As a baby, Griff Eldridge was quieter than most. But he slept well. He fed. He played with his big brother Ira. And he smiled easily. For a long time, his parents Luke and Davinia didn’t worry, because he was so happy and healthy.

When Griff became a toddler, Luke and Davinia started to compare his speech to the speech of other children and to the standards laid out in the Personal Child Health Record, a book issued to new parents by the UK government.

Griff was on track when he started to babble around 12 months old. But, unlike other children, the babble never evolved to understandable sentences.

Luke and Davinia began to track Griff’s speech in a notebook and test his hearing. They took him to several doctors, none of whom agree on a single diagnosis. They learned of “Verbal Dyspraxia” and “Phonological Disorder”. He’d see a speech therapist.

Griff is nearly four years old, about to start primary school, and still he’s never spoken a fully coherent sentence. They have 18 months to get him up to speed. Recently, Davinia’s been teaching Griff the signing language Makaton.

In this episode, producer Luke Eldridge (Griff’s father) shares scenes from their home as his family works together to help Griff learn to talk. Bethany Denton edited this episode, along with help from Jeff Emtman. Additional editing help from Nick White at KCRW.

Music: The Black Spot, Flowers

Hello NYC! Jeff and Bethany are speaking at The Unplugged Soul at Columbia University’s Heyman Center on April 14th and 15th. It’s free. Register here.

Temptation of Christ, By Dutch-French painter Ary Scheffer, 1854. — *Temptation of Christ*, By Dutch-French painter Ary Scheffer, 1854.

Barrie Wylie has heard voices for as long as he can remember. Growing up on a small island in Scotland, the voices in his head were like secret best friends that he could play with. When he left school to become a fisherman at 15, his voices told him he was a disciple of Jesus. He believed he could control the weather and prevent harm befalling his boat and his crew.

As Barrie got older, his voices intensified. They became more aggressive, telling him to harm himself and others.

He learned to cope by silencing the voices with alcohol and other drugs. He wound up in police custody more than once.

When a family friend died under mysterious circumstances, Barrie was arrested and falsely suspected of murder. While in custody, he told his doctor about his voices. An autopsy later revealed that the friend died of natural causes.

But Barrie spent the next seven years in and out of psychiatric hospitals, all while heavily medicated for paranoid schizophrenia. The voices don't leave him, no matter how much medication he took. They only got worse, until Barrie believed he heard the devil himself inside his brain.

He tried to kill himself at least twice. [Please note: this episode contains two descriptions of attempted suicide.]

It was a social worker from the hospital who first suggested the Hearing Voices Network to Barrie. HVN takes an unorthodox approach. They say that hearing voices in and of itself should not yield a diagnosis. They encourage people to talk to the their voices, treat their voices as if they're real people. This approach is not universally accepted.

But Barrie said that talking to his voices actively gave him agency he never had before. He stopped trying to rid himself of his voices and instead learned how to have healthy relationships with them. He stopped trying to hurt himself. He stopped believing that his voices could control him.

He joined Facebook support groups that advocated the Hearing Voices appoach. And that's where he fell in love with Rachel. She also heard voices. Barrie and Rachel are now married and have a young child together. He says he couldn't be happier.

Barrie runs a website documenting his story and helping others through theirs.

This episode was produced by Luke Eldridge. Luke is an independent producer living in the UK. The episode was edited by Bethany Denton, with help from Jeff Emtman, and Nick White.

Music: Serocell, Flowers, The Black Spot

We recently released another (very different) story about mental illness and delusions of Jesus. It's HBM039: A Goddamn Missionary, in which a man with Bi-polar Disorder learns to control his manic episodes through medication and altruism.

Here Be Monsters

HBM076: Griff's Speech

HBM048: Barrie's Mental Tempest