INTERVOICE Online Forum
The INTERVOICE Online discussion forum
You are welcome to become a member of our online discussion forum! Join our supportive group and tell us about your views and experiences now
INTERVOICE Online BookShop
In association with Working To Recovery we have collated the most useful publications on mental health issues that have influenced our thinking and work. You can read book descriptions, reviews and order online through our Amazon powered book shop click here
TV and Radio Programmes
Jacqui Dillon, voice hearer and director of the UK Hearing Voices Network, discusses how the movement of people who hear voices is creating self-help alternatives to traditional and often abusive mental health care. Listen to the interview here
Hearing Voices: Easy to understand introduction to the issue of hearing voices:
Online broadcast and transcript using a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world you live.
See information about more TV and radio programmes on the subject of hearing voices here
EVENTS
Meetings, conferences and training events from around the worldLondon 29th June - Manchester 6th July - Glasgow 8th July Self Harm, Sexual Abuse & the 'Psychotic Experience': Credit Crunch Seminars, Affordable Mental Health Training
Facilitated by Ron Coleman & Jacqui Dillon
More information here
25th - 26th June Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label Campaign Conference: Beyond Diagnosis, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
More information here
27th June Making Recovery Happen Aotearoa, New Zealand
An afternoon of Information, Art and Entertainment on the experience of hearing voices, More information here
30th June and 1st July 2009: Surviving Mental Health, Education Not Discrimination , Accrington, Lancashire
This conference will aim to break down stigma and social taboos around all aspects of mental health. More information here
4th July Making Sense of Self Harm
Coventry, UK, with Marion Aslan and Mike smith from Crazydiamond
More information here
11th July Making Sense of Psychotic Experiences,
Coventry, UK, with Marion Aslan and Mike Smith from Crazydiamond
More information here
13th - 14th July Understanding Voices and Working towards Recovery, A 2-day training workshop
with Rufus May and Tim Gibbons, Hebden Bridge, West Yorks, UK
More information here
23rd - 24th July 2009 Advanced Skills in Living and Working With Voices , The University of Leeds, Leeds UK
Facilitated by Jacqui Dillon, Dirk Corstens and Eleanor Longden
More information here
14th - 16th September 2009 INTERVOICE meeting Maastricht, Netherlands
More information here
17th - 18th September THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL HEARING VOICES CONGRESS Maastricht, Netherlands
Programme and booking details available NOW
More information here
2nd November - 5th November Working and Talking with Voices
a 4 day residential course facilitated by Dirk Corstens, Eleanor Longden & Ron Coleman, Drumoig, Fife, Scotland
More information here
18th November, Leeds - 19th November, Birmingham Setting up and Supporting Self Help and Peer Support Groups for People who Hear Voices
Facilitated by Paul Baker.
More information here
30th November - 4th December Making Recovery Happen - Making Recovery Champions
A Five Day Residential workshop with Ron Coleman and Karen Taylor, Drumoig, St Andrews, Scotland
More information here
INTERVOICE NEWS
Głos Wewnętrzny: Poradnik praktyczny dla osób słyszących Głosy
Hearing Voices Information now available in Polish here.
New Hearing Voices Group set up in New South Wales (NSW), Australia
Our congratulations to the newly established Hope Hearing voices Network for NSW and Sydney, Australia. You can visit their website here.
New Hearing Voices Group set up Portland, Oregan, USA
Our congratulations to the newly established Portland Hearing Voices Group. You can visit their website here.
New Hearing Voices Group set up in Denver, USA
Our congratulations to the newly established Denver Hearing Voices Network and to Molly Martyn the director of the new group for all their hard work in setting up the organisation. You can visit their website here.
Hearing Voices: The Personal Stories of Voice Hearers
Intervoice and Ben Gray are putting together a book on the experiences and stories of hearing voices. Would you contribute to this book, if so find out how here.
If we are going to change and improve voice hearers' lives, then your stories are the first place to start.
Calling for Volunteers interested in talking about their Voices
Are your voices meaningful or insightful to you? If so find out how you can help a new research project here.
Listening to Experience: Opening Up Democratic Partnerships in Mental Health: An Open Letter and Petition
Dr Ben Gray, academic and voice hearer has drafted a petition and open letter entitled 'Listening to Experience: Opening Up Democratic Partnerships in Mental Health', this initiative is intended to draw attention to the need to place the person with mental health problems and their experiences at the forefront of mental health care.
