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.

Regards

Anita