For an unfunded organisation run by volunteers INTERVOICE has a wide global presence. In this section you can find more about hearing voices initiatives across the world, including national networks, local groups, self help and other kinds of groups.

RESOURCES

Information on national initiatives across the world
Groups who are promoting the hearing voices approach and the different countries that have become involved so far.

Online information and support for voice hearers
Useful websites and online discussion forums providing information and support for people who hear voices, family members and workers.

Websites run by local hearing voices groups in the UK
There are over 170 Hearing Voices Groups in England, some of these groups have established their own websites.

Information about local hearing voices groups in the UK
There are over 170 Hearing Voices Groups in England, in this section we provide information and contact details for some of these groups.

WAYS OF WORKING WITH GROUPS

Work with voice hearers: evaluation of effectiveness of hearing voices groups
“This study presents a small, randomized control trial of cognitive behavioural interventions within a group setting for the treatment of auditory hallucinations. The groups achieved a significant reduction in frequency of auditory hallucinations and in the beliefs about the power of the voice. Satisfaction measures also suggested that the group participants valued the group and benefited from the structured sessions.

Are Hearing voices Groups Effective? A preliminary evaluation, (2004) Sara Meddings, Linda Walley, Tracy Collins, Fay Tullett, Bruce McEwan and Kate Owen, Sussex Partnership Trust
The study found that after attending the hearing voices group,members’ hospital bed use decreased and there was a trend for less formal admissions. People used far more coping strategies and were able to talk to far more people about their voices after attending the group. Learning coping strategies was something people valued about the group and one of the common topics was to explore and experiment with different coping strategies. After attending the group, self esteem increased. User empowerment also increased supporting anecdotal reports of hearing voices groups which had not been formally examined elsewhere. Feeling more empowered was one of the aims of the group particularly valued by users and may be associated, not only with the voices themselves, but also with other aspects of recovery and getting better. People’s relationships with the voices were mostly improved. They heard the voices less frequently, the voices were perceived as less powerful (omnipotent) relative to them, people felt much better able to cope with their voices, and there were trends towards people feeling less controlled by their voices and feeling less alone. Perhaps most importantly, the evaluation shows that people improved in relation to what they had identified as their own goals for the group, their personal constructs.

Version of research study published as “The voices don’t like it…”, in Mental health Today, (September 2006)

Abstract: Hearing voices groups have been shown to benefit members by reducing the power and influence of the voices and providing an important source of peer and social support. Sara Meddings and colleagues report the findings of the first ever study to use standardised measures to gauge the impact of attendance at a hearing voices group. Their study quantified statistically significant improvements in participants’ ability to live with and even control their voices, as well as collecting evidence of the qualitative benefits of knowing that others are also struggling with what can be a very isolating and alienating phenomenon.

Psychosis Seminars: The Trialogical Approach
Trialogical meetings are where psychosis-experienced people, their relatives and friends, and professionals from the mental health sector meet up to discuss issues concerning psychosis.Everybody is considered an expert of their experiences and everybody’s different perspectives on psychotic states are valued as equally meaningful and important.

Australian hearing voices group “Power To Our Journeys”
Formed in 1995 when a number of women who either currently struggled with hearing voices, or had heard voices in the past, came together to share their knowledges and skills and to challenge conventional ideas about mental health issues.

A brief history of the English Hearing Voices Network
Julie Downs, co-ordinator of the Hearing Voices Network (HVN), offers a brief history of the organisation, and outlines what it represents.

HEARING VOICES GROUPS

Hearing Voices groups provide a safe place to talk about your experiences. You may feel that sometimes these experiences are very distressing and overwhelming, but sharing this can help.

Hearing Voices can be both an attack on personal identity and an attempt to keep it intact. The solution does not lie in suppressing the conflict but in accepting it and to keep in mind that it is normal to be different. We do not all respond to situations in the same way and getting to grips with the context is essential to understanding the behaviour and to facilitating support.

Aims of Hearing Voices Groups:

Starting a Hearing Voices Group
This powerpoint presentation by Jennifer Branks entitled Starting a Hearing Voices Group provides a detailed overview of how to set up a hearing voices group.

An Account of what it is like to run a Voice Hearing Group A voice hearer facilitator describes what it is like to run a hearing voices group.

Clarifying Hearing Voices Network Group identity
The Hearing Voices Network is an independent charity, separate and very different to the mental health services, the Network’s whole culture, ethos, philosophy and values are distinct to those of Psychiatry.

Top award for hearing voices group, Source: Sussex Partnership Trust, 01/12/2006
‘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.

Guidelines for Hearing Voices Groups in Clinical Settings
These guidelines have developed from the experience of practitioners and service users who have contributed to seven years of group work for psychosis in Gloucestershire, UK.

Starting and Supporting Hearing Voices Groups
publication by Julie Downs, Hearing Voices Network, England, click on link for more details of how to order

RESEARCH

Research about Groups, self help and peer support
Research and related articles about self help strategies and peer support groups