Hearing Voices Groups

A hearing voices group is a community of people who come together to support each other.

Some people think a hearing voices group is a treatment or a fix – or they wish it were. It is not.

A Hearing Voices Group is not run as treatment or therapy or psycheducation but as a community by and for it’s members.

Charter and Types of Group

Hearing Voices groups follow a charter – there are two types of group.

Full Charter group

These groups are the origins and life blood of the  hearing voices network – small groups of people coming together to support each other in mutuality:  a community, run by the members, for members, of members.  They are usually run entirely separate from services and service organisations and stand alone, often proudly independent.

Each group creates and designs itself, both enabled and bound by the charter.

No individual or organisation – or employee of any organisation gets to make the rules or to override the charter. Where an organisation provides resources eg space, workers, volunteers, the organisation fully accepts the charter as the framework for how the group operates.

This may cause some difficulties, which is why we have a second type of group so that groups can start up in a somewhat more restrictive framework until they find their feet and their independence… This also offers choice for those individuals who feel they may not yet be ready for a more independent minded group..

Associated groups
Associated groups allow for groups to start up within services environment supported or even started by workers who may or may not hear voices themselves.

The intention is always to work towards enabling members to take over running the group by themselves, which may mean it moves out of the organisation. A hearing voices group is not a service provided by an agency or service organisation.

Treatment / Therapy/ Educational Groups for people who hear voices
A group that is run to offer therapy / treatment / psycho-educational services to people who hear voices does not fulfill the charter requirements of a hearing voices group.

We request that you and your employer respect this, and suggest you call the group what it is, eg “CBT for people who hear voices”. People who come to your group may well decide they want to start their own hearing voices group and share what they learned with others…

Networks
Networks are non-hierarchical, people come together to share with and learn from each other. A number of groups in a city or region may come together to form a network, sharing what they have learned, information, resources etc.

We have shared values – one of which is not telling each other what to do – so we try not to.

A network covers the area choses by its members. The Network and Groups pages below this one are arranged geographically, not hierarchically,  simply to help you find the groupings nearest to you.