ticketybooworld-blog - Tumblr blog

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

HOPE AND TRANSFORMATION – THE INTERNATIONAL VOICE HEARING CONGRESS 2012.

Part 5. Written by Barrie Macvicar. HOPE AND TRANSFORMATION – THE INTERNATIONAL VOICE HEARING CONGRESS 2012. After speaking with and reading about others who had recovered from Schizophrenia , I was now much more motivated to recover despite still being heavily medicated. I was sick of living as a drugged zombie and watching the world go around me. I couldn't take living in that existence anymore. I was going to change my life. I had to. If I had had to suffer living like that any longer, to be honest, I would most likely not be here speaking today. I was trapped in my head listening to voices, having visual hallucinations, living alone and so medicated I couldn't participate in much in life. I was about 7 stone in weight I had no will to eat. At this stage most of the time all I had wanted to do was die. I nearly did a few times. But that would be a whole other workshop in itself. My life consisted of sleeping, getting up, smoking for a couple of hours, taking more meds and going back to bed. I had despised living at this point. Though things were changing and I could feel that change. It was powerful. Like I had been touched by something. Something great. I felt like I had been plugged into something and I was recharging. Like I had been reawakened. Energised. I struggled everyday but I pushed and I kept on pushing. I was desperate to get back out into the world and to live MY LIFE… With this new knowledge I was beginning to grasp the reality of recovery. I wanted to make to this my reality also. I too wanted to live in Recovery. In my head I had thought about others recoveries and i fixed them into my thinking and reminded myself every day: IF THEY COULD RECOVER… THEN SO COULD I It was like a Mantra in my head. I would say it over and over. Along with I WILL RECOVER…I WILL RECOVER…

My mind was made up. I was not going to lay down to this life living as a schizophrenic. I didn't want it and I did not see why I should have to continue living this way. I began thinking a lot like THIS IS MY LIFE... SO WHY AM I GIVING CONTROL OF IT OVER TO SOMEONE ELSE? Even my voices & would begin to tell me “Hey Barrie this is bullshit, you don't belong here”. Though I did have to have stern talks with the voices that wanted to keep in the system. It was all a time of great change and then Shirley took me to one of my meetings with CAPS. CAPS is an independent advocacy organisation for people who use or have used mental health services. I began to go meetings with them and with psychologists who were doing research on how it felt to live with a label. They also wanted an insider perspective on how it felt to be a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Caps told me of the International Hearing Voices Congress in Cardiff & about Intervoice on Facebook.

Intervoice: The International Hearing Voices Movement I had never even used Facebook before I didn't know anything about computers. I was useless with them and I hated technology... When i eventually got onto Facebook, I actually had to private message Paul Baker and ask him; How do I post a comment in the group? Because I didn’t know how to. All of these things were happening around the same time :  Getting more involved with Meetings in the real world with CAPS  Learning how to use and utilise social media.  Learning to take control of my experiences and my voices.  Embracing the prospect of recovery, creating the new me. IT WAS A TIME OF GREAT CHANGE, OF LEARNING, OF GROWTH & EMERGENCE. So with support from a friend who was also training to be a kundalini yoga teacher. I attended Hearing voices International Congress. The power inspiration I took from watching this congress was for me, breath taking. Watching so many others who had once been diagnosed themselves. Standing there successful as the Recovered filled me with confidence.I had a whole new optimistic and positive attitude for the future and even more desire to succeed. More determination to recover. It was like meeting my tribe, everybody there accepted me. Nobody cared that I was a ' schizophrenic ' or that I heard voices. I was becoming a stronger person more and more. I was beginning like a tree to grow branches.. Only the branches I was sprouting were helping to me spread out to become more connected with my environment. Stretching out more socially, more confidently, more hopeful, more inspired more motivated and more determined to recover than ever. I was beginning not only to stand but to think independently.I could feel the light and positivity within myself & from that day I have never looked back. Hearing Voices went from being a terrifying lonely experience to being one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me.I thank my voices & for who and where I am today! The congress was a place for me of HOPE AND TRANSFORMATION........ At the International Hearing Congress, I watched & was inspired by: SIR ROBIN MURRAY  DR RUFUS MAY  ELEANOR LONGDEN  WILL HALL & AMANDA FAITH WAEGLI  RACHEL WADDINGHAM  IVAN BARRY  PROFESSOR MARIUS ROMME & SANDRA ESCHER  PAUL BAKER HYWELL DAVIES & many more people whom I both watched and chatted with. It was amazing. If you would like to view the Hearing Voices Congress. World Hearing Voices Congress Cardiff 2012

youtube

Remember the mantra below and hey enjoy your journey.

youtube

To read Part 1 - Click here - SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE UNNURTURED SEED. STIFLED BY DIAGNOSIS. To read Part 2 - Click here - A SHINING LIGHT: A SUPPORT WORKER & THE GERMINATION OF PERSONAL GROWTH. To read Part 3 - Click here.- Accepting my voices. The Maastricht Approach. To read Part 4 - Click here - A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. DISCOVERING SOCIAL MEDIA.

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. DISCOVERING SOCIAL MEDIA.

