All posts by Ciara McEnteggart

Experience of the World Voices Congress as presented at the HVNI AGM 2024

AGM, News

by Eoin Toomey

The event was held in a large sports hall. There was a main venue and four smaller rooms where presentations were made. Some of the presentations were beautiful testimonies of recovery, acceptance and meaning – making in people who had experienced unusual sensory experiences in their lives. Others were related to tapering psychiatric drugs, wildness, the healing power of art, archetypal voices, voices and visions in literature, ways of working with voices, mdma-assisted psychotherapy, intentional peer support, the Maastricht interview and many others. 

The atmosphere was cordial, friendly and where many friends new and old meet. 

After the introduction by Jorn, organiser of the Congress and friendly, good-humoured Dane, we listened to the first keynote by Kellie Stastny on stigma, shame and hearing voices. Unpacking and understanding hearing voices and being aware of the dynamics of guilt & shame which can surround this while telling her story. Kellie is chairperson of Intervoice. 

Then followed Mick with ‘It’s all in my head’ to explore ways to work towards creating meaning, relationships and collaboration with one’s voices. 

Next were concurrent sessions. Peter Bullimore on paranoia; Kate Crawford on how writing helped her with her childhood traumas & voices; and Robin Thomas & Elisabeth Svanholmer on wildness, Nature & voices.

I attended Micheal Cidlik’s talk on archetypal voices, which examined patterns in voice-hearing and what psychological archetypes underpin them.

In other concurrent sessions, aspects explored were: supporting young voice-hearers; experiences of the Bradford HV group; stories of acceptance and recovery; and advancing the HVN approach in services and community. 

Eduard Leao from Brazil examined non-verbal resources for dealing with the understanding of voices such as art, Open Dialogue and HV, navigating extreme states in the menopausal transition, family approaches to recovery in voice-hearing, the Maastricht interview, art therapy – outsider art or Art Brût. Finishing the day was J Dillon with compassionate approaches to voice-hearing. 

Day Two 

Keynotes: Micheal Cidlik, chairperson HVN Denmark on working with visions, Sugar Thiruchelvam on intersections between colonialism, colonial brutality and her voice-hearing story having immigrant parents. 

Other talks included: Anders Sorenson on voice-hearing, psychotropic drugs, and tapering; Mette Askov on changing narratives in the world of mental health and hearing voices; CHIME; non-pathological ways of understanding voices; Nature therapy; Rufus May focusing on the values of the HVN approach e.g. valuing different perspectives; the wisdom of lived experience; community development; and mutual help and mutual learning. Afternoon sessions were on being a mother and a voice hearer; Dirk Corstens et al on talking with voices or voice-dialogue; and Bernadette & I on Peer support. Some more talks involving personal stories of recovery, the Greek HVN with their theatre group, online hearing voices groups, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy.

World Voices Congress 2024

News

The World Voices Congress was held this year in Copenhagen in late September. The Congress is an annual global gathering of voice-hearers and people who are interested in the phenomena from over twenty countries. Over 300 people attended. The Congress was organised by the Danish Hearing Voices Network – Psykovision.dk. The theme of the conference was: ‘Reclaiming Our Lives’.

This annual event brings together voice-hearers, loved ones and other allies in a two-day event that explores and celebrates the diversity of voice-hearing, vision-seeing and related human experiences. It is a space where people from across the world come to connect with, and learn from, one another.

The event was held in a large sports hall. There was a main venue and four smaller rooms where presentations were made. Some of the presentations were beautiful testimonies of recovery, acceptance and meaning – making in people who had experienced unusual sensory experiences in their lives. Others were related to tapering psychiatric drugs, wildness, the healing power of art, archetypal voices, voices and visions in literature, ways of working with voices, mdma-assisted psychotherapy, intentional peer support, the Maastricht interview and many others.

The atmosphere was cordial, friendly and where many friends new and old meet.
There have been over twenty World Voices Congress’ to date. They carry on the work initially started in Holland in the 70s/80s by Marius Romme, Sandra Escher and Patsy Hague in making commonplace and understandable what was often confined for life behind the high walls of psychiatric institutions. And historically massively stigmatised as ‘schizophrenia’.

