A new therapy for children who hear voices and see visions is being trialled in Bury.

The ChUSE trial is a new talking therapy for children and young people who have "unusual sensory experiences".

The trial is led by Dr Sarah Parry, strategic research lead at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust’s young people's mental health research centre, and Professor Filippo Varese of the University of Manchester, in collaboration with Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Dr Parry said: "Distressing sensory experiences are a common development phenomenon, although these experiences can be frightening and confusing, especially for children already struggling with their mental health.

"Very few children who have distressing sensory experiences will ever receive a diagnosis of early-onset psychosis but the associations between voice hearing and psychosis in our culture can cause great anxiety for families of children who hear voices."

The ChUSE intervention has received more than £260,000 in funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and will provide support for parents and children.

Mental health practitioners may feel "ill-equipped" to offer psychological therapies for distressing sensory experiences for younger children due to a lack of child-centred research to inform national clinical guidelines.

Delayed access to support often 'increases anxiety further, exacerbates family stress, and often worsens the original symptoms'.

Professor Filippo Varese from the University of Manchester said: "In the UK, we have made great progress in offering psychological support to people who begin to struggle with hearing voices and other unusual and distressing perceptions for the first time.

"These treatments, however, are only available to young people that are at serious risk of future severe mental health problems.

"The ChUSE trial represents an important step forward in extending psychological support to a much wider group of children and young people and their families."

The trial will work with 60 children aged eight to 15 and their parents in Greater Manchester over the next 12 months.

They will take part in the ChUSE talking-therapy intervention and parent support sessions, to develop new skills for coping and space to talk about.

You can find out more about the trial at penninecare.nhs.uk/chusetrial.