HVN England warmly invites you to join us for our ‘Living with Uncertainty’ event followed by our AGM. It is free for members to attend. Non-members who value the HVN approach can now join us for the price of a donation ticket.
About this Event
Living with Uncertainty: HVN England Event (Online)
After a year where COVID-19 has shown how seemingly established ways of life can swiftly be destabilised, and where thanks to movements like Black Lives Matter important discussions are being had about how racism and other forms of oppression have long been adding structured uncertainty into what are everyday situations for many, this event will be a space to explore some of the different ways people with experiences of voices, visions and similar sensory perceptions experience and survive living with uncertainty.
This special event is aimed primarily at our members. If you’re not sure if you’re a current member you can email us. If you’d like to join, see: Join Us – Become a Member. To make best use of spaces, we have now opened it up to non-members too who are welcome to join us for the price of a donation. If you’d like to join but cannot afford a donation, do let us know.
Date and Time: This event runs from 13:00 to 14:10. It is followed by our Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 14:30 to 15:30.
Register: https://hvn2021.eventbrite.co.uk
Speakers
Jason Grant.
Jason is a lived experience consultant who uses his knowledge, skills, and experience to improve outcomes for people within the mental health system. Currently working with Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych), and the University of Manchester working on a biographical narrative interpretive method study exploring ethnic inequalities in severe mental illness.
Berta Britz
Berta attributes a key personal liberation to participating in the World Hearing Voices Network Movement and in Montgomery County PA’s Taking Back Our Power Hearing Voices Groups. Her-their ministry, “Hearing Voices: Healing, Wholeness, and Justice,” is under the care of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. With Mona Cardell, partner of almost 42 years, they recently adopted Penny, a dog delivered by the pandemic.
Themes for Breakout Room discussion:
During the event we’ll ‘break out’ into smaller online rooms so attendees have the opportunity to meet with each other and discuss a theme that interests them. You’ll be asked, when you sign up, to choose a room to join (so that we can have everything prepared).
- Impact on Voices and Visions: The events and uncertainty of the past year has for many people had an impact on their voices and visions. This room aims to create a space for people to connect around those impacts and share the way they have experienced and adapted to these changes.
- Racism and Black Lives Matter: Black Lives Matter has had a huge impact on starting and amplifying important conversations addressing racism and the need for change. It’s important these conversations continue: This room aims to create a space for people to connect around Black Lives Matter and share what those conversations mean to them.
- Grief and Loss: The last year feels like there has been both collective and individual experiences of grief and loss. Many people are grieving the loss of loved ones, and alongside this many are grieving the loss of ways of life and our ability to see people or do things that are important to us. This room aims to create space for people to connect around and share their experiences of grief and loss in these times.
- Peer Support and Ways of Connecting: COVID has had a significant impact on many hearing voices groups and the ability of people to access peer support. This room aims to create space for people to connect around the experience of this impact and share ways that people and groups have adapted.
Accessibility: This event will be signed by a BSL Interpreter thanks to NSUN’s online event accessibility grant. If you’re attending and having the interpreter work in your breakout room would be helpful please let us know when you sign up.
Booking Your Place
As a small charity we depend on memberships to support our work. The event is free to all HVN Members. Non-members can join for a donation.
Members will have the option to book a free ticket OR choose a donation ticket (where you offer a donation to HVN when booking). We appreciate any and all donations – but there is no expectation around it. We know these are difficult times.
If you’re not already a member but would like to become one you can do so here: https://www.hearing-voices.org/about-us/join-us/
Our AGM
All of our members are welcome to our AGM and are eligible to vote. This includes individual members and those who are members of a Hearing Voices Group or organisation that have signed up for group/organisational membership.
You can come to the AGM whether or not you choose to attend the members’ event beforehand. As well as hearing about what we have accomplished, our financial position and other official matters – we will also have the chance to talk together about what we can focus on in the next few years. There is a lot to do, and we need your help to do it.
We are also looking for new trustees to join our small committee. We’re particularly interested in hearing from people who have a background in managing organisations (e.g. skills in governance, finance and the less glamorous stuff). As always, we particularly welcome expressions of interest from people with direct experience of hearing voices, seeing visions or other similar sensory perceptions and those from radicalised minorities within England. If you would like to talk more about the possibility of joining our board of trustees, please email us at info@hearing-voices.org.
If you’re a HVN England member who would like to attend only the AGM and not the Living with Uncertainty event please email us and we can send you a link.
Any questions, just email us at info@hearing-voices.org. You can register here: https://hvn2021.eventbrite.co.uk
