A MENTAL health charity in Bradford has set up the UK’s first centre for people to ‘unpack’ their life stories, helping unlock why they hear voices.

About 50 experts, including psychiatrists, from across the country, Europe and as far as Australia, met in Bradford on Wednesday to hear more about the specialist work happening at MIND in the city, thanks to £8,000 funding from Bradford Council.

Workers at the charity have helped 40 people since September, using the ground-breaking Maastricht Approach where a series of interviews are carried out one-to-one, encouraging people to talk about their experiences.

The client’s own words are written out as a report, which they can change until they are happy, before a short version is produced.

“It’s best described as unpacking their experiences. When it’s down on paper, the voices can be understood better and often they are not as negative as people first fear. People can take more control. When that happens, often the voices settle down and people start to have healthier relationships with them,” said Oli Anderson, who is part of the Maastricht team.

“We are like their scribes, when they read back their report it helps them put the voices into perspective for themselves. It’s person-centred. It’s the other way round to having psychiatrists telling them what the voices are all about,” he added.

MIND in Bradford hopes to get more funding to keep up and expand its Masstricht work. At the moment, sessions are every Thursday but with people being able to self-refer, the waiting list is massive says Mr Anderson.

About 25 per cent of the UK population are reported to hear voices but only ten per cent seek help from their GP, which means many people struggle to cope with their voices by themselves. In many cases, hearing voices is linked back to trauma.

MIND in Bradford got help to set up its Maastricht Approach Centre by Peter Bullimore, who was trained by Marius Romme from the Netherlands who invented the method. Both men were at the conference this week.

“If it hadn’t been for the funding from Bradford Council we wouldn’t have got it off the ground. Now we’re looking for more so we can do more, may be offer it outside of Bradford too,” said Mr Anderson.

To get in touch with MIND in Bradford at Cornwall Place, call 01274 730815.