Part 4. Written by Barrie Macvicar A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. DISCOVERING SOCIAL MEDIA.

Shirley my support worker had went out of her way and she got in contact with a man someone I had never even heard of. She told me he would calling me later that week. He was a man who had recovered from Schizophrenia. What?

After speaking with him on the telephone my journey into the light came so much faster than I expected. This was to be a growth spurt I could never have imagined to have been possible...

The power of what was to come gave me that burst to break clean through the earth and stand tall, ready to embrace the world and to embrace recovery.

That power to me came with just four words…

“YOUR VOICES ARE REAL”

I hadn't spoken to anyone who lives in recovery before so this was all very new to me. I was keen to hear what he had to say but at the same time apprehensive,

THOUGH THAT WAS NOT LONG IN CHANGING!!! The most important striking and influential words I have ever heard in all of my journey…

“BARRIE - THE VOICES ARE REAL”

I didn't have many emotions or cares, I was too sedated at the time but my reaction despite being numb on heavy medications, was an emotional one.

I clearly remember holding back a tear, I was in great pain with my voices. A voice in a foreign language roared in my head all day and night at this stage. If I was awake it was there. It never stopped. Nobody believed me it was there, I was just another nutty ' Schizophrenic ' after all. Nobody wanted to know. People tend to stay away from us when we are unwell or never hang around long enough to notice when we are.

When I did try to tell people of any of my voices all I would receive was total disbelief from them and no interest whatsoever. Again the stigma of the diagnosis. So when this guy said to me “Barrie - Your Voices are real” It was an astounding moment for me.... No one had ever said this me… Nobody ever... For the first time in my life I felt real... I felt accepted... I felt for the first time ever there was a chance I could be saved from the ceaseless torment of these voices.

It was a powerful moment for me. One I Shall Never Ever Forget. One that was to change my Entire life. Forever.

It changed me from living as the labelled psychiatric patient to now desperately seeking to be free - Not only free from my voices but free from services, from the hell of being trapped somewhere I didn't belong or want to be anymore.

I no longer wanted my environment to be darkened by this diagnosis. So, not only did I for the first time speak to someone who 'ACCEPTED' me, I also spoke to someone who 'BELIEVED' me & who BELIEVED 'IN' ME.... And believe me as a diagnosed “Schizophrenic”, on “Meds” and in “The System” IT CAN BE VERY EXHAUSTING TRYING TO FIND ANYONE WHO DOES, MOST OF THE TIME... ;) When speaking to people with diagnosed with 'mental illness' or anyone really. It can be life changing, so 'BELIEVE' IN THEM AND 'ACCEPT' THEM....BECAUSE… WORDS AND ACTIONS ARE EMPOWERING AND OFFER A PERSON REAL HOPE.

For me mentally, the encouragement i took from these very words ' YOUR VOICES ARE REAL' was the moment of change for me.

It was that instant that I began to see RECOVERY & THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE!!! I now knew, that if I took control of these voices. I could get my life back...

Being in the darkness of diagnosis the environment of which I was in at this time, I cannot even begin to tell you, how determined I was to get out that situation, that place I didn't belong.

This was My Moment. This was the way for me to fully break free from the torment of the voices and the services that didn't know how to break me away from these voices or the darkness of the diagnoses. I was beginning to see the way - My way. I could at last see myself facilitating my own recovery.

It was like a ' Breath of Fresh Air'. It was like I could breathe again once more.

Recovering not only by the clinical method of recovery but in my own way. By using utilising these new nutrients that were now in my environment.

I realised I had my own options now. I could recover not by the way of the system but by finding my own way my own personal recovery journey. Thanks to Shirley coming into my life now;

·I HAD LIGHT IN MY LIFE.... I MYSELF JUST A SEED.... DARKENED BY DIAGNOSIS WAS SETTING DOWN FIRMER ROOTS 'GROUNDING MYSELF'.

·I ACCEPTED MY ENVIRONMENT & I BEGAN TO LOOK AT THE REALITY OF MY SITUATION.

THINKING ABOUT THE WEIGHT OF THE EARTH ABOVE ME…

IN TERMS OF MY SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS... I STARTED TO THINK ABOUT HOW TO TAKE THE NECESSARY STEPS I HAD TO TO SHIFT THAT DIRT AND EARTH...

IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO GET MY MENTAL SHOVEL OUT.

TIME FOR ME TO PUT IN THE EFFORT AND START DIGGING MY WAY OUT OF THIS SITUATION SO I COULD STAND TALL ONCE MORE. INDEPENDENTLY.

STRONG ENOUGH TO SURVIVE IN MY OWN ENVIRONMENT ENDURE ITS WEATHERS & SEASONS AND NOT ALLOW MYSELF TO BECOME BURIED AGAIN.

·I SPURTED OUT OF THAT DARKNESS WITH GREAT ENTHUSIASM & A NEW ZEST FOR LIFE AS THE ACORN DOES TO BECOME THE GREAT OAK.

SIMILAR IN PROCESS, MY EMERGENCE - AS A PERSON NOT A DIAGNOSIS, WAS BEGINNING.

