How might we show compassion to tricky voices or understand their aggression or why they might sound like someone we know?
Well it might help if we can get support to talk with them. Western culture has tended to want to get rid of voices so helping people converse with their voices can raise some people’s anxiety levels. Over the last twenty ears there has been a growing interest in how to help people relate more usefully with their voices.
In 2017 we went to a gathering in Reading UK for people with an interest in and experience of developing ways to engage with voices. It was a weekend where people shared different ideas and reflections on their work in this area and the challenges and possibilities.
The group looked at ways forward including research and creating resources about different ways of working with people who hear voices as well as the voices they hear.
We think that it is important to create support and resources for people who work in this area since we often hear that people feel isolated. Connecting at conferences can be useful and organising gatherings like the one in Reading feels supportive as well. Also having online spaces to connect can be good since people from all over the world are working with these approaches.
One hope is to set up a website where we can make resources such as articles, useful books, research papers and videos available. Also it would be great to create an overview of people who work with people who hear voices using accepting and compassionate approaches and who are available for 1 to 1 work, consultancy and training.
A few months after the gathering we had a conversation with Charlie Heriot-Maitland about joining forces to create videos about ways to engage with voices. We made a list of things the three of us find useful and in May 2018 we got together to do the filming. Through all the practicalities of creating these videos we have been helped, encouraged and guided by John Richardson from Mindwick who also did the filming and editing.
And now we have finally got around to sharing the product of all this work. Below is the youtube playlist or go HERE
Open Minded Online 
This is a wonderful series of videos about a new and exciting idea. My hope is that many people become aware of this approach of accepting voices and engage with the techniques to improve their lives.
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These videos have been such an incredible resource to explain to workers what voice diaologue is. Agencies do not provide enough opportunities for mental health workers to learn progressive ways of working.
Learning ways to have discussions with people’s voices changed my entire way of collaborating with people, and it changed the narrative of my work in mental health. I see people get their lives back, live well with their voices, return to who they were before they entered psychiatric services. And when I share these stories with colleagues, often they are met with shock and disbelief. Which is when I link them here haha. Thanks for everything. I am so grateful.
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This is brilliant to hear – we know it’s not for every one but we hope that the more resources we can make available the more confident people will feel about trying some of it out and adapt it and figure out what works for them
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