BC Hearing Voices Network Conferences and Events, Uncategorized

New Intervoice website and BC Hearing Voices Network updates

Intervoice website and World Hearing Voices Congress

Exciting news! Intervoice, the umbrella organization which connects local Hearing Voices networks around the globe, has launched its new website. You can check it out here: https://www.intervoiceonline.org/ The Intervoice website compiles news, resources, and research on the topic of hearing voices in an accessible, open-ended format, as well as a directory of Hearing Voices networks around the world. Intervoice also recently hosted the (virtual) 12th annual World Hearing Voices Congress in Cork, Ireland, where myself (Rory Higgs) and Anne Liao of the BC Hearing Voices Network were grateful to have the opportunity to speak about our vision for community- and rights-based approaches to voice hearing. Recordings from the Congress should be available online shortly.

BC Hearing Voices Network updates

We are hoping to restart the Hearing Voices Study Club, a discussion group focused on articles, research, and personal stories related to the topic of hearing voices (potentially in a virtual, province-wide format). If you’re interested in receiving Study Club updates, please contact admin@bchvn.ca. We will also be introducing regular province-wide virtual meetings to support group facilitators and organizers. If you’re considering starting a group locally and are interested in attending an upcoming meeting, please contact admin@bchvn.ca for more information!

BC Hearing Voices Network Conferences and Events

2021 World Hearing Voices Congress: Update and Call for Submissions

The 2021 World Hearing Voices Congress will be taking place September 1st-3rd in Cork, Ireland, with a hybrid virtual/in-person format. The theme of this year’s Congress is “Solidarity in Times of Adversity: The Global Voice Hearing Community Reconnecting”. The conference organizers write:

This year’s Congress will create spaces for voice hearers, family members, carers, practitioners, academics, and all those interested in the principles and values of the International Hearing Voices Movement, to connect and/or reconnect with one another in a post-pandemic world, either in person in Cork, Ireland or online across the globe. Drawing on two ancient Irish traditions, the Congress organisers aim to provide a platform (ardán) to focus on the ways in which many voices can work together, supporting each other in difficult times (meitheal).

*Ardán (pronounced ar-dawn) is an Irish word meaning platform, stage, but it is also used in the context of ‘raising one spirits’!

*Meitheal (pronounced meh-hill) is the Irish expression of the ancient and universal appliance of cooperation to social need, referring to the co-operative labour system in Ireland where neighbours help each other in turn with farming work, such as harvesting crops. It establishes community unity through cooperative work and mutually reciprocal support.

Online registration for both in-person and virtual tickets is now open: click here.

The call for papers, presentations, workshops, and performances is also now open (deadline for submissions is July 30th): click here.

To learn more, visit the conference information page on the Intervoice website, or check out Hearing Voices Network Ireland!