Hearing Voices groups

Domain V · Systemic, relational, group & community · Patsy Hage, Marius Romme, Sandra Escher · 1987 · Maastricht, Netherlands

What it is

Hearing Voices groups are peer support (mutual-aid) groups for people who hear voices, see visions or have other unusual sensory experiences. They come from the Hearing Voices Movement. That movement grew out of work in Maastricht from 1987 by the voice-hearer Patsy Hage, the psychiatrist Marius…

Format

• There is no session-by-session protocol, and no fixed phases. HVN-USA trainers and Fletcher & Kalofonos stress that groups do not follow a standard format and that regional networks adapt them; they contrast this with structured models such as AA or WRAP groups. What the sources do describe is (a)…
• (a) Group lifecycle

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• (c) Facilitator preparation
• HVN-USA: the standard training is 24 hours of interactive instruction, with a workbook, homework and role-play. Completion leads to certification as an HVN-USA group facilitator. Some local versions are shorter (for example, a 14-hour, two-day course in New York, and Wildflower Alliance's three-day course).
• Netherlands: no specific group-facilitator training at the time of the study; facilitators had usually done a several-day course on coping with voices.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• cliques that newcomers find hard to break into.
• members who are reluctant to take over. Go at their pace.
• one person's share taking most of the time. See section 5.
• a facilitator's disclosure that becomes the centre of the meeting.
• destabilisation in people with high dissociation or recent trauma.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.