Her Voice Among the Stars: The Girl Who Spoke Back -A Fairy Tale About Voice Hearing by Jeannie Bass
At ISPS-US, we believe in the power of storytelling to deepen understanding and challenge stigma and misconceptions of experiences commonly diagnosed "psychosis." Today, we’re honored to share a moving fairy tale written by ISPS-US member and HVN-USA Board Member Jeannie Bass.
Jeannie’s story, The Girl Who Listened to the Stars, offers a poetic and compassionate lens on voice hearing, acknowledging its complexity, while celebrating the strength and meaning people can find in their experiences. It’s a powerful reminder that healing comes not from silencing voices, but from reclaiming our own.
You can read the full story below, or enjoy Jeannie’s beautiful PDF booklet version, which adds an extra layer of magic to the tale.
Join ISPS-US to join our community of incredible individuals like Jeannie working to redefine "psychosis" and reimagine the mental health system.
The Girl Who Listened to the Stars
Once upon a time, in a seaside village perched between windswept cliffs and the endless ocean, there lived a girl named Liv. She was known as the girl who spoke to the stars. People whispered about her, wondering if she had magic or if she simply didn’t belong in their world.At night, while others slept, Liv would sit under the vast sky, listening to voices only she could hear, some kind, some confusing, some frightening. The stars spoke to her in riddles, telling stories and secrets, but sometimes they screamed and roared, leaving her overwhelmed and lost in the noise.
The villagers didn’t understand. They saw her talking to herself, laughing at nothing, shouting fearfully, and crying for reasons they couldn’t see. They called her strange, even dangerous. Liv felt alone, trapped between the stars voices and the world’s misunderstanding.One evening, as she sat beneath a particularly bright constellation, a soft light descended from the sky. It wasn’t a star but a starling, a glowing bird woven from stardust and moonlight.
“I’ve been watching you, Liv,” the starling chirped gently. “You listen to the stars, but you’ve forgotten to listen to yourself.”
“I can’t,” Liv whispered. “The voices are too loud. They pull me in every direction. I don’t know which ones are real anymore.”
The starling tilted its head. “The stars voices are part of you, but they don’t define you. You are more than their whispers and demands. Would you like help learning how to guide them, rather than be guided by them?”
Liv nodded, tears sparkling in her eyes.For many moons, the starling stayed with her, teaching her how to sort through the voices. It showed her how to imagine a golden thread connecting her to the stars, one she could hold when the noise grew too loud, anchoring her to herself.
She learned to speak back to the stars, to set boundaries with the voices that hurt her and nurture the ones that brought comfort. Over time, Liv found moments of peace, even amidst the chaos.
The villagers noticed the change, not because Liv stopped hearing the stars, but because she carried herself with a newfound strength, her calm presence softening the edges of her once frantic world.
People came to understand that she wasn’t cursed or broken, she was someone who could see the beauty and pain of the universe in ways they never could. And Liv, for the first time, didn’t feel alone in her world. She learned that even though the stars still whispered, her own voice was the strongest one of all.
The End.
