What's On Now ...
LIVV: Try out a prototype app for young people who hear voices
Earlier this year we ran three co-design workshops to find out what young people who hear voices would want from an app. Now we’re looking for some feedback on a small scale, early prototype. If you’re aged 16–25 with personal experience of hearing voices, we’d love to hear what you think about what we’ve created.
New Writers’ Inner Voices website launched
After extensive development, we’re delighted to announce the launch of our new and improved Writers’ Inner Voices website.
Knowledge is Power: Helping people who hear voices to feel more empowered and overcome stigma
In collaboration with Rai Waddingham, Hearing the Voice are offering free workshops in Glasgow and London, which will explore the way in which we can use information and resources to help people distressed by their voices feel more empowered and reduce internalised stigma.
In case you missed it! ‘Hearing Voices: What do we need to know?’
On 11 September 2019, over two hundred people attended our public symposium on ‘Hearing Voices: What do we need to know?’ at The Assembly Rooms in Newcastle upon Tyne. If you couldn’t join us at the event, you can catch up by watching films of all the talks and presentations in this post.
Hearing Voices: What do we need to know? (11 September, Newcastle)
Hearing the Voice (Durham University) warmly invites you to join a public event which asks ‘Hearing Voices: What do we need to know?’.
Creative Voices: A workshop for writers (11 May)
With creative exercises, provocations, and plenty of tea and coffee, this one-day workshop for writers will explore the various ways in which you can create and engage with your characters…
Understanding Voices Workshops: An invitation to voice-hearers and those who support them (Durham & London, March 2019)
HtV has been working with members of the voice-hearing community to develop Understanding Voices (UV) – a new web resource that will help people find clear, balanced, comprehensive information about voice-hearing. We have now built a prototype site and would be delighted if you could join us to provide feedback on what we have developed so far.
Registration now open! Personification Across Disciplines, Durham, 17-19 September 2018
Hearing the Voice warmly invite you to join us for Personification Across Disciplines 2018, an interdisciplinary conference that aims to explore personifying dynamics and experiences through a variety of disciplines, methods and perspectives. Keynote speakers include H. Porter Abbott (University of California, Santa Barbara) Guillaume Dumas (Institut Pasteur), Nev Jones (University of South Florida) and Ann Taves (University of California, Santa Barbara).
Hearing Soundless Voices: a Grammatical Analysis of Verbal Hallucinations (May 31)
Hearing the Voice warmly invites you to attend a public lecture by Mathieu Frerejouan (Université Paris 1 – Panthéon Sorbonne) on May 31 (5-7PM) at Palace Green Library.
Registration Open: 25 Years of Madness and Modernism Symposium at Durham University (11 May 2018)
Registration has now opened for ’25 Years of Madness and Modernism’, a symposium at Durham University (11 May 2018) exploring the magnum opus of the distinguished clinical psychologist and phenomenologist of psychopathology Louis A. Sass.
Movement and Meaning: the Embodiment of Rhythm, Space, Time and Relation (19 April)
Prof. Sabine Koch (Director of the Research Institute for Creative Art Therapies at Alanus University Alfter) will be giving a public lecture at Durham University on April 19 (5:30-7:30PM).
Cognitive Neuroscience Tapping Inner Language: Prediction and Perception (22 March 2018)
On Thursday 22 March, Dr Hélène Loevenbruck (Laboratory of Psychology and NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes) will be giving a public lecture on ‘Cognitive neuroscience tapping inner language: prediction and perception’…
Integrated Voices Consultation Events, Bradford & London, 31 Jan & 7 February 2018
In October 2017, we held a series of consultation events in Bradford, London and Newcastle in order to gather views on how to make our new web resource, Integrated Voices, as useful as possible. We are now holding two more events in Bradford and London, where we’d particularly like to hear from voice-hearers from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and the families, friends and professionals who support them.
Announcing a new series of events produced by Hearing the Voice and Waddington Street Community Centre, Durham (February-May 2018)
Hearing the Voice has teamed up with Waddington Street Community Centre to produce a new, four-part series of events exploring voice-hearing and other unusual experiences.
Meet the Playwright: Introducing David Napthine
On Friday 26 January at 7:30PM, The World is Never Quiet will premiere at Durham Town Hall. We sat down with David Napthine, author of the play, to hear all about his newest work…
The World is Never Quiet (26 January 2018)
David Napthine’s newest play – based on his time as writer in residence for Hearing Voices: suffering, inspiration and the everyday – comes to Durham Town Hall this January…
Integrated Voices – Can you help us create a resource for people who hear voices and those who support them?
Rai Waddingham, who is a member of the editorial board for our new project Integrated Voices, writes: In my experience, at least, the availability of information on the internet can bring with it both opportunities and risks. To someone hearing voices for the first...
