LIVV: An update on our app project

Between November 2024 and January 2025, Discovery Research Platform researchers and Voice Collective held a project meeting and four online creative workshops facilitated by Chocolate Films to co-develop new multi-media resources for LIVV – our smartphone app for young people (18–25) who hear voices. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the workshops and shared their ideas, expertise and experiences so generously. 

LIVV is a pilot app is designed to help young people who hear distressing voices understand and cope with their experiences. Voice-hearers have been involved in its development every step of the way. In the most recent round of testing, lots of people said that LIVV would be easier to use if it included multi-media resources that guide people through the coping strategies suggested by the app.  

This is why we recently got together with Chocolate Films and a group of voice-hearers to develop short animations and audio clips for inclusion in LIVV. 

Over the last few months, the group have shared their ideas on what coping strategies to focus on, their animation style preferences and music choices, as well as working together to develop animation scripts and storyboards. Some group members also very generously reflected on their own experience of using different kinds of coping strategies to produce audio recordings that will be included in the next version of the app. 

The multi-media resources that were developed through our online workshops are now being finalised by the creative team at Chocolate Films in light of the last round of group feedback. 

We can’t wait to see the final result! 

Next steps for the project

We’re also delighted to announce that we have received funding from Durham University’s Participatory Action Research Fund to support the next stage of LIVV’s development. Over the next few months, we will be working with young people who hear voices to co-develop a participatory safety evaluation of LIVV, as well as resources for anyone thinking of embarking on similar digital mental health projects. 

Watch this space for future updates!

LIVV is a collaboration between Durham’s Institute for Medical Humanities, Voice Collective, Rachel Waddingham (voice-hearer, researcher, mental health trainer), Sarah Parry (University of Manchester) and a dynamic group of young people who hear voices who participated in our co-design process. For information about the project, please contact Ben Alderson-Day or Victoria Patton.