“I think my favorite thing about the profession I’m in is the long-term relationships I’ve formed with the many clients I’ve had. As my kids say, ‘You’re so lucky, Mom, to have that kind of career.’”

Her area of expertise is in group work. Since 1981, Sue has worked in Michigan and in California as a group facilitator for caregivers, stroke survivors, and people with aphasia returning to work. She says she began to see the value of groups soon after she began working as an speech-language pathologist in 1976.

“I felt like people were leaving treatment without understanding their illness, without being able to go out into the community again -- all those things that are considered part of living were just not being addressed,” says Sue. Even though there was no lack of funding for individual treatment at the time, Sue saw that it was “the groups that really helped people heal” as she facilitated groups for both stroke survivors and their families.

Sue’s belief that aphasia treatment should address more than just speech and language is part of what attracted her to the Aphasia Center in 1994. “Sue’s philosophy melded with ours,” says Dr. Roberta J. Elman, President/CEO of the Aphasia Center. “She realized that traditional therapy was not enough. For many people aphasia is a chronic disorder that deserves continued support after traditional treatment ends. It has an impact on the entirety of a person’s life.”

As a group leader, Sue says her role, once members become more comfortable and get to know one another, is to sit back and let others in the group interact. “The leader has more responsibility as the group first starts, but the ultimate goal is for the leader to step into the background so that the interaction is really occurring within the group. The leader is there to monitor and to intervene when necessary, in order to clarify, assist, or increase awareness of the effects of communication loss.”

A central tenet of the groups is that members decide what they want to discuss. “I think every session deals with some of the struggles, some of the questions people have in dealing with stroke in the day-to-day world,” says Sue. “If there’s a news topic, they love to get into that or people like to share new interests or even interests and events from the past. It’s not the content, it’s the underlying process that’s important and that results in change in people.”

By “process,” she means it’s the interactions of the members and the bonds formed that make groups so invaluable. Sue says her goal is for members to maintain and extend the connections they’ve formed within the groups.

A book Sue wrote in 1991, “Pathways: Moving Beyond Stroke and Aphasia,” reflects one of her core beliefs about treatment --that there is life after stroke and aphasia. “I think the thing that is most enjoyable about group work is watching people actually move on from looking at themselves as being ill to looking at themselves as individuals—as individuals who also have aphasia.”