After some delays we have now edited and republished our self help guide to talking with voices. We want to thank every one who gave us feedback on the initial guide and has helped us create this more expanded version.

Self help guide to Talking with Voices R. May and E. Svanholmer sep 2019

This guide is meant as inspiration for people who hear voices as well as their friends, family and other people in their network.

We want to acknowledge that talking with voices is not for everyone – some people find it useful and some people don’t. Looking at this guide might help you think about whether it’s something for you.

There may be things in the guide you find helpful and some things you don’t agree with which is absolutely fine. Everyone is different and what works for one person might not work for another.

We also want to acknowledge that using the term ‘voices’ and ‘hearing voices’ is not always honouring of what people are experiencing.

People describe their experiences in their own way and for some people it can include other senses than hearing but also entering different states of mind. Some people feel elated, inspired or supported by their experiences and other people feel deeply distressed, angry or exhausted.

There are also many different ways of explaining and naming these experiences, amongst other: djinns, spirit guides, schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations, persecution, electronic harassment, intrusive thoughts, thought transmissions, inner voices, ancestors, energies, beings and invisible presences.

Having these experiences is not uncommon but in our society (Northern Europe), it is usually regarded as problematic. It means that it can be tricky to find safe spaces to talk about what you are going through, explore ways of coping and holding on to hope that this is not something that has to define you or your life forever.

We hope that this guide can help anyone who reads it, to think about how we can support ourselves and others when going through difficult things, whether it is having experiences such as hearing voices or dealing with challenging relationships or situations in life.

This guide is far from exhaustive! There are many more things to be said about talking with voices and many stories to be told about how people have done it, how they have found it and how the voices have found it.

But we wanted to keep it fairly brief while also trying to address some of the most common things we have come across over the years.

If you’re interested in this approach there is a relevant event happening in London on September 26th Engaging with Voices