Taking Back Our Power: Self-help/Peer Support

MCHVN Groups are social environments that encourage and promote:

• Self-empowerment

• Interdependence

• A view of participants as experts by experience

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Hearing Voices Network Groups provide:

• Acceptance and a sense that one is not alone

• A safe place to talk about voices and visions

• An opportunity to learn what the voices mean and how to gain control over the experience

• An opportunity to build stronger social networks and supports

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Voice hearers in Hearing Voices Network Groups:

• Share experiences

• Explore different ways of managing and coping with voices

• Access information and resources and learn about the recovery process

A Few Words from a Group Member

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When I first learned I had other people sharing space in my mind and body, I really didn't know if I belonged in the Hearing Voices support group, but I pretended I was brave, and logged into a Zoom meeting. Within a couple minutes, [the facilitator] had welcomed me and asked me what was going on in my life, like he actually was curious about me. He didn't bat an eyelash at a single thing I said!

For the first time in my life, I found people who seemed to be able to accept me, no matter what kind of weird experiences I had. No one's ever judged me, or criticized me or even offered advice, and that's so crucial for me, because I tend to back into isolation and darkness at the slightest sign of people telling me what to do or what's wrong with me. 

Over the last few years, I've shared so much that I've never shared, not even in other support groups. We've talked about everything: family, hospitals, medications, what the voices or people are, how to relate to them, how to not relate to them, and through it all, I've made friends and finally come to feel like I'm not so alone. They've encouraged me in my own efforts to start support groups for people like me. I've even taken the facilitator training program. 

I wish I had had access to a group like this all my life. I think if everyone had a place to be themselves without judgment and criticism, like the "Taking back our power" group does so well, the world would be a lot better place! 

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-Constellation David