25/03/2021
In this month's Slice, Amanda Waegeli and I bond over a bowl of cheezels and she talks to me about her experience living with hearing voices and a unique approach to this human experience. She describes the onset of her voice hearing journey all the way to a mental health advocate supporting other voice hearers and training mental health professionals. This is the vodcast for you if you're interested in what it is like hearing voices, are supporting those who hear voices or you experience this common human phenomenon yourself - there is a novel and non-pathologizing way of approaching this experience. There is hope and more importantly, an opportunity for abundance.
Amanda Waegeli's Background
Amanda Waegeli is a Voice Hearer in recovery, an ambassador for the Hearing Voices Community of Queensland, and Chairperson of the Australian Hearing Voices Establishment Project. She is well-known and recognized in the International Hearing Voices Network as a peer mentor, trainer, presenter, group facilitator, and builder of hearing voices networks. Amanda’s powerful spoken, filmed and written work in the media has been well-received globally, as has her music. She has assisted many individuals and organisations in gaining a greater understanding of the experience of hearing voices and how best to live with these experiences in a recovery orientated way.
Amanda has trained with Professor Marius Romme and Doctor Sandra Escher, the founders of “The Hearing Voices Approach”. She has also collaborated with many professionals and experts, both within Australia and internationally through her experience with the International Hearing Voices Network. She offers training in the use of the Hearing Voices Approach and its tools that are effective when working with voices. Amanda has drawn on these same tools, with hard work and practice over time, to gain mastery over her own voices and find recovery with them. Initially a volunteer and Hearing Voices Group facilitator in the Hearing Voices Network of Australia, Amanda progressed professionally to the role of Coordinator of the Hearing Voices Network of WA, and built a Western Australian Network. Amanda has gained a wealth of experience through travelling interstate and internationally to speak publicly and raise awareness of the experience of hearing voices and the Hearing Voices Approach. She has also had the opportunity to work one on one with Voice Hearers during their experience with the Hearing Voices Approach and connect with their support networks.
In private practice, Amanda’s foundation in experience and her understanding of the tools of the Hearing Voices Approach allows her to assist those who want to work towards recovery with their voices. She recognizes the importance of supporting the supporters of those who hear voices –including family, friends, community members, support workers and professionals – and has successfully developed educational training programs specifically for them. She also regularly facilitates recovery and hearing voices support groups.
As an independent consultant, Amanda now offers her services to individuals who wish to work on their voices or support someone who does, and she is currently one of the very few independent peer specialists available in Australia to do this work.
Contact Details: [email protected]
https://youtu.be/P3SM5KyBJTo
In this month's Slice, Amanda Waegeli and I bond over a bowl of cheezels and she talks to me about her experience living with hearing voices and a unique app...
