Page updated 10/03/2008

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Source: Sussex Partnership Trust, 01/12/2006

A self-help group in East Sussex for people who hear voices have won a major NHS award.

The East Sussex hearing voices group was started in May 2002. It has proved so successful that new groups are being set up in other parts of Sussex and a local hearing voices network and website has been launched.

On 29 November the group won the Outstanding Achievement in Mental Health Award, and also the award for patient and public involvement, in the South East Coast 'Best of Health' awards, held at the Brighton Metropole Hotel.

Trust Chief Executive Lisa Rodrigues said, "To win the mental health award was a great achievement in itself. Every award winner was put in for the patient and public involvement award, and by winning that as well the group were effectively the overall prize winners out of nearly 200 entrants. I was so proud of them all.

"These groups which help themselves by helping each other exemplify the recovery approach which is central to the way we work in the trust."

Sara Meddings, clinical psychologist, said, "About one person in ten hears voices. Many of them do not have any diagnosis of mental illness and many do not experience their voices as a problem. We developed a self help group to help those who were struggling with the voices.

"To get this award is fantastic in itself, but it is also a testimony to how far we have travelled in the last few years that this kind of activity, and the principle of involving group members, is now recognised and valued."

The group evaluated their work to see what difference it made. Dr Meddings said; "It is clear that most people benefited during their time as group members. It seems that the group can help people to live with hearing voices, and to make positive improvements to their lives."

Here is what some group members said:

"The voices don't like it that I'm going to the group and I'm being positive whereas they prefer me to be negative - it's a way of defeating them so they don't like it."

"I love it - I wake up and think great, I'm going to the voices group today - it's changed my life."

"Being in the group has helped me to be more confident and now I'm a volunteer driver and take people to the group."

"Definitely go ahead and join - stick with it because it can be daunting when you don't know people and hopefully you'll get something from it."

The award citation says: 'Because of the way that the East Sussex Hearing Voices Groups were initiated by service users and depend entirely on the active participation and enthusiastic support of clients and carers, a Best of Health patients' panel awarded the Patient and Public Involvement Award to them.

It's a people centred network. Choice and involvement are enhanced by different groups meeting on different days at different times (including out of hours). There's also a thriving e-voices group chat room on the website.

All sort of people troubled by hearing voices and their carers are involved, including working adults; people with ongoing mental health problems, people in hospital or residential care, people who have found traditional services hard to engage with, people with learning disabilities; older people and young people, targeted through the internet e-group and text alerts'.

There is more information about the hearing voices groups on www.sussexvoice.org.uk The research and evaluation of the hearing voices group was published in the journal Mental Health Today in September 2006.