I PUSHED OUT MY NEW ROOTS. I FOUND MY GROUND. I PLANTED MYSELF & PREPARED AS I REACHED FORWARD, MORE READY, MORE EMPOWERED. MORE MOTIVATED & STIMULATED TO GROW.

I shot upwards into the world again faster than I or anyone I knew expected.

The greatest leap forward ever. This growth spurt, in combination with creating the necessary foundations I needed with my reaching high towards the light.

Towards the world of acceptance, recovery & hope, was indeed the massive blast of sunshine I needed the natural pull I needed.

We have to put down roots. Work with what we have.

The foundations of our lives, our illness & of our environments whatever it is that is suffocating us from growth at the time.

We have to build the strength to set about changing these things and become stronger, more able to deal with the bad weathers and the seasons of life ahead of us.

Once we have set down these roots we have the strength to accept this pull and move forward with it - Towards our own personal growth and recovery. The pull that was to pull me clean out of the darkness of diagnosis. Back into the world of being a human being once more. With my natural will to survive independently in my own environment and in living in my own recovery. A place that worked best for me...

AS A PERSON NOT A DIAGNOSIS. !

IT WAS AT THIS STAGE ‘ I GAVE UP BEING SCHIZOPHRENIC ‘ FOR SURE, With my roots down and the nutrients I needed to help me grow. I was now connected with my environment once more... I was back out in reality ..... That reality being away from the label and the darkness. I could see and feel the light, I was no longer smothered, I was growing and i knew then that I WAS GOING TO RECOVER & live my life the way nature intended. Independently once more. So from this moment on i shed my label and down under the ground in the dirt and darkness where it belonged. I began to feed on the nutrients of my environment and that the label had brought my way. I was now receiving nutrients in the way of support, acceptance, belief, motivation, feeling more real and empowered, more motivated, more grounded, more encouraged and more stimulated and energised to reach higher and to grow away from the dirt and the stigma of the diagnosis. I grew away from it... I chose to grow towards the light as any plant does & I then refused to see myself as and i Gave up being that ' SCHIZOPHRENIC '

To read from Part 1 Please Click Here - SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE UNNURTURED SEED. STIFLED BY DIAGNOSIS.

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Accepting my voices. The Maastricht Approach.

Part 3. Written by Barrie Macvicar.

not much at all to me as far as explanations went at that time ! As Shirley told me more about the Hearing Voices Movement and the Maastricht Approach it was without doubt a life changing time.. THIS WAS THE MOMENT MY NEGATIVE ENVIRONMENT BEGAN TO CHANGE TO A MUCH MORE POSITIVE ONE.

To read Part 1. Click here - SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE UNNURTURED SEED. STIFLED BY DIAGNOSIS. Click here for the Maastricht Approach — Hearing voices Maastricht - To read Part 2 Click here - A SHINING LIGHT: A SUPPORT WORKER & THE GERMINATION OF PERSONAL GROWTH.

youtube

Later in my journey i became fortunate enought to both become friends with Eleanor online and also to meet with her at the Cardiff Hearing Voices Congress 2012. Part 4 to be continued.

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

A SHINING LIGHT: A SUPPORT WORKER & THE GERMINATION OF PERSONAL GROWTH.

Part 2. Written by Barrie Macvicar.

To read Part 1. Click here - SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE UNNURTURED SEED. STIFLED BY DIAGNOSIS. - To read Part 3 Click here - Accepting my voices. The Maastricht Approach. Find out more at POSITIVE ABOUT PAIN & MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

SCHIZOPHRENIA - THE UNNURTURED SEED. STIFLED BY DIAGNOSIS.

Written by Barrie Macvicar.- RECOVERY & SOCIAL MEDIA.

To read Part 2 Click here - A SHINING LIGHT: A SUPPORT WORKER & THE GERMINATION OF PERSONAL GROWTH.

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Egan Bidois - Smash’in PUMPKINS !

Egan Bidois and his friends do mental health differently down in New Zealand. It seems there are no lengths world renowned mental health leader Egan Bidois won’t go to in order to be able to hold host and facilliate mental health workshops conference and events. Even if that means having to get out traditional Maori weapons in order to hack his way a giant pumpkin, to do just that. If that’s what needs to be done Egan will surely do it. As can clearly be seen by the picture below. Egan can be seen here below showing nothing more than pure dedication to both his people and also in bringing the awareness needed into mental health awareness week and where better to do it than in a giant pumpkin. If anything shows your not afraid to be mental during mental health awareness week. Sitting in public in a giant pumpkin goes a long way to proving just that. I personally feel respect has to be given here to the people inside the pumpkin although suffering from mental health difficulties they care not about the attitudes and stigmatising beliefs of those walking past the pumpkin thinking those inside of it are all mental. Isn’t that a lot of what mental health awareness is about? It’s a case of HEY here we are here. Sitting in a giant pumpkin and we don’t care what anybody else thinks. We are just doing what we enjoy same as all the rest of you. You guys might choose to go to Costa’s for a coffee we don’t judge you. So don’t judge us for sitting having coffee in a pumpkin. There’s nothing wrong with that. Is anybody harming anybody. No We’re just a collection of people who chose to have coffee in a pumpkin rather have coffee in Costa’s. We’re all here showing that people with mental health difficulties can come out into society. We are all the same as you we are allowed to make choices and we choose to drink and dine in a pumpkin. I personally feel this is something which could catch on and could be promoted. I know for sure if there was a giant pumpkin down my street i’d without doubt definitely go and sit in it. I’d think nothing of it. Why should i? I feel there could really be something extremely therapeutic in doing so. If other people wanted to think i was mad for having coffee in a giant pumpkin of a Saturday morning then i’d just let them. What they would think would be none of my business. as i would just be a bloke who had chosen to have coffee in a pumpkin. The same as they may be guys who chose to go down the bookies or to go to Costa’s. Macdonald’s or even the hairdressers. Yes i think there should be an international introduction of mental health awareness pumpkins. Where people with or without mental health difficulties could gather and show there support for mental health awareness. It would be a great place for service users and like minded professionals to gather and chat about how crazy and mental all these people who choose to go to the bookies and costa’s actually look. Those are my thoughts personally. This blog was Inspired by all this and by my watching the sheer genius work of Egan hacking into a pumpkin in order to create awareness for mental health. What can i say other than

