Hearing Voices in Childhood & Adolescence, Helping Young People Who Hear Voices Reclaim Their Lives: Talk Link

Rachel Waddingham

Around 22% of 11-13 year-olds and 8% of older teens hear voices that other people don’t. For some these experiences are transient or pleasant, perhaps giving support or encouragement during times of stress or insecurity. For others, the voices can become overwhelming – bullying, threatening, distracting, commanding or criticizing them, leaving them feeling isolated and frightened. It can be such a stigmatizing experience that many hide it. On Monday 14th April 2014 Rachel Waddingham, the Project Manager at Mind in Camden’s Voice Collective gave a Public Talk by in The School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC. Rachel’s talk explored the voice-hearing experience of childhood and adolescence and the link between distressing voices, visions, emotions and traumatic life events. the talk also explored ways of creating safe spaces for young people to open up about their experiences and find creative ways of coping with them, using simple youth-friendly coping strategies

About Rachel: Rachel (Rai) Waddingham manages the Mind in Camden’s Voice Collective project, supporting young people who hear voices/see visions (www.voicecollective.co.uk). Rai is a trustee of the English Hearing Voices Network & vice chair of ISPS UK. She is a media spokesperson, writer & trainer. Rai is also a voice-hearer.

You can watch Rachel’s presentation from the UCC talk using the streamed link: http://panopto.ucc.ie/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=273f2a59-b6e2-4a68-bbe3-a8adc7262956

Arts and Mental Health: A Public Lecture

Professor Theo Stickley

The IIMHN in conjunction with the Mental Health Nursing Team at School of Nursing and Midwifery, TCD, held a public lecture on the topic of “Being Human: Creativity in mental health care”. The lecture was in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, TCD, 24 D’Olier Street, Dublin 2 on 17th June 2014 at 6 pm. It was delivered by Professor Theo Stickley, Associate Professor in Mental Health at the University of Nottingham.

Professor Stickley trained and practised in both mental health nursing and counselling; he now teaches mental health nurses and researches the relationship between arts and health. Theo currently leads the Arts, Health & Wellbeing seminar series in the UK, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. He is Editor of the book: “Qualitative research in arts and mental health” and has published many research articles on the subject. One of his current projects is a comics anthology of people’s stories of recovery. As well as being a writer, Theo belongs the Nottingham Society of Artists and regularly draws and paints. He has recently set up a choir for people who use mental health services.

A Public Lecture: Hearing Voices in Childhood & Adolescence, Helping Young People Who Hear Voices Reclaim Their Lives

A Public Talk by Rachel Waddingham, Project Manager at Mind in Camden’s Voice Collective

Monday 14 April 2014 from 6.30 – 8.00 in Boole 4, UCC

Organised by: The School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC and The Irish Institute of Mental Health Nursing

Around 22% of 11-13 year olds, and 8% of older teens hear voices that other people don’t. For some these experiences are transient or pleasant, perhaps giving support or encouragement during times of stress or insecurity. For others, the voices can become overwhelming – bullying, threatening, distracting, commanding or criticizing them, leaving them feeling isolated and frightened. It can be such a stigmatizing experience that many hide it.

Rachel Waddingham

In this talk Rachel will explore:

The experience of voice-hearing in childhood and adolescence
The link between distressing voices, visions, emotions and traumatic life events
Ways of creating safe spaces for young people to open up about their experiences and find creative ways of coping with them.
Simple youth-friendly coping strategies

Who is this talk for?

This talk is open to anyone with an interest in gaining knowledge and understanding of young people’s voice hearing experiences

About the speaker

Rachel (Rai) Waddingham manages the Mind in Camden’s Voice Collective project, supporting young people who hear voices / see visions (www.voicecollective.co.uk). Rai is a trustee of the English Hearing Voices Network & vice chair of ISPS UK. She is a media spokesperson, writer & trainer. Rai is also a voice-hearer. See: www.behindthelabel.co.uk

Entry: Free

For information contact hgijbels@ucc.ie

A Public Lecture: Recovery: The ‘sacred cow’ of modern mental health care.

