This episode of the Unspoken Words podcast is a reunion. Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum sits down with Leila, who first came to the SMart Center for treatment at age 14, to reflect on what actually changes when someone works through selective mutism. Now 20 and heading into her senior year of college as a psychology major, Leila is candid about how unconvinced she was walking in, having spent years being told she was simply anxious or shy.

Leila describes what selective mutism looked like from the inside: she was rarely fully mute, but she could not express herself the way she saw other people doing it. She became, in her words, “really good at avoiding situations,” and the hardest part was not the silence itself but the loneliness it created. It was not until she attended CommuniCamp and met other teens facing the same struggle that she realized, for the first time, she was not alone.

Dr. E and Leila walk through the strategies that moved her forward: scripted interactions at restaurants and bookstores, using her mom as an intermediary before gradually taking over the conversation herself, and building the confidence to initiate on her own. Progress felt slow at first, driven by small wins proving the strategies worked.

The episode closes with Leila’s advice for families still in the middle of it: for teens who feel hopeless, there is a path forward even if the journey looks different for everyone, and for parents, the work is to listen, offer grace instead of pressure, and hold on to who their child really is underneath the anxiety. As Dr. E reminds her, so much of the process is simply helping a child believe what the people around them already know to be true.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 

For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on Instagram & YouTube. Learn more about CommuniCamp, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program!

For all podcast inquiries, please contact Dakota Hornak at ⁠dhornak@selectivemutismcenter.org⁠. This podcast was produced and published by New Edition Productions (neweditionconsulting.com)