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TOPEKA — Lisa Hastings is trying to make life a little easier for people with schizophrenia.

“One of the things I’d like to do is dispel the myth that people with schizophrenia are fragile or weak because, actually, when you understand what it is they’re dealing with, you’ll see that they’re really very resilient,” she said.

Hastings works in the crisis diversion unit at Valeo Behavioral Health Care, the community mental health center in Topeka.

Almost every day, she interacts with people who are hearing voices.

“Everybody is different,” she said. “Some people, as they grow older, learn to muffle the voices and as long as those voices aren’t too negative and they (individuals) have good self-esteem, they can block them out to an extent. But for others, the voices can be derogatory, violent, or what we call self-harm statements. It’s all over the map.”

Because the voices often sound so real, it’s common for people with schizophrenia to think the voices are coming from something in the room; an electrical outlet, for example, a light fixture, a television, or a cat.

Medications, she said, help some people deal with the voices.

“Meds don’t take the voices away,” she said. “They’re not a fix-all, the voices are still there. They may be minimized, but they’re still there. ”

Hastings said the voices do not engage in conversation.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, about 1.1 percent of the over-age-18 population has schizophrenia. In Topeka, that would mean more than 1,300 people; in Kansas, almost 31,000.

Earlier this week, Valeo hosted a three-hour session aimed at letting about 20 people – a mix of case workers and public officials – experience schizophrenia, using pocket-size tape players and headphones that simulated the experience of hearing schizophrenic voices.

While listening to the 42-minute tape of a man reciting a snarling, profanity-laced litany of harsh criticism, participants were expected to perform tasks similar to what someone with schizophrenia would encounter at a mental health center, a day treatment facility, or at an emergency room.

“You stink. Look at you, you’re a pig. They’re watching you. Why did you do that?” snarled the voice.

By the time the session ended most of the participants were agitated.

“I had a lot of people tell me afterward that they were very stressed and tense,” Hastings said.

She asked the case workers in the group to realize that for some people with schizophrenia, the voices may diminish at night, but for others, they don’t.

“The only sleep they get is when they’re exhausted and they just can’t stay awake any longer,” Hastings said. “Imagine what that’s like and then someone comes in and tells you to do something you don’t want to do.”

It’s important, she said, to help people with schizophrenia find ways to deal with the voices. She said she knew someone whose “coping skills” included singing “Happy Birthday” 54 times in the morning.

“It’s whatever works,” Hastings said.

Others, she said, find relief by listening to music at a volume that’s loud enough to drown out the voices.

“I’ve handed out a lot of headsets,” she said.

Hastings encouraged the case workers to ask people with schizophrenia about the voices they’re hearing.

“You want to engage them,” she said. “Help them come up with a coping skill that works for them. (Schizophrenia) is very disheartening to those who are hearing voices. You don’t want to be part of the problem by disempowering them.”

Eric Harkness, a past president of the Topeka chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, runs the organization’s crisis hotline.

“I’d say that about a fourth to a third of the calls I get are from people dealing with some form or degree of schizophrenia,” Harkness said. “A lot of those calls are from family members.”

Harkness, who has depression, said he’s noticed that among the mentally ill, people with schizophrenia have the least insight into their condition.

“At some point, you have to recognize your condition and kind of say to yourself, ‘Hey, something’s not right here,’” he said. “But for someone with schizophrenia, it’s all so real to them it’s really hard to make progress. They’re like, “What do you mean? How can this not be reality?’”

Hastings said Valeo is willing to put on simulation sessions for other organizations in Topeka.

“They can just call me,” she said. “I’ve already been contacted by the Topeka Police Department. They’re wanting to do it.”

To contact Hastings, call (785) 783-7522,

The simulation tape and an accompanying lecture on DVD were developed by the National Empowerment Center in Lawrence, Mass.