Communication is vital to human survival but so many of us lack the skills needed for effective communication.

That was the view of visiting American speech therapist and counsellor Mrs.

Kim Logan. Therefore 13 years ago she set out to do something about it.

And this week Mrs. Logan, who is here as a guest speaker for the Midland Heights Seventh Day Adventists' Spiritual Emphasis Weekend, told The Royal Gazette she has helped many people, including former Detroit Piston star Isaiah Thomas and Piston guard Joe Dumars, to develop their communication skills.

In her early childhood Mrs. Logan was labelled as a special education student because she stuttered and had a lisp and tongue thrust that affected her speech. She also came close to losing her hearing.

As she went through this, Mrs. Logan said she developed a special interest in communication.

She later attended Oakwood college in Huntsville, Alabama, then Wayne State in Detroit, Michigan where she earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Special education and Biology with emphasise on speech physiology and sign language.

Concerned about many athletes inability to communicate and the fact that they were role models to youngsters, Mrs. Logan said she developed a special interest in helping such athletes.

She explained that she also wanted to help them to communicate well when entering into contracts and the business world.

Mrs. Logan added that children needed good communication skills to get employment.

"Communication opens up the doors to success for a person's corporate and personal life,'' she said. "If people can't understand you, then your purpose ends. Achieving your goals becomes possible by having effective communication.'' Mrs. Logan stressed that she wanted to show athletes the importance of having good communication skills and to remind them that there is life after sports.

She then began to spread her knowledge about communication to corporate America, churches, schools and CEOs.

In 1982 Mrs. Logan started Kim Logan Communications to help people to have more affective communication skills.

"One thing that I found was that people lacked self-esteem'' Mrs. Logan said.

Therefore she designed a programme that emphasised speaking for success, employable skills, self motivation, and presentation skills to help individuals compete in "this complex society''.

"I want to take my message around the world and show people that there is some one with expertise that can help them to become complete as a person,'' Mrs. Logan said. In addition to her communications company, Mrs. Logan runs a Christian Family Counselling Centre. She gives co-counselling with her husband, Author Nowlin Logan, who is a substance abuse counsellor.

The couple counsel as a team to emphasise the male and female aspects of a situation.

They also counsel families, couples, children and singles. And they hold seminars, workshops and symposiums.

Mrs. Logan also has a radio talk show on WMKM in Detroit.

On that show, she discusses many topics and concerns, and she brings in guest of different professions.

Her husband will be co-hosting the show with her in the near future and they plan to focus on substance abuse on the programme.

But Mrs. Logan said her "biggest challenge is to serve God, to be an effective wife and mother, and to be instrumental in contributing to the community''.

Mrs. Logan has two children Jason Nowlin 17, and Micha 13.

She has Masters degrees in family guidance, counselling Substance abuse counselling psychology and theology with emphasise on Christian counselling.

She also has doctorate degrees in interpersonal communication, storytelling, family counselling and psychology. She also has AIDS certification in AIDS counselling and prevention.

Mrs. Logan will be speaking at Midland Heights Seventh Day Adventists church tonight, tomorrow and on Sunday.

She will address youth development, family life, abuse on women and interpersonal communication for everyone, with the major focus on women.

Mrs. Kim Logan