The Hearing Voices Network (HVN) is one of the most influential peer-led movements in modern mental health. It exists in dozens of countries, runs hundreds of local peer support groups, and has changed the way many clinicians, families, and voice-hearers themselves talk about a phenomenon that mainstream psychiatry has historically treated only as a symptom to suppress. This guide explains where the network came from, what it actually believes, how its groups work, and how to find one.
The Hearing Voices Network is an international, peer-led movement that treats voice-hearing as a meaningful human experience to be understood and lived with — not only as a symptom to be silenced.
How it started
The story usually credited as the origin point is a 1987 conversation in the Netherlands. The psychiatrist Marius Romme was treating a young woman named Patsy Hage who heard distressing voices that medication had not been able to quiet. Hage suggested they talk on Dutch television and ask other voice-hearers to call in. More than 450 people did. Roughly a third of them said they coped with their voices and lived ordinary lives. Romme, working with the social scientist Sandra Escher, began studying that group seriously.
What they found challenged a basic assumption of psychiatric practice: that voice-hearing was, by itself, evidence of severe illness. Many of the callers were not patients. Many had reasons in their personal histories — often trauma — for the voices they heard. Romme and Escher's research, including their book Accepting Voices (1993), laid the foundation for what became the international Hearing Voices Movement.
The international network
Today the global coordinating body is Intervoice, which connects national networks in more than 30 countries. The original English-language network is the English Hearing Voices Network, founded in 1988. In the United States, Hearing Voices USA is the national body, with affiliated groups in many states. There are also strong networks in Australia, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Japan, and across South America.
The core beliefs
HVN does not have a creed, but several positions appear consistently across its publications and group charters:
- Voice-hearing is a relatively common human experience. Large epidemiological studies, including WHO World Mental Health Survey work, find that 5–8% of the general population reports hearing voices at some point, with most never developing a psychotic disorder.
- The content of voices often relates meaningfully to a person's life. Trauma, grief, identity, and unresolved relationships frequently surface in what voices say.
- Recovery does not have to mean becoming voice-free. Many people learn to live peacefully with voices that remain.
- The relationship matters. How a person relates to their voices — fear, negotiation, curiosity — is often more changeable than the voices themselves.
- Peer-led groups are the heart of the work. People who hear voices supporting each other is the basic format.
- The movement is medication-neutral. HVN does not tell people whether to use psychiatric medication. It supports those who do, those who do not, and those in between.
How a Hearing Voices group works
A typical HVN group meets weekly or fortnightly, usually for 90 minutes, in a community space — a library, a clinic, a church basement, sometimes online. Most groups have 4–12 members. They are facilitated by trained peer facilitators, at least one of whom usually has lived experience of voices, visions, or unusual beliefs.
The format is simple. Members check in. People who want to share a voice-hearing experience or ask the group for ideas have time to do so. There is usually a closing round. There is no pressure to talk. There is no requirement to share a diagnosis. There is an explicit ground rule that members do not give advice or push interpretations on each other; they share what worked for them.
Family members and clinicians sometimes attend HVN-affiliated relatives' groups or training events, but the core voice-hearer groups are reserved for people with the lived experience.
What groups are not
- They are not therapy groups. Facilitators are not clinicians acting in a clinical role.
- They are not crisis services. People in acute crisis are pointed toward appropriate emergency or clinical care.
- They are not anti-psychiatry. People taking medication are welcome and supported.
- They are not a substitute for clinical care. Most members continue with standard treatment alongside group attendance.
What the evidence says
Formal research on HVN groups is limited but growing. A 2018 systematic review in the journal Psychiatric Services found that participation was associated with reduced distress about voices, increased coping, and a sense of empowerment. The strongest evidence base is for the broader idea behind HVN — that working with the meaning of voices can help — which is also the foundation of CBT for psychosis, avatar therapy, and the compassion-focused approaches now used in many NHS and community settings.
Mainstream guidance has moved closer to HVN's stance. NICE's schizophrenia guideline in the UK explicitly recommends CBTp and family intervention alongside medication. The NIMH overview of schizophrenia describes psychosocial and peer support as part of comprehensive care.
Public faces of the movement
The most internationally visible voice-hearer-clinician is Eleanor Longden, whose 2013 TED talk is one of the most-watched accounts of psychosis ever delivered. Other prominent voices include Rufus May, Jacqui Dillon, and the late Ron Coleman in the UK; Oryx Cohen and Caroline Mazel-Carlton in the US. Many are themselves former psychiatric patients who now work as peer specialists, trainers, and clinicians.
How to find a group
- In the UK: hearing-voices.org maintains a directory of groups across England.
- In the US: hearingvoicesusa.org lists affiliated groups by state, including online options.
- Internationally: intervoiceonline.org links to national networks.
If there is no local group, several national networks offer online groups that meet weekly. Some specialist groups exist for young people, women, men, LGBTQ+ voice-hearers, and people in inpatient settings.
If you are considering attending
You do not need a diagnosis. You do not need to identify your experiences as "voices" — many groups also welcome people with strong unusual beliefs, visions, or sensations that mainstream psychiatry would call hallucinations or delusions. You can attend once and never return. You can sit and listen. The only expectation is the standard one for any peer space: confidentiality and respect for other members.
The bigger picture
HVN is not for everyone. Some voice-hearers find that engaging deeply with their voices' content makes them worse, not better, and prefer approaches focused on distraction or medication. Others find that the peer-group setting, after years of clinical conversations, is the first place their experiences have been treated as meaningful. The point of the network is not to prescribe a single path but to widen the range of paths considered legitimate. For more, see our guides on CBTp for voices, normalising psychotic experiences, and distraction techniques.
This article is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified mental health professional. If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 in the US, or your local emergency number.