The “Art of Voices” is an interdisciplinary training that aims to provide mental health care practitioners with an innovative, and alternative way of working with voice hearers. Initially focused on working within in the region of the former Yugoslavia, but expanding throughout Europe, the modules are a means of supporting people who hear voices as well as other users of mental health services.
Using creative methods such as art, literature, movement, and performance, the project will encourage investigation and exploration of the individuals’ experiences. The training will promote a person-centered approach that integrates the values of the Hearing Voices Movement and expressive art therapies. It will aim to raise public awareness on the topic of ‘Hearing Voices’, mental health distress, the human rights of those within psychiatric services, as well as alternative approaches to care and support for these challenges.
The project is supported by the Tempus Foundation and funded through the Erasmus +, European Neighbours programme. Members of the West Balkan Hearing Voices Network are in consultation with the project, ensuring that it is led by ‘experts in experience’, and that it questions positions of power, and enabling end users to be actively involved in their own recovery.