We can recover from the delusions, unusual beliefs often initially manifest in the condition and may eventually come to the point of accepting our voices, visions and other unusual sensory experiences. Making meaning of these experiences is also part of the approach i.e. making sense of the nature and content of our voices. This approach attempts to be compassionate and choice – based, which is in stark contrast to the ‘search & destroy’ approach of the psychiatry those among us who are older have most likely experienced.

Overall, this Congress is well worth attending for anybody interested in this area of mental health. Next year’s World Voices Congress is being held in Prague, Czech Republic 10-11 October 2025 and is themed: From Childhood to Adulthood. Registration is open: https://fokus-praha.cz/hearingvoices-congress2025/

Annual General Meeting 2024

AGM, News

The HVNI Board would like to invite you to the HVNI AGM 2024, which
takes place on Saturday 9 November, as part of the 16th Annual Critical
Perspectives Conference on 8 and 9 November 2024.

Venue: Room G05 in UCC’s Brookfield Health Sciences Complex, College Road, Cork

Time: 12:00-12:45

In addition to the formal AGM procedures (annual report, accounts,
nominations, election of Board members), we look forward to sharing some of the HVNI’s recent activities, including those at the recent Annual World Hearing Voices Congress in Copenhagen. We also hope to share experiences from around the country, from people engaged in either HV group facilitation, or other HV related work.  Delegates at the session will also have an opportunity to share their experiences, ask questions and provide suggestions.

Please email Harry Gijbels (h.gijbels@ucc.ie) with updates/news/stories from groups around the country, and from those engaged in other related HV work, in the form in brief accounts, stories, pictures etc. We’d love to share these at the AGM, anonymously if that is preferred. 

The HVNI is always looking for new Board members, so, if interested,
please complete and return the form. If you are interested, or know of others
who are, but are not sure what being a Board member entails, please email
Harry Gijbels (h.gijbels@ucc.ie).

Nomination Form AGMDownload

Please share with relevant people in your own networks.

We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

On behalf of the HVNI Board

Harry Gijbels

AGM 2023

AGM, News Archive

The HVNI Board would like to invite you to the HVNI AGM 2023, which
takes place on Wednesday 15 November from 13.00 – 13.45.

The AGM venue is Room G04 in UCC’s Brookfield Health Sciences
Complex, College Road, Cork, and takes place during the Annual Critical
Perspectives Conference on 15 and 16 November.

In addition to the formal AGM procedures (annual report, accounts,
nominations, election of Board members), we look forward to hearing from
people involved (facilitators and group members) of various HV Support
groups in West Cork, who will share their experiences of 10 years of HV
support groups in that area. Quite an achievement.

At the Open Forum part of the meeting, attendees will have an opportunity
to share their experiences, ask questions and provide suggestions.
The HVNI is always looking for new Board members, so, if interested,
please complete and return the form. If you are interested, or know of others
who are, but are not sure what being a Board member entails, please email
Harry Gijbels (h.gijbels@ucc.ie).

Nomination for here.

Please share with relevant people in your own networks.

We look forward to seeing you at the AGM.

On behalf of the HVNI Board

Harry Gijbels

Research Opportunity – Stories of managing trauma, difficulty and unusual experiences

News

Request for Participation in Research Project

Hello,

My name is Abbie, and I am a Trainee Clinical Psychologist.

As part of my doctorate training course, I am completing a piece of research aiming to learn from those with lived experience of hearing voices, seeing things, having unshared beliefs and/or other unusual experiences. With the aim that the findings will help to enhance our understanding of such experiences, and in turn, inform improved practice within mental health services. 

To participate in the project, we ask that the following applies:

1. Have experienced some type of trauma during your life.

2. Following that traumatic experience, you noticed a change and experienced one or more of the following: hearing or seeing things, and holding unshared beliefs.

3. Self-identify as ‘doing well’ and/or ‘managing’ – you feel you’re at a stage in your life where you are doing well and this may include in your personal, professional and/or social life.

Participation in the project would involve a 1-hour interview via MS Teams (or in person if preferred and feasible location-wise). All travel expenses would be reimbursed and all those who participate will be entered into a prize draw to win a £75.00 Amazon voucher.

