ABSTRACT
The National Health Service (NHS) and various charitable foundations have provided sufficient funding to offer free registration and an elegant, catered lunch for everyone. But no official from those bodies has dictated the content of the talks, which are based entirely on the approach of the Hearing Voices Network (HVN), an international organization run entirely by current and former psychiatric patients. Since its founding in 1989, HVN has been developing a way of conceptualizing and treating "hallucinations" that is radically different from the standard psychiatric approach. Now, in April 2003, mental health professionals are getting a chance to learn about HVN's alternative. The medical model is the sole viewpoint presented at American mental health conferences. Even though nurses, psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists co-facilitate some groups, HVN meetings are not, Andy Phee emphasizes, anything like group therapy.
