{"id":37868,"date":"2026-04-02T15:54:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37868"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:54:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T19:54:59","slug":"cmhas-hearing-voices-program-helps-support-people-with-realities-that-differ-from-societal-norms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/cmhas-hearing-voices-program-helps-support-people-with-realities-that-differ-from-societal-norms\/","title":{"rendered":"CMHA\u2019s Hearing Voices program helps support people with \u201crealities that differ from societal norms\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nicole D. Parker was once told she would not only be unable to go back to school because she was too unwell, but she wouldn\u2019t be able to work, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When a friend asked later on why she couldn\u2019t go back to school, she couldn\u2019t think of an answer \u2013 and now Parker shares her story in the hopes of inspiring others as one of the co-facilitators of Hearing Voices, a one-of-a-kind support group for \u201cindividuals who experience realities that differ from societal norms \u2013 including psychosis, schizophrenia, and hearing voices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker, who is based out of Alliston, has brought professional expertise and lived experience to the group for almost eight years and is dedicated to normalizing these experiences \u201cwhile reducing isolation and loneliness through a judgement-free, supportive environment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker says she developed the workshop for alternate realities, or what she describes as \u201cbusy brains\u201d, and subsequently pitched it to the Canadian Mental Health Association of York Region (CMHA-YRSS) and South Simcoe. It was a model quickly picked up by the CMHA and she and co-facilitator Brian hit the ground running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty important to us,\u201d says Parker. \u201cI always say labels are for soup cans, so I talk more about normalizing the experience and having it welcomed because we talk about anxiety, we talk about depression, but then when people start saying stuff like, \u2018The Queen of England is coming to save me,\u2019 people don\u2019t listen as much as if they\u2019re saying they\u2019re sad. I want to normalize the experience, have a place where people can come and share their experience without feeling judged, and they\u2019re heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing Voices started out as an in-person meet-up organized out of the CMHA\u2019s Aurora offices, but has remained virtual since the Global Pandemic, allowing them to reach people throughout York Region and South Simcoe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker stresses whether it\u2019s in-person or online, it\u2019s a safe environment for everyone and an open forum for dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can ask whatever questions you want. I\u2019ll answer any questions,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve had people who have asked me, \u2018Have you heard positive voices\u2019 and \u2018Have you had positive experiences?\u2019 I\u2019ll say, yes, and they\u2019ll ask what happened to it. I\u2019ll tell them when I took medication, they slowly faded away, but they\u2019re still there really quietly. I\u2019m honest with my experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, touching upon how the idea of \u201chearing voices\u201d was approached over the years, she says the early half of the twentieth century, sometimes hearing voices was interpreted as a \u201cspiritual psychosis,\u201d but that is just one example of the brain trying to \u201crationalize\u201d the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll make a connection because your brain has to rationalize why you\u2019re having these feelings and emotions and hearing these voices,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like normalizing and validating the experience. I\u2019m not here to say if it\u2019s real or not real; I\u2019m there to support them, get them through that feeling and have them feel better. People can be as private as they want in this group. If they just want to have their camera and mic off and just listen, they can do that. They can write an alias if they want an alias name, as long as we know the right name for the organization. If you don\u2019t want to be identified, but you want to be a part of the group, we can make that happen. If you need support and you\u2019re scared of that stigma or being identified, we\u2019re there to help. Self-stigma is a big one. We share personal stories, too. For instance, I was told that as a psychiatrist I\u2019d never be able to go back to school because I was too unwell and that I\u2019d never work. I got told all these things, but someone said to me later in life, \u2018Why can\u2019t you go to school? What\u2019s the big deal?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Oh, I guess I can.\u2019 To give hope rather than saying you\u2019re not going to be able to do something is better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI find that people really enjoy the group. In one session, I\u2019ll talk about how to scrapbook, track your voices and map them. One gentleman said he\u2019s found that really helpful because he was able to do the tracking, but also used it for his addiction. People were able to use the group for two things rather than just the voices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing Voices is run through the CMHA-YRSS\u2019 Community Connections Program. For more information on living with psychosis and the various ways the CMHA might be able to help, visit cmha-yr.on.ca\/living-with-psychosis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nicole D. Parker was once told she would not only be unable to go back to school because she was too unwell, but she wouldn\u2019t be able to work, either. When a friend asked later on why she couldn\u2019t go back to school, she couldn\u2019t think of an answer \u2013 and now Parker shares her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9QM","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 22:45:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37868"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37869,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37868\/revisions\/37869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}