by Elisabeth Svanholmer

June 5, 2007 Denmark

I am writing this because I have now attended two InterVoice meetings and on both occasions I have been wondering about certain observations I have made. I realize that these are personal observations and hope they will be read as such.

I do not assume that my observations are right; I may not have been paying proper attention. I have not heard everything that has been discussed and maybe I have misunderstood what was going on and are projecting all sorts of things.

I am also writing this, because I truly believe we are holding one of the keys to a future, where human beings, with and without connection to psychiatry, will start to recover from the past we all share, from all the trauma’s we carry with us as part of human kind.

And I think we must be very careful and conscious of how we use that key.

First I would like to acknowledge just how important it has been for me to become a part of the ‘Hearing Voices family’. I myself have experienced that the approach has a profound value, not only as a way for voice hearer’s to recover but also for those who work as professionals with this and for the family and friends who surround all of us.

I met Trevor Eyles back in October 2005 and have since been working with the accepting and communicative approach towards myself and the voices I hear. I have worked with the interview, been part of a group and been teaching and telling my story to a broader audience. Trevor Eyles has supported me continuously as my counselor and facilitator and it is through him that I have had the great and inspiring pleasure to meet Dirk Corstens, Marius Romme and many other wonderful people devoted to the ‘Making Sense of Voices’ approach.

I have come quite far in a short time and it could not have happened without these people – both in Denmark and internationally - who are working so whole-heartedly for this cause. I am very grateful for coming into contact with this way of working with “psychotic experiences” and being a part of this network. A special thanks to Trevor Eyles; thank you for helping me change my world. I trust you.

The two meetings I have attended were the one last year in Scotland and the one this year in Denmark. These have both been good experiences and I believe it is important to discuss, share and support each other and that it is done best when being together in person.

I recognize that InterVoice is a relatively young organization and that we are still trying to figure out how to do things the best way. That concerns the meetings, the communication inside the organization and the way we ‘spread the word’.

I think that in order to find ‘the best way’, it is important that we first find and agree on our identity as an organization.

Which identity are we creating for our organization? We are each of us responsible for that identity in our separate countries and national networks and in our personal lives through our way of working and relating on a daily basis.

From what I understand, we (being InterVoice and the Hearing Voices networks) hope to reach out to more people around the world, we want to reach into the heart of psychiatry; reach the psychiatrists, the politicians, the medical industry, those who make the decisions, those who research and those who map out the way psychiatry is heading.

We want to reach those who are scared, those who have given up and those who, like us, believe they hold the key to a better way of doing things and helping those who are despairing and causing themselves and people around them pain.

The ‘Making Sense of Voices’ approach is, as I see it, based upon working towards understanding and hopefully accept those things (voices, feelings and experiences) which torment us and make some of us do and say things we don’t want to. We believe in communication and creating dialogue between elements that seem unlikely to communicate. We believe in exploring and honouring the things we can not comprehend and our goal is to create safe places for each other and our selves and for these incomprehensive ‘things’ so that we may be able to co-exist.

What I have been observing is a tendency to blame ‘the system’; that we ourselves place a diagnosis upon the established psychiatry as ‘sick’. We blame and take out our frustration and anger on the psychiatrists, the medical-industry, the hospitals, the ‘way things are working’, the diagnostic system, the diagnosis schizophrenia and so on.

But these different elements consist of and is created by individuals, single human beings – those exact same that we are trying to reach.

How can we reach them if we blame them and keep thinking we must fight them?

I realize that I have no real idea of what some of you must have experienced and I know that there must be deep feelings involved for many, both as voice hearers and as counselors, facilitators, caretakers, friends and family members. Feelings of being misunderstood, of not being seen or heard, of being violated, being abused and used. Of being treated as rebellious teenagers, as naïve children or even as hallucinating people with crazy beliefs ;-)

So, which way are we heading at the moment?

• Are we an anti-psychiatry organization, fighting against the things that has caused us and others pain, fighting diagnosis, medication and traditional treatment? Do we want to be known as those who make a public statement by having a burial of the diagnosis schizophrenia? Are we on a crusade? Do we take upon us the role of rebellious teenagers, making our selves heard by making the most noise and causing fights just for the hell of it.

• Are we a pro-communication organization, fighting for the things we believe in, promoting dialogue and understanding? Do we our selves believe in the message we want to send out? Do we believe that we can communicate with those “voices” outside of us, who criticize us, ignore us and ridicule us? Do we try to make sense of these voices, to understand them? Are we focusing on reaching and engaging in dialogue or on changing and fighting the things we do not like?