Read the petition and find out how to help with the drafting process or express your support here
You can download a copy here
The Worldwide INTERVOICE Network: Information on national initiatives
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Click on country name for information about national initiatives or go directly to the website:
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Australia 
Visit their website here -
Austria 
Visit their website here -
Denmark 
Visit their website here -
England 
Visit their website here -
Finland 
Visit their website here -
Germany 
Visit their website here -
Ireland 
Visit their website here -
Italy 
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Japan 
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Netherlands 
Visit their website here -
New Zealand 
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Norway 
Visit their website here -
Palestine 
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Scotland 
Visit their website here -
Spain 
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Sweden 
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Switzerland 
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USA 
Visit their website here -
Wales 
Working across the world to spread positive and hopeful messages about the experience of hearing voices
THE FIRST WORLD HEARING VOICES CONGRESS,
Maastricht, 17th - 18th September 2009
Book your place now
For online information and registration go to our Congress website booking page here
Full programme available NOW
You can download a hard copy of the full programme and the booking form here
INTERVOICE, the international organisation for the advocacy of Hearing voices is organising its first world congress on 17th and 18th September, 2009 in the MECC in Maastricht. There are now hearing networks and support groups active in twenty-one countries. An increasing number of researchers, practitioners, people hearing voices and family members have been influenced by this experience-based approach and have become involved in research, training and all forms of support.
At this congress voice hearers, researchers and therapists will run master classes and themed presentations focusing on important aspects of the recovery process. The Congress will also include discussion around difficult issues such as the disease concept and the use of medication. The themes and stories that will be heard in this Congress go beyond theory and will engage participants in the everyday lives of voice hearers and the possibility of recovery
The conference is intended for psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, managers, people hearing voices, families and policymakers.
An abstract book will be issued. The official language during the congress is English.
INTERVOICE meeting, 14th - 16th September 2009
You can help publicise the congress by downloading and displaying our flyer here
Sponsorship
We would also like to ask your help to raise funds for the Congress and the INTERVOICE meeting. All sponsors will be acknowledged in our promotional material and conference programmes. If you or your organisation would be willing to help by becoming a sponsor please see the sponsorship letter here
Credit crunch Seminars November 2009
One Day Training Workshops
Leeds, Wednesday 18th November 2009
Birmingham, Thursday 19th November 2009
Paul Baker, the coordinator of the international hearing voices movement will lead this participative workshop where we will learn about setting up and supporting hearing voices groups, based on work from around the world and harnessing our own ideas and experiences.
Statutory sector £95 inc VAT; Voluntary sector £80 Inc VAT; Unwaged Inc £55 Inc VAT. The price includes copy of the new DVD "How to Set up and Run a Hearing Voices Group"( sale price £30.00) Download the flyer and booking form here, Online booking here
We are people
who hear voices, family members, friends, mental health workers, activists, and concerned citizens.
Find out how we work together here
Find out what visitors think about our site here
Find out what visitors tell us about their voice experiences here
You can help, please visit our donations page here
CASL launches petition calling for the abolition of Schizophrenia Label
The Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label is petitioning the UK Prime Minister - calling for the abolition of the diagnosis of schizophrenia on the grounds that it is outdated, unscientific and stigmatising, presenting as a barrier to effective and appropriate care/support to the individuals diagnosed with this label. If you live in the UK or are a UK citizen click here to sign the petition.
There is also an International Petition calling for the abolition of the schizophrenia label, you can sign it here
Find more about the Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label visit their site here
See article by Marius Romme about why he thinks the SZ label should be abolished here
Hearing Voices Network in England (HVN): National Consultation Plan
HVN England have decided to undertake a national consultation process to get feedback on the services they provide and to find out what voice hearers and others want in the future from the Network. You can read the plan here and download your own copy here
New information leaflet for parents and carers intended to help you to develop new and more empowering ways of thinking about your child's experiences and to help you find ways to assist your child. Click on the title to read this very helpful information leaflet
Know?* Studies have found that between four and 10 per cent of people across the world hear voices.
* Between 70 and 90 cent of people who hear voices do so following traumatic events.
* Voices can be male, female, without gender, child, adult, human or non-human.
* People may hear one voice or many. Some people report hearing hundreds, although in almost all reported cases, one dominates above the others.
* Voices can be experienced in the head, in the ears, outside the head, in some other part of the body, or in the environment.
* Voices often reflect important aspects of the hearer's emotional state - emotions that are often unexpressed by the hearer.
Twelve more essential facts about the experience of hearing voices here
See Greek language version here 
See Italian language version here
"Many people who hear challenging voices have found that a turning point in learning to cope with this experience has been finding different ways of talking with and understanding their voices. Learning to understand the motives of your voices and different ways of talking with them can help the relationship to change between the voice hearer and the voices...."
Click on the title above to read the highly recommended article by Dirk Corstens, Eleanor Longden and Rufus May
We talked about the voices ... Eleanor Longden, a voice hearer, describes her experience of talking to her voices in the UK mass circulation newspaper The Daily Mail, 07/02/2008
I discovered that if I engaged with the voices, they became less frequent. I also learnt to challenge the more threatening voice, refusing to do what it told me and telling myself it was no more than a symbol of my own externalised anger. .. One by one the voices gradually disappeared, until I was only occasionally hearing one... Three years on, I am healthy, happy and perfectly stable.
Talking to Voices DVD: Professor Marius Romme
See Marius Romme explaining the theoretical basis for voice dialogue work, then with the help of a voice hearer demonstrates the voice dialoguing technique. buy your own copy here
Latest entries on this site:
Madness in the System: Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future: History and the Making of Public Policy
In section: Events and Training |
INTERVOICE anthems
In section: Hearing Voices and creativity |
