Our Mission
The Connecticut Hearing Voices Network (CTHVN) partners with people who hear voices, see visions or have other unusual sensory perceptions, as well as their friends and family. We are working together to enhance current opportunities for voice-hearers to find and build strong peer communities through support groups and community education.
CTHVN’s ethos is built upon the idea that people are not broken, and that they recover best when they are surrounded by others with shared experiences who view themselves as capable individuals.
We view individuals as experts on themselves, and hold that their experiences, whatever they may be, are real. We are committed to providing a safe, supportive and judgment free space at the CTHVN support groups, where people can discuss whatever they choose without fear of judgment.
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Our focus is on wellness, not illness. There is no attendance or notes taken, so people can be free to express themselves with full confidentiality. Our groups are social, not clinical, and we hope to make the groups available to all who have lived experience whether they are in the community, a hospital, a prison, or anywhere else.
About Us
About
Voice-Hearers
In this website and the rest of our literature, we use the term 'voice-hearing' to apply to a very broad range of experiences. When we say someone is a voice-hearer, it could mean any number of things. They might hear voices, yes, but they could also be someone who sees visions, feels or smells things no one else can, experiences paranoia, or any other altered state.
That's a long list, so we shorten it to 'voice hearers', but rest assured that if your lived experience doesn't include specifically hearing voices, but does include any of the above, we're still here to support you.
Group facilitators are not the experts. They are members of the group sharing their experiences. HVN USA has trained and certified them to facilitate groups in a supportive way, and to help negotiate difficult conversations as they arise. Whenever possible, decisions are made democratically by the group as a whole.
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Thanks to the expert training and consultation from the Wildflower Alliance, we have already trained over 100 certified Support Group Facilitators. We hold weekly in-person and online CTHVN Support Groups. Our goal is to have groups throughout Connecticut supporting both individuals and the communities in which they live.
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Interested in becoming a facilitator?