Alastair Morgan

The Irish Institute of Mental Health Nursing in conjunction with the School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC, held a public lecture by Dr Alastair Morgan entitled: Recovery: The ‘sacred cow’ of modern mental health care. Alastair Morgan is a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, England. He is the author of Adorno’s Concept of Life ( 2007, London and New York: Continuum) and the editor of Being Human: Reflections on Mental Distress in Society (2008, PCCS Books).

In this talk Alastair argued that the concept of ‘recovery’ currently functions as an ideology in mental health care, and enables mental health services to market themselves as ‘holistic’ and ‘user focused’ whilst maintaining a biomedical and coercive approach to care.

SYMPOSIUM V Advance Notice: ‘Recovery and clinical risk management: An oxymoron’

The fifth Symposium of the Irish Institute of Mental Health Nursing will take place on Thursday 10th April 2014 in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin

The theme for the symposium will be ‘Recovery and clinical risk management: An oxymoron’. The Symposium will also feature a debate on the motion that ‘the house believes that recovery and clinical risk management are irreconcilable’. The programme expects to feature an interactive workshop in the afternoon

The Symposium organisers welcome submissions of poster presentations with a call for abstracts and details of complete programme to follow. Prizes will be on offer for the best submissions. Mental Health Nursing students will be welcome to attend at reduced rates and there will be student poster competition category on the day.

Link to conference page

Working with young people with voice hearing experiences

The IIMHN in conjunction with the HSE Nursing and Midwifery Practice Development Unit are organising two workshops focusing on working with young people with voice hearing experiences. The workshops will be facilitated by Rachel Waddingham from Voice Collective. They will take place in April 2014 in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin (7-9 April) and in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, UCC, Cork (14-16 April).

Expressions of interest are now invited from people who have a genuine interest in facilitating/co-facilitating a group and from mental health staff who have agreement and/or opportunities to start a group in the setting in which they work. Joint applications are specifically welcomed from mental health staff (supported by the services they work in), who have an interest in starting and facilitating a group. Others interested in starting a group, ideally those who have identified a service willing to support them to establish a group, are also welcome to apply. There will be no cost for the workshop.

Places on the programme are limited and will be allocated on the basis of and ability to attend all 3 days and a willingness and commitment to start a Hearing Voices group. The application form for the Cork workshop can be downloaded here (Cork form). The application for the Dublin Programme is available here (Dublin Form). Applications for the workshops should be sent to Harry Gijbels (Cork) and Mark Monahan (Dublin)

3-Day Hearing Voices Group Facilitation & Network Development Training

An Experiential Workshop for Mental Health Staff and People with Lived Experience who want to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate a Hearing Voices Support Group

16th, 17th and 18th December 2013 – NUIG, Galway

Facilitator: Jacqui Dillon

Hearing Voices Groups 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. Groups also offer an opportunity for people to accept and “live with voices” in a way that enables them to regain some control over their lives.

There is an established and emerging body of evidence to support the effectiveness of Hearing Voices Groups. They offer people who hear voices the opportunity to share their experience and find ways of coping with this experience, which can be complementary to other support methods.

There are – as yet – very few Hearing Voices groups in Ireland. In order to continue the development of a network of Hearing Voices Groups, a 3-day training programme for people who are interested in becoming group facilitators has been organised by the School of Nursing and Midwifery, in association with the Critical Voices Network Ireland. The programme has been funded by the Nursing and Midwifery Planning Development Unit, Health Service Executive – South.

The programme, facilitated by Jacqui Dillon, takes place on 16th, 17th and 18th December 2013 in NUIG, Galway. On completion of the training, participants will be expected to start up a hearing voices group and/or co-facilitate an existing group. It is also envisaged that the programme will lead to the establishment of a network where practising facilitators can meet regularly to share good practice and their experiences.

Expressions of interest are now invited from voice hearers who have a genuine interest in facilitating/co-facilitating a group and from mental health staff who have agreement and/or opportunities to start a group in the setting in which they work. Joint applications are specifically welcomed from two voice hearers or voice hearer/mental health staff member (maybe supported by the services they use/work in), who have an interest in starting and facilitating a group.

Others interested in starting a group, ideally those who have identified a service willing to support them to establish a group, are also welcome to apply.

Places on the programme are limited and will be allocated on the basis of and ability to attend all 3 days and a willingness and commitment to start a Hearing Voices group.