Myths about Voices

Hearing voices is a remarkably common human experience yet has been made taboo.

• It’s a myth that people only hear horrible voices telling them to do things they don’t want to do.
• Millions of us, at least 300 000,000 of us right now, hear voices regularly and the majority of those are fine with that.
• Three in four of us will have at least one period in our life when we hear voices that others don’t – usually around difficult life events like loss of a loved one, again many people find this helpful or comforting.
• In many cultures it is those people who don’t hear voices and don’t talk about it who are regarded as cause for concern.

Yes, we do know that some people struggle and find their experience of hearing voices can make life difficult. There is no end of name-calling we can resort to, no shortage of names we can call people who do struggle.

What if?

What if we could somehow come to understand voices?

“What if voices somehow give voice to that which a person cannot yet themselves give voice to – at least not in a way that others are prepared to hear?”

 

Disempowered, disconnected

Often, the hardest thing a person who hears voices has to live with is not the voices but how we get treated by people who don’t.

This workshop is based in the premise that that can change and that there are many ways that can

change can come about.

Mostly, we need create safe spaces so people who struggle can express themselves, without people they are with jumping on them and fearing them.

What we need

We don’t need you to tell us who we are and what to do or not do. Mostly we need the same as what you need,

• we need to feel safe.
• we need you to take an interest in us as a person.
• we need you to listen.