Ask Sam

Hi there,

Thanks for your letter, it sounds like it has been an extremely difficult time and you have shown a lot of courage by writing to me.

There are other young people who hear voices and they can hear them for lots of different reasons. For some people, the voices can be there for their whole lives and for others they can start suddenly, like yours did just before Christmas. Hearing a voice doesn’t mean that you’ve done anything wrong.

As well as starting for all different kinds of reasons, they can say all different kinds of things. Sometimes they can be nice, but I can see that your voice has been getting quite nasty.

Sometimes because other people can’t hear the voice it can feel like you can’t do anything to try stopping it. Not knowing what’s made a voice start can sometimes make it feel even scarier, but that never means you have to be alone.

Because there are so many people who go have to deal with hearing voices, there are places that offer specific support. One of these is a website called Voice Collective - they offer support to young people who can see, hear and sense things that other people can’t.

Telling people that you’re hearing voices isn’t an easy thing to do, so you’ve been incredibly brave telling me. I can see that you’ve felt like people in your life don't understand.

I can sense how worried you are about saying anything to a doctor. It’s important to think a little about what going to a doctor means to you, and what it is that’s making you worried. If you need help in working out what to say to your GP, you can use Doc Ready – a website to help young people talk to doctors about mental health problems.

No matter what you can always speak to a ChildLine counsellor about anything that’s happening. They’re there to support you and listen to you without judgement.

You can contact ChildLine in loads of different ways, whether that’s by calling for free on 0800 1111, coming online and having a 1-2-1 chat with a counsellor or writing an email.

Take care,

Sam