Letter From Dean Smith, EleMental who has been doing voluntary work in Kenya Jan - March 2011
Hi,
Had an EleMental Voices workshop and they agree with our values but what struck me most was that when one of their congregation is hearing really bad voices they take them away from the area which kind of struck me as taking your self away from toxic areas which I also found personally beneficial.
This group is a more of a spiritual group but they would like to keep in contact as they believe sending some one to hospital will only make it worse but helping the person as a group through prayer is more healing. When they find out what and who the voices are they help the person through prayer. There was an example where the local GP asked them to come and see some one who hears voices to help both the GP and the one in distress, which makes me understand that local healing and professionals can mix together with an understanding of helping the person. This is just one of my experiences of how people cope with voices - in this sense its spiritual but also involving professionals with both spiritual and local healing ways.
The main factors here are "peer support" but looking at the voices not treating them as an illness. I was told by the church leader that they help the person understand what they are hearing then help them, which fascinates me as if this was more used back home we would not have so manyl people who hear voices treated with meds.
looking at my first visit to Kenya and having a meeting with local spiritual leaders on voice hearing it came to me that a lot of it is about peer support. Not only do the voice hearers get respect from local people but the GP would ask the local congregation for help which makes me think back home if this was done there would be less admissions and more belief that people are people than some “case load”
I feel while I am hear I’m learning more to take back to England and learning from those who have coped for many hundreds of years whilst western treatment of those who have emotional distress seems to be stuck in a guessing game and not moving on from conventional treatments.
That's probably why Big Pharma has not really taken a big hold of the people of Africa.It’s no wonder that more people in Africa would rather see a medicine man than a psychiatrist!
Take care xx Deano
"I am learning from those who have coped with Voice Hearing for many hundreds of years whilst Western treatment seems to be stuck in a guessing game and not moving on from conventional treatments!"
