What does the BAHVN have to offer family members?
We are actively developing resources and supports to assist family members. At this time, we run a family support group in Albany, and recently held our first family member training in the East Bay (75 people attended). We’re in the process of putting together additional materials and resources.
What can help my child besides medications and mainstream mental health services?
What helps and what doesn’t is always very specific to particular individuals and it’s not possible to generalize. However, there are an array of different techniques, approaches and tools available to family members, clinicians, and experiencers/voices hearers. These include alternative approaches to distress such as participation in peer support groups and trainings, clinical approaches such as compassion-focused therapy for psychosis, mindfulness-based approaches, and art-based therapies. A variety of complementary and alternative therapies may also be helpful. Many voice hearers report that community involvement, structured activities (like college classes), involvement in activist/advocacy projects, and sports or time or nature are central to recovery. If you’re interested in finding out more, please browse our website, keep an eye out for trainings, join a family support group meeting and contact us with any questions.
Is the BAHVN anti-psychiatry or anti-medications? No. While the BAHVN works to promote alternative ways of working with and thinking about voices, visions and unusual beliefs, we are not anti-psychiatry or anti-medications. Medications can be tremendously helpful to particular individuals and our emphasis is always on individual self-determination.
What does the research say? While research on the effects of hearing voices groups or approaches has been limited to date, we know that engaging with symptoms and experiences and integrating them into one’s identity is, on average, much more helpful than ignoring or suppressing symptoms. More broadly, the onset of (or diagnosis with) psychosis or other mental health challenges can lead to serious depression and demoralization as well as societal discrimination and marginalization. Communities and families that unconditionally accept and support voice hearers/experiencers and help create spaces in which they can share and explore their experiences without judgment, are much more likely to promote healing.
Is my child’s (or loved one’s) life over? Absolutely not. All over the world, people with experience of psychosis and voices have done, and continue to do, amazing things. The Hearing Voices Network Cymru (Wales) has put together lists of notable people who hear voices including Contemporary Voice Hearers, Philosophers & Thinkers, Leaders, & Artists/Performers. Many leaders in the recovery movement experienced significant distress for years (sometimes decades), including length periods of time in institutions or hospitals. There is always hope.
We are actively developing resources and supports to assist family members. At this time, we run a family support group in Albany, and recently held our first family member training in the East Bay (75 people attended). We’re in the process of putting together additional materials and resources.
What can help my child besides medications and mainstream mental health services?
What helps and what doesn’t is always very specific to particular individuals and it’s not possible to generalize. However, there are an array of different techniques, approaches and tools available to family members, clinicians, and experiencers/voices hearers. These include alternative approaches to distress such as participation in peer support groups and trainings, clinical approaches such as compassion-focused therapy for psychosis, mindfulness-based approaches, and art-based therapies. A variety of complementary and alternative therapies may also be helpful. Many voice hearers report that community involvement, structured activities (like college classes), involvement in activist/advocacy projects, and sports or time or nature are central to recovery. If you’re interested in finding out more, please browse our website, keep an eye out for trainings, join a family support group meeting and contact us with any questions.
Is the BAHVN anti-psychiatry or anti-medications? No. While the BAHVN works to promote alternative ways of working with and thinking about voices, visions and unusual beliefs, we are not anti-psychiatry or anti-medications. Medications can be tremendously helpful to particular individuals and our emphasis is always on individual self-determination.
What does the research say? While research on the effects of hearing voices groups or approaches has been limited to date, we know that engaging with symptoms and experiences and integrating them into one’s identity is, on average, much more helpful than ignoring or suppressing symptoms. More broadly, the onset of (or diagnosis with) psychosis or other mental health challenges can lead to serious depression and demoralization as well as societal discrimination and marginalization. Communities and families that unconditionally accept and support voice hearers/experiencers and help create spaces in which they can share and explore their experiences without judgment, are much more likely to promote healing.
Is my child’s (or loved one’s) life over? Absolutely not. All over the world, people with experience of psychosis and voices have done, and continue to do, amazing things. The Hearing Voices Network Cymru (Wales) has put together lists of notable people who hear voices including Contemporary Voice Hearers, Philosophers & Thinkers, Leaders, & Artists/Performers. Many leaders in the recovery movement experienced significant distress for years (sometimes decades), including length periods of time in institutions or hospitals. There is always hope.