FANTASTIC !

The picture was taken just prior to Egan and co hacking their way into and cleaning out this gigantic pumpkin. He does all of this so that he and his peeps an peers could do lunch and chat together about mental health and where better to do that than in a

GIANT PUMPKIN !

Yeah that’s right. In a GIANT PUMPKIN !

RESPECT !

Egan is the big handsome mad Maori in the black shirt (left) I don’t know who the other handsome mad Maori’s are.

Thanks to Egan and his friends Whanganui got to celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week successfully.

A film of Egan Bidois and his magic pumpkin (sounds like a new children’s book) can he seen at the bottom of this page. Whanganui relished the "nature is key" theme given to this year's Mental Health Awareness Week with a range of activities getting people outdoors and talking.

The national campaign has run from Monday, October 9 to Sunday, October 15 to spread awareness about mental wellbeing.

Pathways Whanganui held its annual spring fling event down at Kowhai Park on Thursday.

Organiser of the event, Christine Taylor, said a lot of the people who were there didn't have much in life and it was an opportunity for shared company and to enjoy the outdoors.

"We have been praying that the weather will give us some sunshine and it finally has which is great."

The group of about 30 embraced the day with a Simon says game using the traditional Maori weapon taiaha.

After a healthy lunch at the Kowhai Park pumpkin they got together for a river clean up.

"It's important we look after the environment and the theme Nature is Key really aligns with what we preach at Pathways ... connecting with nature spiritually and mentally," Ms Taylor said.

A collaborative art exhibition, run by Removing Barriers Whanganui, is being held on Victoria Avenue, titled 5ive Ways To Wellbeing.

Organiser Stormie Hunter-Rogan from Nga Tai O Te Awa said people expressed themselves through art and it was a great way to explore wellbeing.

Karen from Removing Barriers holds a free art class every Wednesday and their works were displayed at the exhibition.

"The art actually keeps people alive ... people used to live week to week looking forward to counselling now they look forward to their art class.

"We had one new fellow who has become totally engrossed in it and will be there for six hours and all his worries go away. It gives them confidence and skills," Karen said.

People visiting the exhibition were invited to craft worry dolls or paint a patch on the "5ive ways to wellbeing" wall that will be held in a community space once complete.

The exhibition will continue into next week until October 22 - entry is free, and all artworks are for sale unless otherwise specified. To see film of mental health awareness week see link here below.

https://www.facebook.com/barrie.mcvicar/posts/2168395113404055 Blog created by Barrie Macvicar POSITIVE ABOUT PAIN & MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT GROUP

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

TOYS WE NEED! For the children in Tanzania ... WE APPEAL FOR YOUR HELP?

Blog created by Barrie Macvicar -Positive about Pain & Mental Health Support Group I have created this appeal in order to help those who need our help most.

Back in 2013 i had helped Majaliwa Thomas and his community by creating an appeal to have books posted over to Tanzania in order for a library to be created for his people. That libraby became a reality.. Though this year in 2018;

WE ARE APPEALING FOR TOYS !

YES THAT’S RIGHT ‘ TOYS ‘ WE NEED TOYS ! LOTS & LOTS OF TOYS !

Can you help by posting a toy to Tanzania?

Can you help to make a child’s day today?

Fast posters may even get a toy to a child in time for Xmas this year.

That is what i am planning to try and do. I’m sure you can too.

For those who feel they can help.

Please do so by posting a toy/toys no matter how big or how small or any other donations you are able to make (only what you feel you can afford ) to this address below.

Majaliwa Thomas Box 42981 Dar es salaam Tanzania 255 Please note when sending the package do not forget to write ’ mental health charity ‘ to prevent us having to pay the tax Thank you !

The children need YOUR HELP !

Donations can be made directly from home. You don’t even need to get off the couch.

