his example, but struggled to fit in and find my niche as I navigated having a stutter and being gay. I chased fluency and later tried my hand at acting and writing, consistently working harder and harder waiting for ‘something’ to happen. But I never knew what that ‘something’ was. As a result, I have fallen into various pitfalls that I felt needed to be highlighted to give a balanced account of what perseverance truly is, and to allow all of us to succeed and achieve our goals.

 

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media, News
The Road to the Audiobook: Part 3 – It’s a Wrap!

The Road to the Audiobook: Part 3 – It’s a Wrap!

After 20 hours and 4 studio sessions, the audiobook of Just One More Drive: The true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car is in the can.

In this final video, I summarize each session and share my takeaways from this experience.

Should someone who has a stutter record their own audiobook? For me, the answer is definitely yes!

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media
Stuttering and Dating with Some Stutter Luh!

Stuttering and Dating with Some Stutter Luh!

To celebrate this year's Valentine's Day, I was invited to take part in a group discussion around dating and stuttering with Greg O'Grady and 'Some Stutter Luh!' along with other people who stutter.

As a person who stutters, I have often found my speech to be a barrier to dating and opening up to strangers, especially in a romantic context. That being said, our conversation, guided by Greg and his thought provoking questions really got to the core of the issue and ultimate positive conclusion, which is that we ALL deserve love and have every right to go out there and get it!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Audio file: https://somestutterluh.ca/2023/02/14/Vday.html

YouTube: below:

 

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media, News
The Road to the Audiobook: Part 2 (First Day Recording).

The Road to the Audiobook: Part 2 (First Day Recording).

Today was my first day recording the audiobook version of Just One More Drive: The true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car.

As a person who stutters, I wanted to record this experience. It is something I was nervous to take on as it is difficult to know how it will turn out. Reading out loud in the past was a huge challenge to me.

I have to give a huge thanks to Tom and Aaron of Monarch Studios here in Vancouver for making this a wonderful and relaxing first day!

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media
The Road to the Audiobook: Part 1

The Road to the Audiobook: Part 1

I am about to begin recording my audiobook edition of 'Just One More Drive: The true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car'. I thought it would be a good idea to chronicle this adventure as it will be a totally new experience for me. As a stutterer, reading from text (even if I wrote it myself) will be a challenge and I am wondering how I will sound and perform in the studio over the 10 hours or so it will take to record.

All that being said, the dates are booked and I will post more short videos as I complete the project and launch the finished audiobook in 2023.

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media
Straight Talking Mental Health Podcast with Allan and Aisling

Straight Talking Mental Health Podcast with Allan and Aisling

Recently I had the opportunity to connect with psychotherapist Allan Clarke and arranged to appear on his podcast ‘Straight Talking Mental Health’, which he co-hosts with his partner Aisling. I have to say it was a challenging and confronting conversation for me, but also cathartic.

With the focus being on mental health and straight talking, Allan and I had a frank discussion around my experiences with stuttering , coming out and my failed suicide attempt. Talking about these topics was a chance for me to revisit those memories and discuss my emotions and mindset at the time. Allan was a wonderful host and despite the topics, we certainly did have a lot of craic (Irish slang for fun!).

The podcast is now live and the various links are listed below:

 

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media
Some Stutter Luh! – Podcast episode

Some Stutter Luh! – Podcast episode

A huge thank you to Greg O’Grady and the Some Stutter Luh! team for having me on their podcast recently. Greg and I got to chat about stuttering, homosexuality and my inspiration and experiences writing  ‘Just One More Drive’.

Some Stutter Luh! is Newfoundland and Labrador’s first podcast about  about living with communication differences. Greg and his team speak directly to people living with speech and language challenges, and others such as speech language pathologists, researchers, educators and family members. They use inclusive language and aim to rebuild confidence and hope by dismantling myths, stigma and stereotypes.

You can view our video episode below:

 

You can also listen to the podcast episode on various websites. The links are below:

Some Stutter Luh! website: https://somestutterluh.ca/2022/09/04/S03E13.html

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dOls1a7HTqxP6AuiPjkDg

Apple Podcasts episode link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/interview-with-robert-obrien/id1554770147?i=1000578315260

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media
Transcending Stuttering Podcast: The Mighty Mindset

Transcending Stuttering Podcast: The Mighty Mindset

I had the pleasure of being invited onto the Transcending Stuttering Podcast hosted by Uri Schneider. We covered a lot of material ranging from stuttering, coming out, suicide and mental health. You can listen to the full conversation by using the link below:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/76-mighty-mindset-with-robert-obrien/id1541080029?i=1000567822986&fbclid=IwAR0RwkHIH9TrPpizdnjfTQi3nWjMnqGFJbhDndd_-9iLCwTl7ccFBeLb9OA

 

 

Posted by Robert O'Brien in Media