West Balkan Hearing Voices Network Erasmus Project

Project Title

West Balkan Hearing Voices Network

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Health and wellbeing; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

The West Balkan Hearing Voices Network project lasted from October 2018. until October 2020. It was carried out by association Prostor from Belgrade, Serbia in partnership with Dom Turnic, Rijeka, Croatia and Kralji Ulice, Ljubljana, Slovenia, all founder members of the regional Hearing Voices Network. Hearing Voices is an alternative approach to treatment of mental health issues, and a global movement that gathers the national Networks in more then 30 countries- the International Hearing Voices Network. The main goal was to strengthen the regional Network, empower the partnership, improve the work of Hearing Voices self-help groups in each country, as well as their organizational skills, regarding educational programs, and public awareness events.
Since the mental health system in Serbia in on a rather low level of development, especially regarding the human rights of psychiatric care users and the development of community services, in this project the participants from Prostor had an opportunity to improve their practice through 2 short courses delivered by the teams from Croatia and Slovenia, as well as through 1 transnational meeting held in the beginning of the project in Rijeka, on the occasion of the annual festival of mental health- „Mentalfest“.
Main target group were the users of psychiatric services who participate regularly in the community services delivered by partners, and are members or facilitators of the local Hearing Voices groups. A part from them, also volunteers and professionals, community supporters took equal part as participants and trainers (7 participants from Serbia, 8 from Croatia and 8 from Slovenia). A part from them, the project had an indirect impact on all psychiatric care users in partner countries, their families, students and professionals from related fields (psychology, psychiatry, psychotherapy, social work, etc.), as well as institutions and CSOs in the region, through dissemination activities.
The first training (C1 LTT) took place in Slovenia, since this country has a more developed approach toward the treatment of mental health problems and the socio-cultural context is more in line with human right laws in this field, comparing to the situation in Serbia especially, but Croatia as well. It took place in April 2019, 15 people participated. The main result was the exchange of experiences in organizing peer-support groups with people who hear voices or/and have other similar experiences. It gave us possibility to hear and learn from each other, since the groups develop in the similar context. An important added value was the presence of Dirk Corstens and Slobodanka Popovic (important actors in the Hearing Voices movement, trainers and psychotherapists) who enriched the training content with some new techniques and insights, as well as strategies for better group facilitation and implementation of these methods in the community mental health practice in the region.
Due to Covid-19, we were prevented from carrying the C2 LTT in Rijeka as planned. We managed to organize an online training that lasted 1 day due to the restrictions in public gatherings. It took place in June 2020, 22 people participated. The Croatian team carried out a quality training, all learning goals were achieved, participants from Serbia gained new knowledge and ideas on how to run and facilitate their groups.
The 1st meeting was held according to project application plan. It was organized on the occasion of “Mentalfest” in Rijeka, under the title “Psychiatric user conference”, and was one of the main activities of the festival. The goal was to provide participants with an opportunity to exchange their expertise and opinion within groups and to explore individual needs and expectations of all participants regarding the activities and goals of this project.
The 2nd meeting was held online due to Covid-19. Jus Skraban on behalf of Kralji Ulice, Alenka Vondra Butigan on behalf of Dom Turnic and Mina Aleksic on behalf of Prostor participated. It was held on 4th of July 2020, and it lasted one day. On this meeting we went through all activities, discussing the outcomes and results, some obstacles and how we overcame them, what we learned from our mistakes. We also discussed the effects of Covid-19 on our project and our ways of overcoming it and fulfilling the project goals.
The main dissemination activities included the „Mentalfest“ in Rijeka, public lectures and press conference, as well as the promotion of the book on Hearing Voices in Ljubljana, and lecture in the Psychiatry Clinic in the Clinical Center of Serbia, in Belgrade. The promotion of the book „Nas glas“ („Our voice“), produced by all partners, and published by Prostor was promoted in all countries, the book attracted the media, so many people reported to have seen the TV appearances in all countries, these videos were also available on YouTube so even more people had the chance to hear about this project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32564,8 Eur

Project Coordinator

PROSTOR ASSOCIATION & Country: RS

Project Partners

• Dom za odrasle osobe Turnic
• Drustvo za pomoc in samopomoc brezdomcev Kralji ulice