The beginning of a healthier and positive life

I approached Mrs Berndsen’s practice in spring 2017 with the feeling that I finally had to do something. At this point, I had already had ten years of orthodontic treatment and two failed attempts at speech therapy. Nothing had changed. All the teeth that had been so beautifully straightened by orthodontics had to surrender to the mighty power of my tongue and so all the pain and expense I had incurred came to nothing. So now, in my mid-twenties, this deficit that had been postponed for years was to be corrected.

I had already met Mrs Berndsen when I was at primary school as part of a clinical study and I had a good feeling about her. I made my first appointment, got in the car and drove the 180 kilometres from Giessen to Unna full of expectations.

Mrs Berndsen is different. She herself says that she is not a speech therapist. What she does is a holistic approach. In addition to my tongue, we also need to tackle the rest of my posture. After a practical demonstration of the function of the human swallowing apparatus, a list of tongue exercises and lots of comments about the incorrectness of my posture, I left Unna confused but highly motivated. I decided to try this different kind of treatment after the conventional speech therapy had not worked. Many more meetings of this kind followed. Mrs Berndsen is very pedantic and she became a little voice in my head that accompanied me from then on in my everyday life and made me constantly think about controlling my tongue, my head, my shoulders, my lips and everything else. Mrs Berndsen was annoying at times and I thought she was completely overdoing it with her pedantry. On the other hand, I had decided to get involved in the treatment, tried to be a “good” patient and bravely did my homework. And indeed, I noticed changes. My speech became clearer, my posture more upright, my understanding greater, I was now sensitised to this issue. Among other things, I got sore muscles in my back from simply walking in everyday life, which fascinated me. I liked what I noticed and I tried to improve my posture every time I left the house.

As an advanced Berndsen patient, I would like to take this opportunity to summarise my treatment: Speech therapy is just the beginning of a new, healthier, more positive and probably more successful life in both a private and professional context and I can only recommend everyone to make this investment in themselves. The return is exponential.