On Saturday 19^th October, CHARM in collaboration with the Manchester Hearing Voices Network held a wonderful event to spread the word about the hearing voices approach across Manchester and the wider region. With a turnout of around 70 people from all walks of life, it was a very emotional and powerful day.

We hoped to raise awareness of a more holistic, community-based approach to hearing voices, and to inspire nurturing of compassionate practices across the hearing voices network and beyond across our wonderful city.

On display was part of the ‘Hearing the Voice’ exhibition originally shown in Durham, giving a great historical background to the movement. We showed an excerpt from ‘Voices Matter’ and ‘Compassion for Voices’, films which powerfully highlight the positive impact of the approach in people’s lives and the potential harm caused by the current psychiatric system to people experiencing unusual experiences.

People were invited to take part in a voice hearing simulation in small groups, designed to get people thinking about how their thoughts, feelings and behaviour may be affected if they were voice-hearing. Several facilitators of local groups, including the Muslim Voice, Women’s Hearing Voices group, Lancaster group and Supporters group, held a panel to discuss ways to access support.

We then held an open discussion forum where people shared stories and we explored as a community ways to support loved ones. In the craft area, attendees were invited to create a model of their voice or an element of themselves. The day was soundtracked by music from local and international voice-hearers which highlighted both the challenges and beauty that alternative experiences can bring to people’s lives.

Held in collaboration with Bembe café, we broke bread with delicious Swahili food created by Sheika and Elmi who will imminently be running the café in Alexandra Park. We hope to continue a mutually beneficial relationship both with Bembe and with other organisations across the city, to raise awareness and address stigma within all communities, fostering community support for people to explore unusual experiences through an alternative lens than the traditional psychiatric view.