The Bristol Hearing Voices Network is a User Led Network that facilitates two Voices Self-Help Support Groups in Bristol. They aim to promote positive explanations of voice hearing, intrusive thoughts, and other unusual experiences, and to give people a framework for developing their own ways of coping. In order to cope with their experiences people need to take control over their voices/ intrusive thoughts, and regain some power over their lives. The Bristol Hearing Voices Network aims to:
- Provide a weekly Self-Help group for people who experience hearing voices / intrusive thoughts.
- Promote Self-Help group as widely as possible in Bristol and surrounding area.
- Be a point of contact for voice hearers, relatives, and friends.
- Provide information and informal advice to voice hearers, relatives, friends and mental health professionals.
- Promote awareness and different ways of understanding voice hearing.
- Offer training on voice hearing / intrusive thoughts to mental health teams in Bristol.
Self-Help Group meets every Tuesday 3:00pm-4.30pm @ Broadmead Baptist Church @ Union Street (next to Tesco Metro) Bristol BS1 3HY.
Wednesday Callington Road Hospital Voices Self-Help Group 3.00 - 4.30 pm) - Callington Road Hospital - OT Room (Main Reception Building)
Marmalade Lane Brislington - Bristol BS4 5BJ
The current structure of the group is that an open round is started, where everyone takes it in turns to say whatever they want to, but members can choose to pass if they don't feel like talking. Its not a therapy group so members have the right to be silent. Members tend to say how their week has been, and or talk more specifically about their experiences of Voice Hearing. The lead facilitator for the group is Don Swift who shares as much as anyone else during the opening round. It has been agreed that the facilitator is not there to lead the discussions, but rather enable group members to have the opportunity to use the group for support around the issues involved. They might act as a timekeeper, reminding members of the general ground rules, and trying to keep the discussion focussed on the issues involved. Refreshments are provided.
First Hearing Voices Group started in Bristol at Our Chance (Rethink), facilitated by Don Swift. The Bristol Hearing Voices Network Self-Help Group was established following a number of local consultation meetings, organised and chaired by Tim Dowling (Co-Founder & Community Psychiatric Nurse - Grove Rd). We officially launched at an open event on 29th May 2002, introduced by Keith Hall (Member), and marked by a guest speech from Ron Coleman.
Bristol Hearing Voices Network (BHVN) offer training covering voice hearing and other unusual experiences. This training aims to give people an understanding so they can approach Voice Hearers with some empathy, dispel misconceptions of the Voice Hearing experience, provide a perception of a Voice Hearing experience outside the medical model and not seeing the experience as an illness. Topics covered in the training include:
- A different view of a disability.
- The joys, perils and pitfalls of Hearing Voices.
- Medication - a magic wand?
- Exploring where Voices come from.
- Delusions and Hearing Voices.
- Coping strategies.
- The efficacy of a Self-Help Group.
- What is a Voice Hearing experience?
- Types of Voices and unusual experiences.
- Unusual experiences relating to the use of street drugs and alcohol.
Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Contact Person / Email
bristol.hearingvoices@outlook.com
In the Real is the a film created by filmmaker and psychoanalyst Conor McCormack. This is a documentation of the Bristol Hearing Voices Network – a self-help group for people who hear voices and have other unusual experiences. The result of this collaboration is In the Real, a 59 min observational documentary film which goes right to the heart of the voice-hearing experience. In the Real was supported creatively and financially by Durham University’s Hearing the Voice: an interdisciplinary research project, led by Charles Fernyhough and Angela Woods, which aims to provide a better understanding of what it is like to hear voices when no one is speaking.
Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Inquiry into the ‘Schizophrenia’ Label (ISL) was launched in 2012 as an independent inquiry into the usefulness of ‘schizophrenia’ as a diagnosis and medical condition. It investigated the impact this diagnosis has on people’s lives. ISL was supported by national and international organisations, groups and individuals.ISL collected evidence via paid surveys which generated over 450 responses, a call to submit personal testimonies, and a focus group in Manchester. The call for evidence has now been concluded. We will update this website with findings from the inquiry and other resources that critically engage with the label of 'schizophrenia'.
Organisation
Address: Broadmead Baptist Church - Union Street (next to Tesco Metro) Bristol BS1 3HY
Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Email: bristol.hearingvoices@outlook.com