For those that can. Sending a gift couldn’t be easier. Simply order from amazon or ebay and post to the delivery address above. It really is that simple :)

Also remember you can

There are always great bargains and used toys to be had in local charity shops. Why not check them out next time your browsing through one. Most of us probably have some great toys no longer getting used laying around the home? Why not post one today? For those who feel they would not be able to send a gift. That’s cool. You can still help. By SHARING THIS APPEAL with as many people as you can both online and off. Let your neighbours know. How about asking your local large toy store if they may be able to help? Local banks and businesses. You’d be amazed who may wish to donate. Why not give it a go. Help make a difference to the children not only for this Xmas but for the coming years. Let’s see if we can work together to help make some happy ones for the children in Tanzania.

On behalf on Majaliwa Thomas and myself (Barrie Macvicar) we THANK YOU ! If anyone could help assist in making dreams really come true. This is what we are aiming to provide here below.

The Dar es Salaam Voluntary Association is a consumer-run organization, registered as a Non-Governmental Organisation in 2001. We aim to improve the lives of people with mental illness by * Providing social services, such as health and nutrition, and construction of a home to ensure that people live in a healthy environment, * Empowering and enabling people to live peacefully with their families and their communities, * Educating service providers on how best to serve people with mental illness, * Increasing awareness of mental illness in the general public, * Defending the human rights of people with mental illness.

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

VOICES INC ONLINE! Recovery from Mental Illness is ‘ always ‘ possible!

Blog created by Barrie Macvicar - Positive about Pain & Mental Health Support Group. (facebook)

The Hopesturn Project

So who is Peter Hawes? Well to me Peter Hawes is a man who came into my life at just the right time. That time was when i was still a service user in February 2012. I met Peter on joining an online support group called

Intervoice - The International hearing Voices Movement.

The reason i had joined this group speaks for itself. Yup ! It’s in the name? Yeah ! That’s right. I was ‘ hearing voices.’ I was hearing lots of voices. Peter was one of the first to answer my call for help when i was in distress then with my experiences. He and a selection of others were instrumental in helping to teach me how to go about managing to facilitate my very own recovery. These guys just threw me some tools and helped to keep pointing me in the right direction. I then i had to get on with the hard work myself. What work? Rebuilding my entire life and mind. I had a lot to do. I guess i kinda became the apprentice of my own existence. I had to start all over again and these guys showed me how,

Peter Hawes, Kevin Healey,(Recovery Network Toronto) Egan Bidois, Mike llm Kruger, Rachel Waddingham, Richard Walkinshaw, Shirley Coffey, Lani Maria E, Paul Baker , Margaret Wylie, Marry Maddock, Earla Dunbar Suzanne Beachy and loads more all came together to offer advice friendship and support. Support that helped me Barrie Macvicar find the strength to both change and rebuild my life.

On meeting Peter i was heavily medicated. On multiple medications & diagnosed Paranoid Schizophrenic. I was in mental health services & was treated in both the hospital setting, as well as in the community. For the last two years of my time in services i was also fortunate enough to have 3 days per week home support.from a charity known as Penumbra.

Thanks to Peter and all the others i am sat here today no longer in mental health services nor hearing voices and no longer in need of support. I was discharged in August of 2013. I now live medication free. I no longer have any active Schizophrenia and i have the doctors letter to prove it. I am just getting on with enjoying living my life as best as i can. Independently. Still using the tools and the knowledge given to me by my crew above to keep myself well. At the same time as having the comfort of knowing they are all still here online at the touch of a button.

Yeah ! There is a lot to be said for online support and the friendships and knowledge that can be gained right here on

SOCIAL MEDIA !

So get yourself started and take a look at Peter’s websites below. Where you can see his work at

VOICES INC ONLINE

you can also watch a film of Peter here doing some of his Glass work and at the bottom of this page you can a look at Peters latest genius creation.

RECOVERY BOX !

Peter is my brother from another mother he’s both a friend and an inspiration and i’m sure once you will see why on reading the remainder of this blog.

Thanks everyone

Barrie Macvicar.

What is Hopesturn?

