Hearing Voices Groups and their impact: The experiences of young people and group facilitators

Hearing voices is a common but varied experience in young people, with some requiring further support due to high levels of distress. There is a paucity of direct research with young voice-hearers, available findings indicating that support is experienced as inadequate. Hearing Voices Groups (HVGs) are peer support groups open to all understandings of voice-hearing, with research into adult groups suggesting a range of benefits. HVGs specifically for young people (aged 16-25) are scarce; this explorative study aims to enhance the knowledge base of the impact of HVGs on young voice-hearers. Four young people and six group facilitators were interviewed about the perceived helpfulness of these groups.

Reflexive Thematic Analysis from a critical realist perspective was used and three themes, each with their own subthemes, were generated:

- ‘Power of sharing between peers’ (‘counteracts isolation and stigma’, ‘making sense of experiences’, ‘sharing of coping strategies’),
- ‘HVGs in the context of other support (‘HVGs as an alternative to mainstream support’, ‘HVGs as an option of support’),
- ‘Accessibility of HVGs’ (‘barriers to engagement’, ‘HVGs can be excluding’).

The findings suggest that HVGs can be helpful and can have a transformative impact on some young people. Young people’s stage of life is well aligned with the flexibility of HVGs but poses a challenge to their sustainability. Ultimately, young voice-hearers value being listened to and given agency in their care. Whilst HVGs should be made more available to young people, barriers to their accessibility exist and wider systemic changes are needed to better support young voice-hearers.