Gareth Gates helps give Bradford student a voice (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Gareth Gates helps give Bradford student a voice

11:00am Monday 13th February 2012 in Bradford

A Bradford student whose lifelong stammer made him suicidal now has a “new voice” after completing a televised speech programme led by Gareth Gates.

Mohammed Shafi was one of six young people guided through a gruelling speech therapy course led by Gareth and a team of coaches.

In the BBC programme, Stop My Stutter, the young people, who all had stammers since childhood, live together in a retreat in Birmingham and are filmed taking part in the McGuire Programme.

Mohammed had spent his life with a stammer, and describes it as “fighting a battle every single minute of every day”. He said: “I always feared taking phone calls, asking strangers for directions, giving an order in a takeaway or standing in front of classmates to present work. Behind the smile I put on, I was suffering embarrassment, shame, depression, even on occasions feeling suicidal, all because of my stammer.

“I felt what’s the point in living when you can’t even say your own name right? I suffered in silence, in bed crying at night.”

Bullied because of his stammer, Mohammed lashed out in anger – “letting my fists do the talking” – then he discovered boxing. “Boxing classes help me relieve some of the stress, disappointment, frustration and anger I had because of my stammer,” he said. “Boxing gave me something worthwhile to do in a disciplined environment. It also taught me to respect myself. When I have a bad day I go to the gym and relieve my stress on the punch bag.”

Now at university, studying to become a physiotherapist, Mohammed said the day he completed the McGuire course was “the best day of my life”.

“I've always dreamed of having the ability to speak without a stammer and that day finally came,” he said. “I used to substitute words and avoid places where I’d have to talk, I kept quiet around friends and family. I now have a new voice, thanks to Gareth. Now I can’t stop talking to friends and family!”

Gareth, a former Bradford Cathedral choirboy, shot to fame on Pop Idol in 2002. He had a stammer since childhood and learned to control it on the McGuire programme. Now he’s a qualified speech coach. He said: “I’m really looking forward to letting the cameras in, to see not just the everyday struggle people like me go through but also the positive outcome that can be gained if you put the effort in.”

* Stop My Stutter is screened on BBC Three on Monday, February 27.