An article by Peter Hawes

Based on a project designed by everyone

So I feel to explain hopes-turn I should give a back history of the realisations that led to hopes-turn. I spent 15 years in the psych system believing one universal truth that was pushed down our throats for years. It was quite simply “you have a mental illness and medication helps so take your meds” This turned out to be untrue for me and multiple others, although I will admit that there is some the bio medical model works well for. I dont meet them often but I have seen the rare few. I then exited that system and became a victim of trauma and then later joined the hearing voices network. The hvn was somewhat productive but when I tried to push other ideas and views I was asked to conform. I couldn’t do it as it involved lying to the people on things I believed to be true. So as it turns out I did basically 15 years in a one size fits all system and then another 3 in a one size fits all system. As if that wasn’t bad enough I started my own organisation voices inc. Which was based on art therapy involving fused glass and my own psychoanalytical/ holistic theories on recovery. Voices inc while being a good project and helping a lot of people didn’t work for everyone. We had a 70% variable success rate of recovery for our attendees. Perhaps that’s cause it was a one size fits all system...... WTF are we all doing us holistic heroes in mental health like seriously there is no one size fits all system. I myself was very opinionated and just didn’t get the whole everyone’s different individuality thing so my thinking at the time was very black and white and I had the belief that this works for everyone cause it works for me and others. I will admit it was a bullshit attitude to have. But I never said I was ever perfect nor that my journey was complete I always said when up on stage that we are all still learning and growing together. Myself included. So I took some time off to learn what I needed to learn and evolve into who I wanted to be. I've spent the better part of the last year learning to listen to people and understand individuality and learning to be a team player and delegate as I felt these were all skills I needed to learn and doing so would make me a better leader and friend and just person in general. Somewhere between listening to people and understanding people me and my awesome bunch of past and present voices inc members came up with an idea. I remember the day well we were all sitting round at my right hand man Michaels place bitching about the system and lack of supports, when Robbie one of my proteges made the comment its a shame we cant get voices inc centres set up everywhere then we could reach everyone. I thought about this and theres no way we could reach everyone thats impossible. So my response was yeah voices inc is awesome robbie but I wish there were more holistic methods coming through so we could cater to the choice and individuality of the consumer. I believe it was tori who made the comment hey if we took out all the holistic therapy and art therapy out of voices inc could the same methods be used to set something else up? I went holy crap that girl has a point. Thus we all became very excited about the possibility of the new project we had devised over a bitching session at the current mental health system. Thus Hopesturn project was born. It is among my favourite projects for the simple truth that it was created not just by me but by multiple members and so has many shades and different perspectives. So now you have the story of how it was born it still doesnt answer wtf is hopes-turn? Hopes turn is a peer run initiative, hopes turn is you, hopes turn is me and hopes turn is anyone who wants to make a difference. Basically its a collective of knowledge and ideas and resources to establish different peer support groups. Hopesturn is brilliantly an anagram for “Helping Other Peers Establish Support Through Unification Recovery Network” There will be many exciting advances and opportunities in hopesturn such as--------- hopesturn radio- where peers can run there own time slot on a radio show about whatever subject they want. The benefits of this are that not only does it keep the peers running the shows motivated to talk or educate on topics they already know about, but it also provides an entirely peer run radio station for people to listen to on a variety of topics. Hopesturn peer support app – The hopes turn app is being designed at the moment and will be a bunch of chat rooms with possible gearing towards a social network theme. So that it is connecting peers with similar lived experience to each other to chat and make connections whatever there framework be it mental illness or trauma based or behaviour based or the aliens implanted a chip in my brain and that’s where my distress comes from :-P either way there’s sure to be a chat room or option to network with peers with similar views. There are also currently being set up a bunch of resources usable by hopes turn members to create and developed there own peer support groups from online conference rooms to learning resources around topics based on networking or finding a venue or even raising funds to keep your group running. The goal of hopesturn is to establish the training and resources to develop more peer run options so if anyone has an idea for a peer support group they can get this up and running. For example lets say there’s a guy called bob. We will for the sake of the argument say bob has bipolar the mental illness and identifies as such because that’s his framework for his experiences and symptoms. (I personally think bipolar actually is biological and has to do with a sensitivity to hormones and instability in environment in child hood where the child has many ups and downs) It does not matter what I think though, cause this is about bob and how bob sees things. Bob has found that dancing helps him with his highs and lows and helps him keep balance in his life. Bob then wonders if this would help other people given how beneficial dancing is for him. Lets also say for the sake of the argument bob is on lithium remembering that bob is in the mental illness framework but bobs not anti psychiatry nor pro psychiatry he just finds lithium helps him (I'm still anti psychiatry and anti meds but pro free choice and I can be anti psychiatry and anti meds cause it works well for me but each to there own) So bob decides to try set up a group called Bipolar Bobs Dancing group. Lets say he decides to run it on a Monday night for 3 hours between 5pm and 8pm. But bob while having a good idea has absolutely no idea on how to get his idea from a hypothetical to a reality as hes never done anything like this before. So bob jumps on hopesturn and finds an article on sourcing products to sell at markets. Bob is also recommended by another member dan who runs a group for depression about crowd funding and finds an article on how to set that up plus get some kick ass exposure for his crowd funding campaign. Bob also finds on hopesturn 3 other members in his local area with bipolar who are interested in helping set up his group. Bob also finds on hopesturn network a mental health worker who works in his local area and will organise a venue. Bob also finds a link to a guy who will design a flier for his group. Bob sets up the crowd funding campaign and maxes out exposure and while the crowd funding campaign is doing its thing raising cash bob gets the flier he had designed canvassed around town and local organisations. Bob uses some of the crowd funding money to run the group for the first month and invests the rest into sellable market products which arrive a week after the group starts and gets an awesome turn out. Member’s who attend bobs group are more then happy to help raise funds by doing markets sell the stock bob has ordered in. Before you know it bobs group has become a social enterprise and begins to grow. Bob then gets some of his best dancers and starts a flash mob in the city to raise awareness for bipolar and gets an article in the paper and segment on the news with contacts he found on hopeturn for media publicity. So you see how this sort of thing can just keep growing when a collective of knowledge and resources and people work together. I've done a lot in mental health and my reputation and accomplishments are re-known and I get a lot of people asking me how I accomplished all that I have in the last six years from the whole public speaking, websites, book and articles and being on tv to setting up 2 mental health organisations. The truth is there’s nothing special about me.. sure I have a high iq and adhd and a bunch of cool people behind me but at the end of the day I'm just like you the only difference is I worked out six or seven years ago that there is nothing we cant do as humans, we are basically geared to evolve and grow on a daily basis so the words can't or impossible are to me just bullshit words for things we haven’t figured out how to do yet. So I never stop I just keep looking for solutions I'm hoping that this project designed by the collective of peers will reach so many and help them figure out how to do things and over time see the possibilities are limitless. I am also hoping that it will provide more peer support options to cater to peoples individuality so that many systems can be developed cause not everything works for everyone and its important to have multiple options and support resources for consumers to access to fullly aid them in there recovery, whatever that looks like to each and everyone. Remember we own our own recovery and its different for all of us. So stay tuned guys cause this is all going off like a match at a gas station in the not too distant future . Me and the team are just finalising some of the projects and then BOOM. I will add some fliers of some of the projects that hopes turn has initiated so far and I have included voices inc because the methods removing the art therapy and holistic therapy are what we used to get the other groups up and running

