Claire Bien

M.Ed., Counseling Psychology

Certified Recovery Support Specialist

Life/Recovery Coach utilizing an array of approaches, including narrative work and creative writing

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I am a voice hearer, mental health advocate and educator, survivor, and author of a memoir, Hearing Voices, Living Fully: Living with the Voices in my Head. I have been facilitating Hearing Voices Network (HVN) support groups since 2014 and currently facilitate three HVN support groups—at Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital, in the New Haven community, and online. I work part-time as a research associate at the Yale Program for Recovery and Community Health primarily doing work related to the voice-hearing experience. I’m also a passionate volunteer.

 

I’m also a member of the board of directors of the Hearing Voices Network (HVN) USA Home - Hearing Voices Network USA (hearingvoicesusa.org), and am President of the U.S. branch of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis (ISPS)-US www.isps-us.org, a national professional organization that seeks to change the ways in which the array of experiences and symptoms associated with hearing voices (and psychosis) are understood and treated.

 

I speak regionally, nationally and internationally about my experiences and am a passionate advocate for reform, calling for a change in the medical-psychiatric profession’s approach to diagnosis and treatment of people with mental health challenges, especially psychosis. I have been engaged in the work of anti-racism for nearly two decades and have chaired the cultural competencies of two Connecticut-based employers: the former ALSO-Cornerstone, Inc. and The Connection.

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Guide Information

 

Age range: Comfortable working with adolescents and adults

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Affiliation: Currently Independent.

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Payment: Case-by-case, contact for details. Currently private pay only.

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Hours of availability: Morning and evening times are available, depending on the day ​

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Meetings: Either virtual or in person

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Relevant Trainings and Certifications

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• Maastricht Interview, with Peter Bullimore, Kate Crawford, and Shaun Hunt, The National Paranoia Network and Advocacy Unlimited, November-December 2021 and 2018.

• Certified Recovery Support Specialist, with Latosha Taylor and Paul Acker, Advocacy Unlimited, January-February 2021.

• Hearing Voices Network Support Group Facilitator Training, July 2014. Refresher courses 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

• Alternatives to Suicide, with Caroline-Mazel-Carlton and Natan Cohen, Western Massachusetts

• Recovery Learning Community, August 2020.

• Open Dialogue One-week Intensive with Mary Olson and Nazlim Hazlett, Institute for Dialogic Practice, July 2020.

• Intentional Peer Support (IPS). Participated in week-long training in Intentional Peer Support training led by Chris Hansen and Shery Mead, at Advocacy Unlimited, May 2019.

• Voice Dialoguing with Rufus May and Elisabeth Soderstrom, sponsored by CT DMHAS, 2017.