• What is it that holds us together as individuals and as different networks in a larger organization? Is it the results of a traumatic past and the hope for a better future? Or is it our present experiences with holding a very important key to recovery for our selves and others?

• How do we treat each other in this organization? Do we relate to each other, do we try to understand each other, do we take care of each other, of our selves and our families? Do we listen?

To me it seems that one of the places to start defining our identity, is with and at the meetings. I know that we have to take time and money into consideration and that it is important that everyone who participates feels welcome. But I have been wondering if it has to be done the way it has been the past two years.

• Could we separate the partying and drinking from the actual meeting so that it doesn’t affect peoples’ ability to attend? There must be a way to do it so we meet both the need to celebrate being together and the importance of having clear minds to discuss the matters of the organization.

• Could we have more time for sharing and relating to each other (without having to drink)? Maybe do things together instead of sitting 5-6 hours inside and only reluctantly return from the breaks.

I think it is important with the time for discussing practical matters such as where we are heading and any important things that might have happened and of course there are also decisions to be made on these meetings which requires that we all attend and have a chance to say our piece. I know it might sound a bit camp-like to have activities, but it should of course be voluntary and things that everyone could join. Simple things like ball games, playing, going for walks or having small groups sharing and telling stories. Having small workshops on different subjects such as what is happening in different countries or maybe someone in the network has something to teach others; a song, a dance, introduce a new kind of therapy, share knowledge of any kind.

• I would love to hear more personal stories from the ‘professionals’. For some reason it is the voice hearers who do most of the personal sharing and the professionals who do most of the telling and discussing. I find it quite amazing how silent the room can become when someone gets up and says ‘I would like to share my personal experiences’ – as if we are all reminded why we are together.

• Could we have a special InterVoice fund raising money for the traveling and to make it possible to have more time together?

We want to be supportive of each other, make serious decisions, come up with new ideas, have fun, connect and make new friends – and all of that in only two days…

We do not have enough time to relate, discuss, share, listen, drink, party and to keep these things separate, so that we can create a constructive and positive atmosphere at these meetings.

• Could we perhaps on a conscious level integrate the ideas of the non-violent communication practice developed by Marshall Rosenberg? Both when we are communicating inside InterVoice and when we are working on reaching others.

• And on a more individual and personal level: Why are we in InterVoice still separating ourselves into the categories of ‘professionals’ and voice hearers? I would love for us all to regard ourselves and each other as experts by experience but it seems mighty hard to do – for me too.

I might seem hopelessly naive for thinking that we can get our message out by working towards better ways of relating to ourselves, each other and the world around us. It may seem a terribly slow way of doing things but I believe that we have to practice what we preach – most of all for our own sake, because we owe it to our selves and each other inside this network. It is how we can restore and keep our self-respect and by that hopefully create respect for our beliefs, our way of working.

How can we expect to be taken seriously, be respected, heard and received if we do not act as an organization that deserves respect and has a message that is worth listening to, not because it is shouted out loud but because it is spoken from the heart?

It may be the only way we can reach those who we feel are fighting against us.

By being in opposition we create opposition. Our starting point should not be to agree to disagree. We should not be fighting against anyone or anything because our fuel then too easily will become our personal agendas, our feelings of frustration, our anger and indignation.

We must always try to relate to others in a way that nourishes a respectful communication and creates the possibility of dialogue and mutual understanding which is not necessarily the same as agreeing.

I have this beautiful image in my head which I try to carry with me everywhere I go and remind my self of in any situation. I see myself standing in the middle of a web of golden threads. Between myself and everyone I know or have known and cared for, I see a golden thread connecting us. And every single person to whom I am connected is also connected by golden threads to their friends, family and colleagues. And it goes on and on and I realize at some point somewhere, we must all be connected. It might be through someone who has passed away or someone we only met once, but the important thing is that there, at a moment in time was a golden thread between two people. And so I am in one way or another, through all kind of relationships, connected to people I regard as my ‘enemy’, the people who I might be scared of or whom I might disagree with, loathe for their beliefs or actions or even hate.

The important thing to me is, that I try to take good care of the golden threads that directly connects me to others and I hope that this will help them to take care of their own personal golden threads. For me, taking care of these threads has nothing to do with pleasing others or sacrificing myself; it is about being true to myself, taking care of myself, so that I am capable of relating in a honest and respectful way.

My wishes for InterVoice and the ongoing world-wide work with accepting and understanding the hearing voices experience, is that we recognize the difficulties we come across, as possibilities for practicing our way of relating to unknown belief-systems, defense mechanism, inner and outer critics and aggressors, traumatizing experiences and unexpressed emotions and needs.

We have the means/method/approach right at hand – let us use it, not only inwards but also outwards.