Hearing Voices Network
Posted on August 25, 2011
Spring Lake Ranch was recently honored to host of one of the first Hearing Voices Groups Facilitator Trainings in the United States. Hearing Voices Groups originated in Europe and now there are over 180 chartered groups in England alone. This kind of training has been held all over the world, and as a result, new hearing voices support groups are rapidly spreading internationally. Trainings in Massachusetts and in the Northwest earlier this year created positive momentum in the United States, allowing people to start their own Hearing Voices Groups in their local areas.
The groups operate in a similar fashion to AA—they are led by and made up of people who experience voices or altered states. Hearing Voices Groups do not pathologize hearing voices or other altered experiences. Instead, group members explore these phenomena in an environment of mutual support and curiosity. There is an emerging body of evidence to support the effectiveness of Hearing Voices Groups. They offer a safe place for people to feel accepted and comfortable sharing their experiences of voices, visions, tactile sensations and other unusual experiences and perceptions. People meet together to help and support each other, to exchange information, and to learn from one another.
The training was lead by Jacqui Dillon, a voice hearer and the chair of the Hearing Voices Network in England, and Gail Hornstein, Professor of Psychology at Mount Holyoke College and Co-Facilitator of the RLC Hearing Voices Group (author of Agnes’s Jacket and one of the leading experts on Hearing Voices Groups in the world); For three days a group of twenty-five, made up of voice hearers, mental health professionals and those interested in creating new Hearing Voices Groups, came together to learn, role play and develop skills needed to facilitate this kind of group.
The Ranch was a safe, comfortable and naturally beautiful setting in which the participants could experience the benefits of our supportive and accepting community. In many ways Spring Lake Ranch mirrors the atmosphere that Hearing Voices Groups provide.