Supporting individuals with aphasia through dedicated multi-lingual services.

Empowering Communication for All

Supporting individuals with aphasia through dedicated multi-lingual services.

Empowering Communication for All

What is Chat?

CHAT (Conversation Helpers for Aphasia Therapy) is a charitable organization dedicated to helping people with aphasia—across diverse ethnicities and languages—reconnect with their voices, their loved ones, and their memories.

Our program focuses on providing accessible tools and multilingual support that help individuals living with aphasia regain language abilities, strengthen memory, and rebuild confidence. Through conversation practice, memory exercises, and storytelling, we empower patients to find new ways to express themselves and share their stories. We focus on providing help through gathering volunteers that are willing to support our cause, and who speak multiple languages.

We believe every voice deserves to be heard. By honoring the unique cultural and linguistic backgrounds of our participants, CHAT helps restore not only words, but also the connections and memories that make each life rich and meaningful.

About CHAT

Our History

CHAT was born from a deeply personal experience. After Ahma, my Chinese grandmother, suffered a stroke, she lost much of her ability to speak and read. With time, care, and countless conversations, she regained most of her English language skills. But when it came to her Chinese, we quickly discovered how few resources and support systems existed for multilingual aphasia patients.

In 2024, we founded CHAT to change that.

Our Mission

At CHAT, our mission is to provide support, community, and resources for people with aphasia—no matter what language they speak. By bringing together families, caregivers, and specialists from across cultures and languages, we strive to make recovery more inclusive, accessible, and hopeful for everyone.

How it works

At CHAT, we connect dedicated volunteers with aphasia patients who have multilingual needs. Many individuals with aphasia speak more than one language, but recovery support often focuses only on English. Our volunteers step in to bridge that gap, offering conversation practice, patience, and cultural understanding in the languages that matter most to each patient.

We partner with several aphasia support facilities throughout Bergen County, giving us access to professional resources, therapy materials, and guidance. This collaboration allows our volunteers to provide meaningful, personalized support while complementing the work of speech therapists and medical teams.

There is no experience necessary! We will provide our volunteers with basic intstructions and learning materials that they can incorporate into simple, everyday conversations with patients that extend the therapy they are doing with their trained professionals. These brief (20 - 30 minute) conversations will bolster the recovery process and fill in the language gaps the exist in many professional programs that are only able to focus on English language skills.

Scheduling is easy and completely based on the voluneer's availabitly. When CHAT identifes a patient that fits your particular languate skill we will let you know and you can simply set up a time to chat at your convenience.

Volunteer

Volunteering with Chat is a meaningful community service opportunity for high school and college students and beyond. Your contributions help us provide essential services to those in need. Join us in making a positive impact in our community.

Volunteer now

Contact Us

CHAT - Conversation Helpers for Aphasia Therapy

conversationhelpers.aphasia@gmail.com

Stay in Touch

Learn more about our upcoming events, fundraisers, and more!

Empowering Communication for All

Empowering Communication for All

What is Chat?

About CHAT

Our History

Our Mission

How it works

Volunteer

Contact Us

Drop us a line!

CHAT - Conversation Helpers for Aphasia Therapy

Stay in Touch

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