The conference is now fully booked, though people can still contact Together to leave their details for any future events

Telephone enquiries: 020 7780 7372;
Email: mandy-chainey@together-uk.org

A one-day national conference for professionals and people who hear voices

This conference has been initiated and organised by people who hear voices and staff within Together’s Service-user Directorate. It is not funded by drugs companies.

Hosted by: Together in support of World Hearing Voices Day (WHVD)

Friday 14 September 2007

Thistle City Barbican Hotel, 120 Central Street, London EC1V 8DS

Typically, in Western medical thinking hearing voices has been associated with mental illness and frequently seen as a symptom of schizophrenia. Yet many people who hear voices do not have a mental illness and never seek help. Traditional treatment has involved the use of major tranquillisers to reduce the delusions and hallucinations. However, not everyone responds to treatment and some
doctors, following the lead of people who hear voices, now recognise that talking about voices
is an important way for individuals to explore and accept them.

World Hearing Voices Day was originally instigated by Louise Pembroke and was set up in 2006 to raise awareness of the condition
and to de-stigmatise the voice-hearing experience. This conference marks the second World Hearing Voices Day, and aims to bring
together experts with experience of hearing voices and professionals to share their understanding of voice-hearing and to explore
exciting new non-medical ways to work with voices.

At the conference topics covered will include:
• impact of hearing voices on people’s lives
• coping strategies from outside of traditional psychiatric practice, which really work
• demystifying hearing voices and self-harm
• alternative explanations for the causes of voice-hearing
• voice dialogue. A method for people who hear voices of exploring the voices’ motives and discovering different ways of relating to them.

There will also be a programme of exhibitions and performances about the experience of voice-hearing to accompany the conference.
This will include Louise Pembroke performing her dedication to her voices through dance, an art exhibition, as well as arts and poetry
performances. (Please contact us if you would like to take part).

Who is the conference for?
• Mental health professionals.
• Anyone who hears voices (or sees visions,or has unusual experiences).
• Friends and supporters of people who hear voices.

Speakers include:

• David Crepaz-Keay, Senior Policy Advisor, Patient and Public Involvement, Mental Health Foundation
• Louise Pembroke, Survivor activist and voice-hearer
• Phil Thomas, Professor of Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health Institute for Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health Centre for Ethnicity and Health, University of Central Lancashire
• Tamasin Knight, Researcher and Author of Beyond Belief
• Chas de Swiet, Head of Operations and Resourcing, Mental Health Media
• Alison Rance, Roger Fleet and Kathy Smith, Clairvoyant-mediums, Moonstone Centre, Worthing
• Peter Bullimore, Hearing Voices Network, Paranoia Network and Asylum Associates
• Paul Hammersley, Academic activist
• Lana Jackson, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, Salomons: Canterbury Christ Church University
• Anne Cooke, Clinical Psychologist, Salomons: Canterbury, Christ Church University 
• Dr Mark Haywood, Clinical Psychologist, Surrey University
• Hannah Schwartzman and Victoria Messenbird, Survivor activists and voice-hearers
• Sara Stanton, Advocacy and Training Manager, Service-user Directorate, London and East, Together; Psychiatric-refuser and voice-hearer
• Dirk Corstens (Netherlands), Social Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist
  

For more information Click here