Above (right) you can see some examples of Peter Hawes glass work. Peter is also well known as Peter Hawes Glass Artist and here below he shows how some of that work is done.

youtube

RECOVERY BOX ! The Recovery Box idea was formulated on 27 February 2018 when Peter Hawes and Douglas Holmes met in Point Cook, Victoria to put their ideas down on paper and to start clarifying what was needed to turn the Recovery Box from an idea into a project that would change how information would be made available to Consumer, Carers, Mental Health Professionals and the general public. The original idea was to develop an App that could be incorporated into the product Peter had developed and was already selling successfully online.

The original idea was to develop an App that could be incorporated into the product Peter had developed and was already selling successfully online.

However as the brainstorming continued using GLOSS – OFF, both Peter and Douglas made the decision to rebrand a box with its own firmware and content.

This link will explains GLOSS – OFF https://youtu.be/BDJyhqbsZv0

Peter organised a meeting with Kevin and we agreed to work together to see how we could turn this idea into a product that would revelocision how new people coming into the current Mental Health system would access information that could improves people lifes journey

A small working group of interested people would be asked to participate in a working group to assist with identifying what information would be included under each of the heading in the App:

The Headings for each of the Channels include:

Stories Coping Strategies Recovery Resources Medical solutions Events To view RECOVERY BOX - CLICK HERE

0 notes

ticketybooworld-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Living with my Voices: Interview with Kevin Healey

The Trauma & Mental Health Report. Published on Sep 11, 2014 Kevin Healy began hearing voices at an early age. He received treatment in Canada and in the U.K. Today Kevin is a prominent mental health activist. He is a member of the Hearing Voices Network, and is the founder of the Recovery Network: Toronto, which facilitates monthly peer support groups for other voice-hearers. The Trauma & Mental Health Report met with Kevin to learn more about his recovery.

youtube

Hearing voices need not mean you’re crazy, says activist !

By VALERIE HAUCH Special to the Star Sun., March 31, 2013 Kevin Healey hears voices in his head, talks to them, feels very well and doesn’t want medication, thank you very much.“I’m good. I’m not on medication and I don’t need to see anyone in mental health,” says Healey, 50, an articulate man who likes to laugh and is at peace with the dozen voices he carries in his head — all of whom, he says, have distinct personalities.

He has no desire to be rid of them.A former government worker in management services, where his “voices” often were a huge help — “I can come up with as many ideas as a whole room full of people” — Healey now offers consultation services in the mental health field, writes a blog, and facilitates a monthly peer support group for other people who hear voices.

Hearing Voices Cafe, Toronto CLICK HERE

He’s trying to reach out to help the public understand “voice hearers” like himself and was one of the “busiest books” last year at the North York branch of the Toronto Public Library’s human library event.“Having spent 40 years hiding the fact that I heard voices, now I’m talking about it openly … I accept my voices as real,” says Healey.

“The positive response I get gives me energy. When you’re hiding something … those are the things that make you ill.”Healey is an outspoken member of the controversial Hearing Voices Network, a global self-help organization across 22 countries that was founded in Europe in the late ’80s, following pioneering work by Dutch psychiatrists Marius Romme and Sandra Escher. Romme and Escher broke from the conventional outlook that the voices people hear in their heads are indicative of mentally ill minds and should be suppressed with medication.

They believe that voices can be positive and that there are ways to deal with difficult or distressing voices.Romme and Escher have also created a non-profit international organization called Intervoice (International Network for Training, Education and Research into Hearing Voices) to promote the idea that hearing voices is a “normal though unusual variation in human behaviour” and that 2 to 4 per cent of the population hear voices at some point, sometimes regularly.

