Compassion for Voices: a tale of courage and hope

About the project
Compassion for Voices: A tale of courage and hope is 5-minute animated film that aims to engage a general public audience with the compassionate approach to relating with voices, with potential for use as a therapeutic, educational, and de-stigmatising tool. This project was funded by a grant from King’s College London's Cultural Institute as part of its 2014 Collaborative Innovation Scheme for Early Career Researchers, along with three further grants from Compassionate Mind Foundation, Balanced Minds, and Medical Research Council (see below).

At the Cultural Institute showcase in Feb 2015, this project jointly won best project award. The animation was chosen by the BPS DCP to represent the work of Clinical Psychologists, with a special screening at the House of Commons DCP 50th Birthday event. It has been widely viewed on YouTube, and is frequently used in therapy sessions and training workshops. It has been translated into 10 languages (available in the YouTube subtitle settings), and is used for discussion in Hearing Voices Groups worldwide. The animation was also featured in an award-winning TV documentary on Hearing Voices produced for the French-German channel ARTE.

Project leads

Other contributors

Richard Keyworth – Richard provided the sound design and mix for this film. Richard is a multi-instrumentalist composer and sound designer for all manner of visual media.

Project funders

[dreamydreamersoledad]

This is the first and only time I've been able to reach my son with these concepts and I am thrilled. I've had the Intervoice ideas & methods for working with voices for the past 4 years... but have never been able to communicate them to him... He was able to actually focus on this short film, felt validated and understood, and also grasped the concept of the Compassionate Voice very well, and was able to apply it. To me this is nothing short of a miracle. A seed has been planted and it is due to the simplicity, beauty and purity of this short film. Thank you to those who created and produced it! I hope more along this line will come.

[tealeafandco]

Tge cbt therapist showed me this the other day and it struck a chord. I dont have voices, but do have a problematic inner monologue which at times feels like a separate entity. A useful video. 👍

[artisticafflair]

I thought I was alone in terms of how the voices talk to me. But you have done a great job of really knowing what these voices say. And it's a comfort to me to know it's the voices people can hear and not just my voices, and wrapping it up in an easy way to understand so it makes it more of a breeze to deal with. I am getting there. I have finally reached out for help when my voices got so bad I ended up in A&E and that's when I realised I needed help. Thank you, great video

[davidmiller]

If you are a voice hearer and miss this film you are missing out on alot. This is the way, this is what works. This is how it begins, learn this and you're well on the way to winning

[ashnishah]

Thank you so much to the entire team of King's Cultural Community for this beautiful, powerful video.
This is heartwarming and extremely helpful for people like me, struggling with the voices of Inner Critic Toxic Shame and Toxic Guilt that paralyze our life choices often looping us within the circles of unresolved childhood trauma.
I have encountered challenges in cultivating self compassion all my life yet it is the single most highly effective ingredient to inner peace and harmony. It has benefitted me immensely.

I also admire the work from s point of view of a novice psychotherapist keenly interested in Compassion focused therapy and compassionate mind training for number of emotional and psychological concerns of my clients.

[deepflows]

absolutely in tears, this video although shy of the dark side of this experience, i love with it still in its simplicity gives you a powerful message about your journey with voices, i have schizophrenia and my therapist sent me this video and i want to say it was amazing and well thought out thank you. this will help alot of people understand the true motives of their voices, and why they are there and can begin healing.

[TheUnluckySaurus]

So relatable it actually makes me so emotional. That red voice is always speaking to me… glad to see that I’m doing the right thing going to therapy. Fun fact my therapist shared this video to me haha, he knows me well haha

[RonUnger]

I have heard a number of expressions of appreciation when I shared this video with my networks.  Here's one that tells about the response of one voice hearer:

"Fantastic – thank you.  I showed this to my loved one who rarely ever responds and when I said shall I play it again, the response was a loud, clear yes."

[MelodyBelovely]

I just presented this video in my midterm project power point for my psychology class and everyone loved it. Thank you!☺️

[gingaboybuda]

Wow this is exactly what i needed to be able to understand and explain what is going on i have felt alone for to long with it all and i can now relate to something so i can start to change and be the best me i can be! Thank you

[TheLuxeLifeCollective]

Gheez, I'm in tears watching this. ❤️ this resonates so much with me. Really felt like a warm hug that I never got before, feeling understood. I start CFT tomorrow and I cannot wait to start journey. 😇❤️

[michelleselman]

This video is so excellent and well done and informative!!! I thank the organization for presenting this!!!! Making information relatable and informative is so important to normalize the need for support for mental health challenges and reduce stigma and normalizing that help is available!

[jchusen]

Excellent on what it's like to hear voices and a way to understand and work with them.

[karenlowe]

I love this video because it helps me whenever I view it!

[chrishanners]

Excellent short to get the word out! Great job!

[bertabritz]

Excellent.  I think it's a great vehicle to share with lots of different people with different perspectives.  Thank you very much for making it and making it available.  A gift!

[BBK]

This is amazing. Thank you for making this

[phillippihikari]

Many people insists that mental voices are sign of schizophrenia, psychosis or even auditory problems. But this is an way who several other people has to think.

According to Temple Grandim, people with autism can have 1 of 3 types of throughts: visual, verbal and patterns. Inner voice are an type of verbal throught, used naturally for a human think about an situation. But if someone are a drug user, the inner voices can be reproduced negative. An treatment is necessary for this last case, but as our mind is mysterious, anyone must deal with inner voice - good or bad - everyday until the death day.

I am not an psychiatrist, but an autistic man. Autistic people see the world in other forms and we are imperfects, but we are humans too.

[alkumhcounseling]

Saw this years ago in a cbtp training, happy to see it high in the results of a search for self-compassion!

[baldguitar]

this lil vid, depicts the last nine months of my life.
Thanks guys, great job.