Hearing Voices Network Cymru

We are proud to announce that Hearing Voices Network Cymru in conjunction with Working to Recovery and Asylum Associates and  are putting on the 2012 World Congress on Hearing Voices on the 19th, 20th & 21st September 2012.  The theme for the conference is ‘Hearing Voices Network 25 Years On – Learning from the Past, Working in the Present & Visioning the Future’.  There will be more details in February on how to book a place and a call for papers.  In the meantime, check out the Intervoice website at www.intervoiceonline.org

01.20.12 | Featured, News | hywel

Message from Hywel Davies

The future is exciting although we may find it difficult and painful to see excitement in change. However,we do have things, people and institutions to be grateful for in Wales and elsewhere.

Thanks to the pioneering work of Professor Dr. Marius Romme,Sandra Escher,Ron Coleman, Paul Baker and others, the hearing voices movement throughout the world is successful and immense.

Consequently, invigorated by the success of  the many successful hearing voices groups in Wales and elsewhere, building on the success of the Hearing Voices Network Cymru and Intervoice websites (www.hearingvoicescymru.org and www.intervoiceonline.org ) and inspired by the  success of  the World Hearing Voices Day Celebration in Newport,Gwent in September 2011.

Stigma and discrimination surrounding  mental health  are transitory. People have been hearing voices since 100,000 BC and  if the human race survives that long ,people will be hearing voices for another 100,000 years.

Voice hearers from the past and present include Moses,St. John of the Cross,Joan of Arc,Sir Winston Churchill,Sir Anthony Hopkins and Zoe Wannamaker.

We live in a period of rapid and sometimes frightening global change.

However it is excellent long-awaited news in 2011 that the mental health anti-discrimination and anti-stigma Time to Change campaign has been finally extended to Wales, following the example of Scotland and England. The last shall be first.

And in many ways in much of the past 100 years Wales was traditionally regarded by her non-Celtic English neighbours as the last. However that situation is now changing.

Cymru is now being seen to be  taking her place at the top table in terms of  thought and global creativity connected to the arts,sport and science.  The last is in the process of becoming the first.

And it is the same in regards to mental health, it was regarded as the last.  The least of importances in the western world. But now

I suggest that it is becoming the first. The last shall become the first.

Mental health workers have an important job this Christmas ,looking after the priviliged or the potential to be priviliged.

KBO. The last shall be first. The last is in the process of becoming the first.

Happy New Year,

Hywel Davies, Chair of Hearing Voices Network Cymru

12.22.11 | Featured, News | hywel

If you hear voices we can help – we are committed to helping people who hear voices. Our reputation is growing as the limitations of a solely medical approach to voices becomes better known.

Psychiatry refers to hearing voices as ‘auditory hallucinations’ but research shows that there are many explanations for hearing voices. Many people begin to hear voices as a result of extreme stress or trauma.

We offer information, support and understanding to people who hear voices and those who support them.

The aims of the Hearing Voices Network Cymru are five-fold:

• to support a Welsh network of people who hear voices and their allies to better understand the experience alongside workers, families and friends;
• to set up self-help groups of voice hearers to share experiences and discuss strategies for coping with voices;
• to raise awareness of society about the meaning of voices to reduce ignorance and stigma;
• to develop a range of non-medical ways of assisting people to cope with their voices;
• to share the experience of voice hearers who have not been in contact with psychiatric services with those who have.

If you would like your Hearing Voices self help group to be listed on this website, please contact us.

Hearing Voices Network Cymru is a member of INTERVOICE , the international organisation representing hearing voices networks in 22 countries across the world.

11.21.11 | Featured, News | admin

Hearing Voices Network Cymru Wales to invite you to apply for Hearing Voices Books – DVD Resource Pack. Applications are invited from around the world. This pack will be provided free of charge to successful applicants.

You can find further information about the Pack and how to apply here

07.8.11 | News | hywel

On World Hearing Voices Day, Wednesday, September 14th 2011, we celebrated our own day

World Hearing Voices Day celebrated the acceptance of voice hearing and promoted recovery for those with distressing voices. It was a truly amazing, emotional day as so many people shared their hearts, you can read about it here

04.21.11 | News | hywel

Part One

Part Two

12.12.11 | Featured, News | hywel

Changing media perceptions about the meaning of hearing voices

This group will seek to change perceptions about the meaning of hearing voices and challenge the view that they are either meaningless or dangerous as is often the case – and – part of an illness. Go here for more information

12.6.11 | Uncategorized | hywel

Contribute to exciting research about hearing voices, as well as stand the chance to win Amazon vouchers!

A research group based at the University of Surrey are interested in discovering more about the experiences of people who hear voices. They want to use this information to improve treatments offered to people who hear voices throughout the UK. By improving understanding of what are the most important aspects of ‘recovery’ to people who hear voices, they hope to highlight the needs of voice hearers and encourage treatments to be tailored accordingly.

You can visit their website today at www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/survey/voices to find out more. They will ask you to answer some questions, which should take roughly 20 minutes. And to thank you for your time, they will enter those who take part into a raffle to win Amazon vouchers worth £30, £40, and £50!

Please contact the researchers Alison Holt (a.holt@surrey.ac.uk) or Esther Clarke (e.clarke@surrey.ac.uk) for any further information.

11.21.11 | News | hywel

You can now see the keynote presentations and workshops of the World Hearing Voices Congress held Savona, Italy in September 2011 by visiting the Italian Hearing Voices website here

11.21.11 | Featured, News | hywel

The “Hywel Davies Hearing Voices” Awards 2011

The purpose of the Hywel Davies Annual Awards is to award excellence and initiative in  the hearing voices movement globally and to celebrate survival and recovery within a  context of communitarian hope.

The theme of the Hywel Davies Annual Awards 2011 is courage and vision.  We welcome nominations for awards for individuals and organisations who have displayed courage and vision in 2011 as  exemplary leaders in a  humanitarian movement that is both emancipatory and visionary.

For more information on how to make a nomination go here

07.13.11 | News | hywel