Have you the capasity to hear voices? There is a new Hearing Voices Group happening in Dublin

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: DUBLIN VOICE HEARER GROUP STARTING


As many of you know, peer support groups for people who hear voices are widespread in countries such as the UK and Denmark. We have all been enormously inspired at recent CVNI conferences by the recovery stories of voice hearers such as Rachel Waddingham, Suzanne Engelen, Jacqui Dillon and Eleanor Longden. 2012 marked the beginning of getting down to work to establish a network of groups throughout Ireland. A Voice Hearing Work and Study Group arose from the meetings of the CVN East and met frequently from February onwards throughout the year.

During the second half of 2012, the Nursing Practice Development Unit of the HSE and the Irish Institute of Mental Health Nursing sponsored a training programme in facilitating voice hearer support groups in Dublin, Cork and Galway. Over seventy people from the public, private and voluntary sectors availed of the training. On foot of this training, we will launch the first Hearing Voices Support Group in Dublin on February 7th 2013. The venue will be the Hill Street Family Resource Centre and the meetings will be every week on Thursdays from 7:15 to 8:45. This will be a community based group and will be open to anyone who hears voices, sees things or has other unusual experiences. There are also firm plans for the establishing of groups within the services in the near future.

With a large number of trained facilitators, it is hoped that more groups will be established this year. The aim of each group is to become fully peer-led and peer facilitated.

Facilitation of groups in their start up phase is only one part of the work of a voice hearing network. Education on the recovery ethos underpinning voice hearing peer groups is also important. Anyone who is interested in getting involved in this work or who would like to find out more can contact Bernie Bushe at 0857827596 or Doug Ross at 087 2242596