An invitation to voice-hearers: Reflections on ‘Hearing Voices: suffering, inspiration and the everyday’, Tuesday 21 February 2017, from 5-7pm.
After an exhilarating four months, the final week of ‘Hearing Voices: suffering, inspiration, and the everyday’ is almost upon us. We warmly invite voice-hearers, their families, friends and allies to join us for a final viewing and to share reflections on the exhibition and its linked programme of events at Palace Green Library on Tuesday 21 February 2017, from 5-7pm. Wine, soft drinks and light refreshments will be provided.
‘Psychosis, Agency, and Narrative: An Interdisciplinary Workshop’ at The College of St Hild & St Bede, 15 February 2017, from 9:30 – 17:20.
Hallucinations can undermine the intuition that we are the ones controlling our own thoughts and actions. This one-day workshop examines the theme of lost agency from a number of disciplinary perspectives, with a view to exploring how conceptions of agency in different disciplines might be productively related.
‘Tuning into the Light: Experiencing Celestial Voices’ at the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Durham Cathedral, 11 – 25 February 2017, from 10am – 4pm.
An experimental sound installation which engages with the experience of hearing spiritual voices by blending together in infinite uncontrived and unforeseen ways rich accounts of mystical experience with sound, music and silence.
Public Lecture: Professor Charles Fernyhough on ‘Children, Voice-Hearing, and Imaginary Friends’ at Palace Green Library, 8 February 2017, from 5:30 – 7:30.
In this talk, Charles Fernyhough will explore how the experience of hearing voices relates to the common phenomenon of imaginary friends.
Public Symposium: ‘Voices, Visions, and Divine Inspiration,’ St Chad’s College Chapel, Durham, 18 February 2017, from 1 – 6pm.
Join us to explore the spiritual aspects of hearing voices and the way in which these rich and enigmatic experiences have been represented and interpreted in different religious contexts from the medieval period to the present.
Public Lecture: Professor Tanya Luhrmann on ‘The Voice of God’ at Palace Green Library, Durham, 16 February 2017 from 5:30 – 7pm.
Hearing the Voice are delighted to announce this public lecture by Tanya Luhrmann, distinguished Watkins University Professor in the Stanford Anthropology Department.
Free guided tours of the ‘Hearing Voices: suffering, inspiration, and the everyday’ exhibition, Palace Green Library, December 2016 – February 2017.
Enjoy a guided tour of the exhibition and learn about the research behind some of the highlights and the making of some of the displays. Tours will be led by members of the Hearing the Voice research team and students of the ARCH Recovery College in Durham.
Public Lecture: Dr Peter Garratt on ‘Dickens and Over-hearing,’ Learning Centre at Palace Green Library, Durham, 26 January 2017 from 5:30 – 7pm
In this lecture, Peter Garratt will suggest why overhearing can help us unlock Dickens’s writing and creativity.
‘Voices, knowledge and ignorance: Reflections on experiences of “Company”‘, St Chad’s College Chapel, Durham, 20 January 2017, 12-2pm
Renowned Beckett scholars and performers have been invited to challenge their knowledge of the author and of the text by attending a performance of ‘Company’ in the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Durham.
‘Company’ by Samuel Beckett, Chapel of the Holy Cross, Durham, 16 January – 20 January 2017
Hearing the Voice is delighted to announce that experiential audio performances of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Company’ will take place in the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Durham Cathedral from 16 to 20 January 2017.
Both moving and mysterious, Beckett’s Company is the story of a voice that comes ‘to one on his back in the dark’. This voice, which the protagonist can neither verify or name, ‘tells of a past’. In a performance of the text that is at the same time immersive and exploratory, the audience are invited to become the central character in this enigmatic story world.
North East premier of ‘Healing Voices,’ Empty Shop Durham, 18 January 2017, from 8pm.
Hearing the Voice and Empty Shop are delighted to invite you to the screening of ‘Healing Voices.’ This screening is the first to take place in the North East, and is part of our mini film festival.
‘An Evening with Daniel Paul Schreber,’ Empty Shop, Durham, 13 January 2017 from 7 – 10pm.
On Friday 13th of January, join interdisciplinary sound artist Richard Crow, novelist Alex Pheby, and academic Angela Woods as Durham’s Empty Shop is given over to an exploration of Schreber’s world.
Public Symposium: ‘Literary Minds,’ St Chad’s College Chapel, Durham, 21 January 2017 from 1 – 5pm.
This public symposium explores the minds of writers, readers and characters as participant agents in literary experience.
‘Recovery Stories,’ Palace Green Library Café, 18 January 2017, from 4:30 – 7pm.
We warmly welcome people from the voice-hearing community to join this informal gathering and express experiences of recovery from mental distress through discussion, art, music, and spoken-word poetry.
