“Making Sense of Paranoia & Beliefs a Lived Experience Perspective” – January 2026 CPS/CPPS Community of Practice
January 2026 CPS/CPPS Community of Practice
“Making Sense of Paranoia & Beliefs a Lived Experience Perspective” with Peter Bullimore
Thursday, January 15th, 2026 from 1:30 – 3:00 pm CT
Facilitator:
Pete Bullimore, chair of the National Paranoia Network, is testament to how powerful acceptance of and learning to work with voices and paranoia can be. Pete heard his first voice aged seven, “I heard a child’s voice telling me to keep going, that everything would be OK. It was reassuring, a bit like an imaginary friend,” he says. But as bad things happened in my life the voices increased in number, eventually turning sinister and aggressive. “They told me to set myself on fire, to slash myself and destroy myself, often 20 or 30 voices all shouting at me at once,” he says.
By his mid-twenties Pete had lost his business, his family, his home, everything. “The voices just encompassed my life; I curled up in a chair and didn’t wash or eat. “I was locked in a world of voices, paranoia and depression, and it was probably the most frightening time of my life,” he says.
Pete spent more than a decade after that on heavy medication, the voices never went away. He had to get out of the psychiatric system to recover. Once he was off the medication and he met people who shared his experiences at the Hearing Voices Network, he was able to stop being so afraid of the voices and he started to listen to them. His relationship with the voices changed and he learned the meaning of his voices and paranoia.
He now runs his own training and consultancies agencies the National Paranoia Network, Asylum Associates & the Sheffield Hearing Voices Network delivering training on hearing voices, childhood trauma, paranoia and how to use the Maastricht interview for hearing voices & problematic thoughts, beliefs and paranoia internationally. He is a guest lecturer at 21 Universities in the UK and Ireland. He has set up Maastricht Centre’s at the Radbone unit in Derby and the Hartington unit in Chesterfield in collaboration with Derby NHS trust; he has now launched a Maastricht Approach center in Bradford and a National Maastricht Center in Telford
“I wouldn’t want to get rid of my voices now, they’re part of me,” he says.
Description:
Join international speaker and trainer Peter Bullimore as he shares unique insights from lived experience into understanding and supporting individuals experiencing paranoia and unusual beliefs.
This presentation will explore:
- The three phases of paranoia and what they may look like in everyday life
- Practical ways to support someone as they move through these phases
- How to “decode” beliefs by viewing them through the eyes of lived experience
With compassion and clarity, Peter will challenge common misconceptions and offer practical strategies to foster understanding, reduce fear, and build meaningful connections with those navigating paranoia and unusual beliefs.
Feedback Survey/CEH Information:
We invite you to please fill out the evaluation survey link (click here) if you attended this community of practice gathering or if you watch the recording. The survey will close at 4:30pm on Thursday, January 29th. Certificates of Participation will be sent to those completing the evaluation form by 4:30pm on February 5th, 2026. No evaluation surveys will be accepted for CEH credit after the evaluation survey’s closing date/time.
This website is managed and maintained by staff at Access to Independence working on the Wisconsin Peer Specialist Employment Initiative. The words, views, and values presented herein are not necessarily representative of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
