Webinar: 51: The Hearing Voices Movement–Learn About this New Approach from the BC Network

Date
-
Access
Open to the Public
Presenter
Vancouver Hearing Voices Network

Please join us for this compelling session about a new approach to both perceiving voice hearing and supporting voice hearers.

Click for the direct link.    Check out the recorded webinar Here


This webinar will focus on the BC Hearing Voices Network which is based on the International Hearing Voices Movement. It will be presented by members of the Vancouver and North Vancouver groups.

Check out their website here. 

 this webinar you will hear about: 
1) different kinds of groups (including study club and a support group format in both community and hospital settings), 
2) briefly what the literature says about Hearing Voices Network groups, and 
3) you will also have the opportunity to hear from two participants about their experience of being a member 

More details about the webinar to follow.  


From the BC Hearing Voices Network website: 

What is the Hearing Voices Network?

The Hearing Voices Movement was begun by Dr. Marius Romme, a professor of social psychiatry, science journalist Dr. Sandra Escher and voice-hearer Patsy Hage in 1987 – after Hage challenged Romme about why he couldn’t accept the reality of her voice hearing experience. As voice hearer Ron Coleman has said, if someone is hearing voices, something real is happening.

The movement challenges conventional wisdom in other ways also, viewing hearing voices as a normal variation of human experience with some voice hearers valuing the experience as opposed to seeing it as something to be eradicated.

The International Hearing Voices Network began in 1988 with the support of Romme and has since expanded to countries including England, Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Japan, Israel, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Hearing Voices Groups support people in learning ways to live well with their experiences, share strategies, make connections, and know that they are not alone.

The reputation of the Hearing Voices Network is growing as the limitations of a solely medical approach to voices become better known.


Presenters: 

Renea Mohammed: 
Renea has worked in the mental health system since 2002 in various roles. Currently,  she is Program Coordinator for the Consumer Involvement and Initiatives Peer Support Program. 

She has won awards including Coast Foundation's Courage to Come Back Award, PSR BC’s Resiliency Award and the BC Schizophrenia Society's Calder Cup. She also holds a BA from SFU, a Master’s Degree from UBC and has completed Douglas College’s Community Mental Health Worker Program. 

Her introduction to the world of mental health services was as a service user when she began hearing distressing voices and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

 

Gill Walker MSc: 
is an Occupational Therapist at Community Psychiatric Services in North Vancouver. One of her passions at work is involving people in recovery from mental illness in service provision. She is also involved in social enterprise and helped to set up the HOpe Café a partnership between BLENZ, The Canadian Mental Health Association and Vancouver Coastal Health.  She has an interest in Hearing Voices Groups and is part of the North Vancouver Hearing Voices Group. She is interested in the power of alternative approaches to interpreting the experience we call psychosis. 

 

Janet Scott: 
As voice hearer from an early age, Janet Scott has found solace in the hearing voices movement. She has also spoken candidly to audiences over the years about her experience with her diagnosis and the impact it has had on her life. Speaking publicly has provided an opportunity for both advocacy and personal healing for her. Her passions continue to be cats, music and photography 

 

Sarah Smith: 
Sarah Smith (who is presenting under this name) is a peer support worker and co-facilitator of the Vancouver Voices and Visions groups. Her educational background is in sciences and art conservation.