Since 2009 we have been developing Voice Collective, a project that creates partnerships with children and young people’s organisations to provide and promote non-medical help for children and young people who hear voices and have other distressing and unusual experiences.
The aim of the project is to improve the prospect of recovery and capacity to cope of children and young people who are experiencing distress through hearing voices and associated experiences (e.g., unusual beliefs, self-harm, dissociation and multiplicity) by:
· Enabling children and young people to make sense of their experiences in a way they feel is helpful to them without imposing labels or diagnoses
· Supporting them to learn to cope with their experiences within their own frame of reference
· Promoting peer, family and community support, self-help and guided self-help
· Inspiring and embedding these approaches in other organisations working with children and young people through providing exemplars, materials and training and support for staff - providing services with the understanding, skills and confidence they need to include rather than exclude this group
The project has developed a unique approach that provides direct work through peer, one to one and e-mail support and develops the skills and understanding of staff and families in supporting children and young people, though offering advice, training and workshops.
With the Pixel Trust’s financial support project is continuing to expanding its work to other regions and further developing its online and face to work.