Proposals for Free Hearing Voices Group Facilitation & Network Development Training in Your Region are Now Welcomed!
The Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care is pleased to announce that its Hearing Voices Research and Development Fund has received $250,000 in funding for a 3-year project to bring Hearing Voices peer-support groups to communities across the United States, and to research the mechanisms by which these groups work. The project will train more than 100 facilitators in 5 regions and create a stronger regional and local infrastructure of Hearing Voices peer-support groups across the USA. Once a greater number of groups are up and running, the project will conduct a comprehensive study whose goal will be to identify the factors promoting effectiveness of these groups.
Proposals are now welcomed from individuals and organizations who would like to be selected as one of the 5 project regions across the USA where the trainings will take place. (Participation in the research phase of the project will be fully voluntary, regardless of whether or not someone has participated in any of these trainings.)
Guidelines for submitting applications:
Applications are now invited from interested individuals and organizations committed to establishing groups and networks within their area. We expect demand to be high, so priority will be given to applications which:
- Demonstrate collaborations between mental health organizations and peer-run community groups, or which involve a number of applicants from the same region
- Are innovative in imagining ways to involve the public and to build the network in that area
To read more about the approach, see this recent article by the project administrators: Jacqui Dillon and Gail A. Hornstein (2013). Hearing voices peer support groups: A powerful alternative for people in distress. Psychosis, 5, 286-295.
For further information about the trainings, please contact: Caroline White, Coordinator, at 413.539.5941 x316 or Caroline@westernmassrlc.org.
Download the information sheet and proposal guidelines.
Deadline for applications: June 1, 2015
For the past 25 years, the Hearing Voices Network (HVN), an international collaboration of professionals, people with lived experience, and their families and friends has worked to develop an alternative approach to coping with voices, visions, and other extreme states that is empowering and useful and does not start from the assumption of chronic illness (see www.hearing-voices.org, www.hearingvoicesusa.org, www.intervoiceonline.org). A large body of scientific research now provides support for key aspects of this approach, and the hundreds of peer-support groups that have developed in 30 countries on 5 continents are enabling voice hearers – even those who have been regarded as chronically disabled – to learn to cope more effectively, integrate their experiences, and diminish the impact of voices they find distressing. Hearing Voices groups offer a safe place for people to feel accepted and comfortable sharing their experiences of voices, visions, tactile sensations, and unusual beliefs and perceptions. People meet together to offer help and support, to exchange information, and to learn from one another. Groups also offer an opportunity for people to accept and “live with voices” in a way that enables them to regain a sense of personal empowerment.