‎Intervoice: The International Hearing Voices Movement On the Intervoice website, Romme says his research indicates many people who hear voices “can point to a traumatic life event that triggered their voices” and that talking about their voices and what they mean is a very effective way to reduce anxiety and isolation. Even when the voices are overwhelming and seemingly destructive they often have an important message for the hearer,” he says.At the same time, Romme believes many of those who do hear voices do not have any mental illness and do not seek help. But while the Hearing Voices Network is growing internationally — there are more than 40 support groups in Britain alone — and more recently in Canada and the U.S., there is still much skepticism in the medical community. Dr. Tom Ungar, chief of psychiatry at North York General Hospital, says his main take on the movement is that “they seem to be oversimplifying. They’re polarizing. They’re focusing on voices as good or bad and you’re with us or against us and that’s really not the issue to me. The issue is the person and the context of those voices.”Hearing voices can be “a symptom of a medical problem, of a health problem, including non-psychiatric ones,” he says. “Most people who hear voices probably will have a psychiatric illness we call schizophrenia. It’s the most common diagnosis with people who hear voices.”Still, says Ungar, among those who hear voices, “some don’t need psychiatric help … as long as they’re not dangerous to themselves or others, then it’s their choice.

If they’re at peace and not bothered then, I don’t know why they would go for treatment.”He would still question, though, whether the “very illness that may cause voices may impair their cognitive capacity.”Ungar does support the advocacy work that the Hearing Voices movement does in combating the idea that people who hear voices are to be feared.“Most people who hear voices aren’t dangerous,” he says

Only a small percentage of them have “command hallucinations”: voices that may order them to do things, sometimes resulting in harm to themselves or others. An example of this is the case of Vince Li. In 2008, while riding on a Greyhound bus in Manitoba, a voice in his head told Li to kill a fellow passenger he believed to be an alien. He did just that, a horrific beheading that led to him being committed to a mental health centre after he was diagnosed schizophrenic and found not criminally responsible. Sadly, it’s these rare cases that we often associate with people who hear voices.“People remember those stories. They’re very powerful,” admits Healey. “The public thinks, you hear voices, you’re going to kill me. But in reality people who hear voices are much more likely to be the victim of violence rather than the perpetrator. And if they are the perpetrator, they’re much more likely to be committing the violence against themselves. ”Healey says he doesn’t advocate against the use of medication, which can have significant side effects and may not totally eradicate the voices. But he feels it should be a choice that people who hear voices should make themselves.“My approach is let’s offer people some options. I’m lucky in that the smallest amount of medication that I need is zero. But for some people, they find it’s ‘some.’ Some people say they could live med-free but it’s just too much hard work so they prefer to take some (medication).

”The voices can be overwhelming, he says, and he has gone through times when he’s had difficulty with one of his voices, linked to childhood trauma. But that’s been resolved, he said.Nonetheless, he says it can be exhausting to both deal with voices and interact with society. As an example, he says, imagine two people having a conversation while they’re being swarmed by others who are breaking into the conversation and talking all at once. There are techniques Healey and others in the Hearing Voices movement use to “organize” their voices and manage them.Those techniques have helped Mark Roininen, a case manager with a mental health agency in Toronto, whose clientele includes homeless people who hear voices.

A consulting psychiatrist suggested to Roininen that he might get insight into his clients by talking to Healey. Over the past three years Healey has helped him understand a lot about his clients, he says, and they appeared together on a recent CBC Metro Morning segment on hearing voices.Although some of his clients may have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Roininen says he “doesn’t like the word” although he acknowledges he “used to use it all the time.” But since learning more about the hearing voices movement and getting to know his clients he doesn’t feel “it’s descriptive of the experiences of what a person is going through.”The mystery of why people hear voices remains. There’s no definitive one-answer-for-all, although explanations range from chemical imbalance, traumatic events, spiritual beliefs to external spiritual forces.CAMH’s Dr. Kwame McKenzie, who’s also a professor of psychiatry at U of T, says there’s “reasonable research that shows the voices probably are not external … you’re not getting stuff beamed into you from elsewhere. ”He believes the voices are self-generated. “But it doesn’t matter. If you’re hearing voices, you’re hearing voices. Is it normal or abnormal? All abnormal means is it’s strange.”Dr. McKenzie says most people don’t hear voices regularly but many have heard them “at least once in their life. ”If you’re hearing voices and it’s not causing any problems, and if you’re able to function and pose no danger to yourself or others, then “carry on with your life,” he says.

Who has heard voices? Many famous people have reported they’ve heard voices and history has recorded some of them, like Joan of Arc, who believed she was getting messages from God. St. Theresa of Avila also reported having visions and hearing voices. Singer Jennifer Hudson reported hearing the voice of her brother and her mother in her head, after they were murdered in 2008. Their voices were calming and encouraging, she says, telling her she should sing again.Actor Anthony Hopkins admitted in a media interview that he sometimes hears a critical, mocking voice in his head, and links it to an insecure childhood. Beach Boys singer Brian Wilson has also spoken about hearing voices in his head.Winston Churchill suffered from bouts of depression and there are reports that he sometimes heard voices.Mahatma Gandhi wrote about hearing a voice, from time to time, which guided him and which he believed was the voice of God.

For original article published in The Star. Please click here

Blog created by B.Macvicar - Positive about Pain & Mental Health Support Group. - To join please - CLICK HERE

0 notes