‘Their voices made them do it? Media stereotypes, violence and voice-hearing,’ Palace Green Library Café, 14 December 2016, from 5 – 7pm.
When someone who hears voices commits a violent crime, it is often reported in the media as if the fact they heard voices is sufficient explanation. Is this true, or is there much more to the story? All are welcome to attend this free event.
UK Premiere of Jonathan Balazs’ documentary film ‘They Heard Voices,’ Empty Shop Durham, 14 December 2016 from 8pm.
Hearing the Voice and Empty Shop are delighted to invite you to the UK premier of ‘They Heard Voices,’ produced by Jonathan Balazs. All are welcome to attend this free screening.
Exploring the Science of Voices, Learning Centre at Palace Green Library, 6 and 8 December 2016 from 5:30-7:30pm.
Hearing the Voice are delighted to invite you to our forthcoming events which explore the science of voices. These events are free and all are welcome to attend.
A mini film festival on hearing voices, Durham, November 2016 to February 2017.
From November 2016 to February 2017, Hearing the Voice is holding a mini film festival on hearing voices in collaboration with Durham’s Empty Shop.
‘The Good Story? Arabella Kurtz in conversation with Angela Woods,’ Palace Green Library, 17 Nov 2016, 5:30-7:30pm.
Dr. Arabella Kurtz is the author, with Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee, of The Good Story: Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and Psychotherapy (2015). In conversation with Angela Woods, she will address the benefits and stakes of a narrative approach to experience.
‘Who can speak about voices?’, Palace Green Library Café, Durham, 16 November 2016, 5pm-7pm
Join our panel of experts for a lively discussion of the politics and ethics of representing unusual and often stigmatised experiences. Facilitated by Dr Angela Woods, Senior Lecturer in Medical Humanities at Durham University and Co-Director of Hearing the Voice.
Announcing the opening of ‘Hearing Voices: suffering, inspiration and the everyday’, Palace Green Library, Durham, 5 November 2016 – 26 February 2017
The world’s first exhibition to examine voice-hearing from different cultural, clinical, historical, literary and spiritual perspectives opens at Palace Green Library in Durham on Saturday 5 November 2016. The exhibition is supported by a dedicated website containing images of the key displays, audio features, and interactive presentations.
‘Voice-hearing: What does the future hold?’ Palace Green Library, 5 Nov 2016 from 10am-4pm
Hearing the Voice warmly welcomes you to a day-long event with academics, clinicians and experts by experience exploring future directions in voice-hearing research.
Adam Powell on ‘The Hearing Voices Movement as Postmodern Religion? Meaning, Power, Sacralisation, Identity’, Durham University, 6 December 2016, 11.30am – 1pm.
'The Hearing Voices Movement as Postmodern Religion? – Meaning, Power, Sacralisation, Identity.' Dr Adam Powell, a Junior Research Fellow on the Hearing the Voices Project, will be presenting his paper (title above) as part of 'The Durham Religion and Society Research...
Free 3-Day Training Course: Hearing Voices Group Facilitation in Prisons & Secure Units, Durham, January – February 2017
This training event is for healthcare professionals who are interested in setting up ‘Hearing Voices Groups,’ as an established means of providing peer support in prisons and secure units in the North East of England.
Hearing the Voice at Durham Book Festival, Saturday 15 October 2016
On Saturday 15 October, our project director Charles Fernyhough will be discussing his recent book ‘The Voices Within’ at the Durham Book Festival. He will be joined by our co-director Angela Woods and team member Marco Bernini.
An Invitation to Voice-hearers: Exhibition Linked Programme Planning Meeting, 15 September 2016, 3.30-5pm
Do you hear voices or have other unusual experiences and live in the North-East of England? Do you have an idea for a public dialogue event, film screening or panel discussion that explores voice-hearing from a personal, political, cultural or spiritual perspective?...
‘Hallucinations and Spiritual Experience: Voices, Visions and Revelation’, Royal College of Psychiatrists Spirituality SIG Conference, London, 25 November 2016
Hearing the Voice team members Charles Fernyhough, Christopher Cook and Ben Alderson-Day are delighted to be speaking at the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Spirituality SIG Conference on ‘Hallucinations and Spiritual Experience: Voices, Visions and Revelation’, which will take place in November later in the year.
Listen Up! Creative Workshops for Young People who Hear Voices or See Visions, July–September 2016
We are delighted to invite young people who hear voices or see visions from Newcastle, Durham, Leeds, Bradford and surrounding areas to work with our creative facilitator, Mary Robson, and Rachel Waddingham (Behind the Label) to produce an artwork that challenges the stigma associated with voice-hearing and that will be on show in our forthcoming exhibition on voice-hearing.