CLEVELAND — Eight years ago, Michelle Guzowski went through a transition and started to live according to her gender identity. As a transgender woman, she was happy to be living life on her own terms, but there was one more change that she said would make her journey feel complete: Her voice.
“Trying to change the way you’ve been speaking your whole life, it’s not easy to do,” Guzowski said.
Thanks to the transgender voice clinic offered by Baldwin Wallace University’s Speech Clinic, Guzowski’s voice presentation is slowly but surely becoming something she said she can be proud of. It’s an accomplishment that means leading a more healthy and fulfilling life.
“It gives me more confidence to be able to portray the feminine image without getting looked at or stared at,” Guzowski said.
Dr. Amy Vaughn, who oversees the transgender voice clinic, has been a speech pathologist for almost 30 years and said working with those in the transgender community to help alter their pitch isn’t only life changing, but it can be life-saving.
“They’re more likely to be the to be a victim of physical assault and violence, more likely to be sexually assaulted, more likely to commit suicide or attempts is like — all of these things three all these negative things,” Vaughn said.
Michelle Guzowski and Dr. Amy Vaughn
The Baldwin Wallace transgender voice clinic offers free services to anyone of any age experiencing communication disorders. Vaughn said everyone’s voice has a range, and said when it comes to working with transgender clients, there’s value in focusing on other things along with the voice.
“We’re really changing the brain, and how the brain functions to use the speech mechanism. And so it’s really undoing a lot of behaviors,” Vaughn said.
Voice-focused homework, group meetings, countless vocal exercises &andwarm ups are all worth it, Guzowski said. Not only is she more confident because of the transgender voice clinic, she said she has found a support system.
“I am happy to have found Dr. Vaughn, and the students to have helped me work my way through this journey, and I’m very grateful for them,” Guzowski said.
