Hearing Voices Network: History
The Bristol Hearing Voices Network Self-Help group was launched on 29th May 2002, with the help of Ron Coleman, following a number of ‘consultation’ meetings, organised by Tim Dowling. The group met weekly, initially at Methodist Church Hall in Redcliffe, re-locating to Bristol Mind offices in February 2004, with the support and help of Jeff Walker (Director of Bristol Mind).
The network was awarded a grant from the Service User Reference Group (SURG) challenge Fund in 2002, which resulted in members setting up a community bank account to administer the monies, which was mainly used for purchasing Voice Hearing books and resources, joining the National Hearing Voices Network, enabling members to attend National Voice Hearing events, and meeting with local groups.
In the summer of 2005 people attending the Self-Help group dropped significantly, and the ‘facilitators’ (workers from local Trust and voluntary sector) decided to suspend the weekly group meetings from the end of November 2005, with the hope of securing funding to pay for a ‘facilitator’, in order to re-launch in 2006. There was a feeling too that the Self-Help group wasn’t going in the right direction. The Bristol Hearing Voices Network had aspirations of becoming User-Led, and self-running, but for one reason or another, we hadn't been able to achieve it, but recruiting a paid 'facilitator' who understood these issues seemed a step in the right direction...
Members and allies set up a steering group to oversee the fundraising, and begin planning the re-launch. We were successful in securing two grants, one of which was from the Service User Reference Group (SURG) again (a big thank you for their support). We advertised for the facilitator's job and recruited a dedicated person to help run the weekly Self-Help group, which has gone from strength to strength. The steering group continues to meet to discuss how the Self-Help group is running, fundraise, and think about ways to develop and promote the group in Bristol.