Are you aged 16–25 with personal experience of hearing voices others don’t?
Would you like to help develop an app for young voice-hearers who might be struggling to cope with their experiences?
The project so far …
Back in 2019, Hearing the Voice launched Understanding Voices, a website for voice-hearers, family members and mental health professionals. The Living with Voices section – written by voice-hearers for voice-hearers – has always been a popular part of the site. We thought it might make a useful app for young people.
After an initial period of consultation, we ran three co-design workshops with voice-hearers (aged 18–25) to find out what they would (and wouldn’t) want from an app. We developed a prototype based on some of their ideas and asked their opinion on what we created. We used this feedback to develop the pilot version of the LIVV app.
Now we’d like to know what people think of what we’ve made so far.
How can I get involved?
We’re looking for a group of young people (aged 18–25) with first-hand experience of hearing voices who would be willing to try out the pilot app for a week and then tell us what they think of it. If you’d like to take part in the evaluation process, you can choose to complete an online survey, take part in a 15-minute online interview or both.
When will the evaluation take place?
The interviews and online survey will take place in February 2023.
Why should I take part?
We hope you’ll take part because you’d like to help shape an app for young people who hear voices and make it as useful as possible. Our commitment to you is that we will listen to your feedback on the app and use it in a meaningful way. Everyone who participates in the survey and/or the interviews will receive a generous shopping voucher as a token of appreciation of their time and expertise.
Who is involved in this project?
The Living with Voices app is a collaboration between Hearing the Voice and the Institute for Medical Humanities (Durham University), Voice Collective (a London-based organisation that supports young people who hear, see, or sense things others don’t), Rachel Waddingham (voice-hearer, mental health trainer), and Dr Sarah Parry (Lancaster University), who was the lead researcher on the Young Voices Study (Manchester Metropolitan University). It is funded by the Durham Economic and Social Research Council Impact Accelerator Awards, Research England and the Wellcome Trust.
Do I need to live in the UK to be part of this?
No. The evaluation is open to any young person who hears voices and would like to get involved. The online survey and interviews will be in English.
How can we support you to participate?
We’d like to hear from young people of different genders, sexual orientations, (dis)abilities, ethnic and religious backgrounds. If there is anything we can do to help you to participate, please let us know.
I’d like to take part. What do I do?
To register an interest in taking part in the evaluation of the pilot app, please email Victoria Patton telling us a bit about yourself, why you’d like to participate, and whether you want to take part in the online survey, interview or both.
If you have any questions about this project, feel free to get in touch with Victoria.