The following link contains more information and a way to express an interest in the study – https://www.callforparticipants.com/study/YIGGY/stories-of-managing-trauma-difficulty-and-unusual-experiences

Please feel free to forward this and pass on my email address to anyone who this may be of relevance to. I’m also more than happy to arrange an introductory telephone call to answer any questions anyone may have.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you and kindest regards,

Abbie

a.barnes1621@canterbury.ac.uk

Meet our Newest HVNI Board Member

Blog

Hello, my name is Bruno Nicolai. For approximately 20 years I’ve worked in various roles in the community, supporting people to come together to identify their needs and take collective action to solve problems, and supporting individuals to overcome adversity in order to live the life they wish to live. I’m a qualified psychotherapist, I’m employed as a Mental Health Recovery Support Worker at Shine, I co-facilitate the Douglas/Cork City Hearing Voices Group, and in the past I’ve co-produced Hearing Voices Training for all staff within my organisation.

I received multiple psychiatric diagnoses as a teenager; each seemingly worse and less hopeful than the last. Back then, I only mentioned my voice-hearing experiences once or twice to psychiatrists. I learned very quickly that if I said yes to the questions they asked, there’d be a good chance I’d receive another diagnosis, a recommendation of some time in hospital, and a prescription for additional or stronger medication, without me being asked anything about the content or context of my experiences.

By my early 20s, my mental health had improved and voice hearing dissipated. There are innumerable reasons this positive change occurred, but in brief, my recovery began when I found a community of peers and professionals whom I felt truly saw, heard, valued, and respected me, which I internalised. From that point onward, there was no stopping me.

Though my most distressing years occurred in my late teens, I can trace the origins of my poor mental health to a succession of precarious and shaming life-experiences beginning in infanthood, each piggybacking on the next until it became too much. Viewing it through the Power Threat Meaning Framework lens, my distress was completely understandable. I liken my recovery to the paradoxical theory of change; the more I discovered and accepted about my authentic self, the more I changed and the happier I became.

Over the past two decades, my passion for mental health recovery has led me along several different paths, to where I am today. I have seen the recovery movement re-defined and re-interpreted into various forms; at times like a square peg hammered into round hole, and though well intentioned, some of these interpretations seem to maintain the traditional pathologising paradigm, while others move away from it. As my involvement with the Hearing Voices movement increases, I find myself curious to learn about the diversity that lies within it.

As you can imagine, for me, joining the Hearing Voices Network Ireland board is very exciting. Without a doubt, I’ve big shoes to fill, as I replace my board predecessor and wonderful Shine Team Leader, Tian Herbert. I’m very much looking forward to getting stuck-in, supporting, promoting, and expanding the reach of HVNI’s amazing work, and hopefully getting the opportunity to meet lots of you along the way.

Hearing Voices Group Facilitation Training with Jacqui Dillon

News

Following on from two successful online courses last year, we are pleased to announce that Jacqui Dillon (https://www.jacquidillon.org/) is running another 8-week online Hearing Voices Group Facilitation & Network Development Training course this year, from 19 April – 7 June 2023, from 2.00 – 5.00 pm on 8 consecutive Wednesdays.

HV Support Groups offer a space where voice hearers feel safe, accepted and comfortable in sharing their experiences of voices, visions, tactile sensations and other unusual experiences and perceptions.

The course is aimed at people with lived experience, mental health staff and others who want to develop the knowledge, skills and attitude necessary to facilitate a Hearing Voices Support Group, and who are in a position to set up a Hearing Voices Support Group, or join an existing group. Facilitators will also learn and experience ways to assist voice hearers to help and support each other, to exchange information, and to learn from one another. The course adheres to and works according to the values, principles and practices of the International Hearing Voices Movement.

We particularly welcome applications from people who hear voices. Please note, that we encourage people who have developed a working relationship with their voices to apply, as training and group facilitation can be demanding.

We also welcome joint applications.

The course is also open to individuals from jurisdictions outside of Ireland.

