WELCOME TO "VOICE HEARERS" AND EVERYONE.

The Leeds Hearing Voices Group exists to help those people dwelling in Leeds and the surrounding communities who are living with the experience of "hearing voices".

You may or may not be a user of psychiatric services. You may be a person who struggles with the experience of hearing voices or you may be a person who copes well with them.

What do we mean by "hearing voices"?

To hear voices is to hear, in a very real and clear way, spoken words in your mind (your head), which are not of your own thoughts or ideas, or in your vicinity (outside your head) when there seems to be no physical source for them (no person or persons from which they might have originated).

There is also the predicament of being in a crowd or on a bus, when normal voices are all around, yet "other" voices can be heard above the general hubbub and chat, which are extra to the situation and are recognised as voices not belonging to the crowd.

The condition is often associated with mental ill health and sometimes the bewilderment of this is overpowering and the hearing of voices can to some be a burden such that everyday life becomes difficult to bear. For these people I say don't give up hope of recovery.

From personal experience I know that feelings of well being do return and it is possible to feel good about oneself again and live a useful and rewarding life in which illness is diminished and to a great degree forgotten.