Talking with voices

Talking with voices with Dr Dirk Corstens, Eleanor Longden & Ron Coleman

  • Ron Coleman
  • Dutch psychiatrist and chair of INTERVOICE, Dirk Corstens
  • Voice hearer and award winning psychologist Eleanor Longden

Many people who hear challenging voices have found that a turning point in coping with the experience is finding different ways of talking with and understanding them.

Exploring the voice‟s motives and discovering different ways of relating to them can help change the relationship between the voice-hearer and their voices.

Why is Speaking With Voices Helpful?

This method does not focus on voices as a symptom of „illness‟- nor does it concentrate on discovering what is “wrong” with the person. It offers a neutral but strong attitude to working with voices – acceptance is the core of the technique. It helps develop increased awareness, objectivity and a more productive relationshipbetween voices and voice-hearer.

By definition, voice-hearing is very lonely experience. Allowing others to “hear” the voices is empowering, liberating and a source of considerable support. In turn, it also affords professionals, friends and family some valuable insight into the reality of a person‟s voice-hearing experience

Basic Principles

The most essential principle is that we are not necessarily trying to change the voices, nor banish them from the person‟s life. What we are trying to do is explore their relationship with the voice-hearer.

Doing this work will help the individual gain a different perspective on what the voices are trying to say: and if the person can develop a stronger attitude then the voices are able to change.

Our aim is not to get rid of the voices, but to make their relationship with the voice hearer more equal through helping the person take back control.

During these four days participants will cover the following topics:

  • Important information about the treatment methods for those hearing voices, using the Maastricht model
  • An Introduction to voice dialogues
  • Practicing voice dialoguing with volunteers
  • How to overcome problems within the process

Residential Course

Four day residential course looks both at the theory and practice of working with and talking to voices, using the techniques developed by pioneers Ron Coleman and Marius Romme and further developed by Rufus May & Dirk Corstens.

The course will enable practitioners and voice hearrs  to understand the theory behind both techniques and the ability and confidence to use these new ways of working with in their own recovery or practice.   Dirk Corstens & Ron coleman will be providing a clinic for voice hearers attending the course.

We would encourage workers to attend with a voice hearer, so that they can carry on the work after the course has finished.

Course prices and further information email info@workingtorecovery.co.uk

Further information about Working and Talking with Voices: Creating recovery for people who hear voices

This innovative four day residential course looks both at the theory and practice of working with and talking to voices, using the techniques developed by pioneers Ron Coleman and Prof Marius Romme and further developed by Rufus May, Eleanor Longden & Dr Dirk Corstens.

The course will enable practitioners to understand the theory behind both techniques and the ability and confidence to use these new ways of working with in their own practice. During the course each working couple will have individual time with all 3 tutors to practice the techniques.

Dirk will also offer a “clinic” “to all voice hearers to discuss diagnosis, medication, treatment and to answer where possible any questions the voice hearer may have.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the four days training all participants will have:

  • An Understanding of Hearing Voices
  • Been Introduced to Developing Coping Strategies
  • Been Introduced To Working within Belief Systems
  • Been Introduced to Voice Profiling
  • Developed Confidence & Awareness in Working with Voices
  • Developed a Toolkit for Working with Client‟s Voices
  • The Confidence to Use the Voices Work book Using the Maastricht interview schedule

Who should attend this residential programme?

Workers whom would benefit from these workshops are primarily front line staff including: Nurses, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists, Support Workers, and Social Workers.

Voice hearers who want to take charge of their experience, want their worker to have a better understanding of them & are wanting to recover but find dealing with the voices keeps them from moving forward in their lives

Participants will have the opportunity to study and practice the voice dialoguing method, and explore various ways of understanding and relating to the voice hearers experiences.

We highly recommend that each worker is accompanied by a voice hearer that they are already working with. This means that they can carry on with the work alter the course is finished & we will offer on-line supervision.

Ron Coleman is a Mental Health Trainer and Consultant specialising in Recovery and Psychosis. Following his role as national co-ordinator of the „Hearing Voices Network‟ he used his experiences of recovery to design Workbooks and Training packages to enable voice hearers to gain ascendancy over the negative aspects of the voice hearing experience.

Ron‟s own route to recovery after spending 13 years in and out of the psychiatric system has given him many insights into the numerous difficult issues facing today‟s mental health services. Ron is the author of  ”Recovery – An Alien Concept?‟ and co –authored “Working with Voices‟ and  ”Working to Recovery‟.

Ron has published several books including the above and also “Politics of the Madhouse‟

Dr Dirk Corstens has been a social psychiatrist and psychotherapist since 1992. He is educated in cognitive, psychodynamic and systems therapy, Transactional Analysis and Voice Dialogue work. Since 1992 Dirk has been Collaborator in the Hearing Voices Project of the University of Maastricht, with Prof. Marius Romme and Dr Sandra Escher and is closely involved in working with voice hearers.

Dirk developed the recovery programme, “Working with Voices‟, and is currently preparing research on this subject

Eleanor Longden is a psychology undergraduate currently working with the Bradford Early Intervention in Psychosis Team. As a past user of psychiatric services, she has a strong interest in promoting tolerance, awareness and positive explanations for mental health issues, and for the last four years has worked in both a clinical and academic capacity toendorse creative, enabling approaches to experiences such as voice-hearing, unusual beliefs and self-injury.