Places on the programme are limited to 20 and will be allocated on the basis of :

  • the details provided in the application form
  • the ability to attend all (or at least 7) sessions
  • start/facilitate/co-facilitate a Hearing Voices group following completion of the course.

Format:

8 x 3-hour weekly online sessions from Tuesday 19 April – Tuesday 7 June 2023 from 14.00 – 17.00 IST/UTC+1

Cost:

  • €200 Euro – Waged/Professional (payments by instalments possible)
  • €50 Euro Unwaged/Voice Hearer (payments by instalments possible)
  • Limited number of Scholarships available (inquiries to info@hearingvoicesnetworkireland.ie

Application forms to be returned either by email to info@hearingvoicesnetworkireland.ie or by post to:

Harry Gijbels, 115 Atkins Hall, Lee Road, Cork T23 EA06

Joint Application FormDownload
Individual Application FormDownload

The closing date for applications is Friday 7 April 2023.
If you would like to discuss making an application and/or would like more information about the programme, please contact Harry at info@hearingvoicesnetworkireland.ie or on 085 7554220.

Research Study: How mental health nurses engage with voice hearers

News Archive

Thanks for taking the time to read the information contained in this post. 

My name is Anita McCluskey, a mental health nurse, based in Dublin, and a PhD student in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. I am doing research looking at the ways in which mental health nurses engage and work with people who hear voices, whilst admitted to an acute mental health unit. 

Since 2013 I have worked in an acute mental health unit in Dublin. During this time, I have met many people who hear voices, and I always try supporting them to make sense of and cope with their voices in any way possible. I have undertaken some training such as such as CBT Techniques training and the Maastricht Interview workshop over the last few years, to get a better understanding of voice hearers’ experiences. This training has certainly helped me. Unfortunately, we know very little about how nurses and voice hearers interact and engage with one another in an acute unit. 

For this reason, I would like to talk with voice hearers, who have had an acute admission experience, and who currently attend a Hearing Voices Group, and who may be interested to share their experiences with me. I am particularly interested to hear what voice hearers have to say about the way mental health nurses engaged with them during their time in an acute mental health unit. Learning about these experiences will provide insight into how mental health nurses and voice hearers engage, which will inform and, where necessary, improve practices in this area.

If you are a voice hearer who meets the criteria (acute admission experience and currently attending a Hearing Voices Group) and are interested in talking with me, then please contact me at anitamccluskey@rcsi.ie and I will contact you to provide further information.

If you are a health care or social care practitioner, and you know voice hearers who may be interested to share their experiences, then please share this information with them.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this.

Download Research PosterDownload

Regards

Anita

HVNI AGM 2022

AGM, News Archive,

On behalf of the HVNI Board, we’d like to invite you to the HVNI AGM 2022, which takes place on Wednesday 14 September from 18.00 – 20.00.

This year we go back to an in-person meeting, but we also will have an online presence, to accommodate those who are unable to travel to the venue:  Hotwell House, Enfield, Co Meath, A83 EP22.

https://www.hotwellhouse.com/

https://goo.gl/maps/8XhUTY8zyPXiiXFP8

It would help if you could let us know if you are attending in person.

The Zoom link for the meeting is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/94443736330

The HVNI is always looking for new Board members, so please see below for the nomination form with details. We look forward to receiving nominations in advance of the meeting. If you are interested, or know of others who are, but are not sure what it entails, please email Harry Gijbels (h.gijbels@ucc.ie).

Nomination FormDownload

In addition to the formal AGM procedures, we look forward to hearing about the launch of a new HV support group, and hopefully also hear how HV related work is progressing across the country from individuals and/or from groups. 

At the Open Forum part of the meeting, attendees will have an opportunity to share their experiences, ask questions and provide suggestions.

We are pleased to have Jacqui Dillon as our special guest this year, who will share her wisdom in helping the HVNI to continue its work in supporting the hearing voices community.

Provisional schedule:

18.00 Welcome to AGM

18.10 Launch of new HV Support Group

18.30 Jacqui Dillon, guest speaker

18.50 Overview of HV activities over the last year

19.10 Nominations for HVNI Board and election of Board members

19.30 Open Forum

20.00 AGM finishes

We look forward to seeing many of you at the AGM.