About us
Human Givens College is a source of psychotherapy training for anyone who wishes to help improve the lives of individuals and families, or to help organisations and communities thrive.
Our aim is to support improvements in mental and physical healthcare, and in education and social services, by making readily available the necessary knowledge, new insights and skills that make it easier for you to reduce (and prevent from reoccuring) the considerable emotional distress and behavioural problems that are experienced by ever-increasing numbers of people.
It’s never been more important to know how we can help such vulnerable and distressed people quickly and cost-effectively. But to be genuinely effective in the long term, any psychological intervention needs to be based on a solid understanding of the real causes of emotional distress (including depression, PTSD/phobias, anxiety disorders, psychosis, addictions, anger management and behavioural problems) and take into account the biopsychosocial needs of each individual.
Our practical, down-to-earth brief psychotherapy training courses give you that essential knowledge base, whilst shining new light on key problem areas and teaching you the most effective therapeutic techniques for resolving emotional distress (drawn from a wide range of proven approaches, including CBT and others approved by NICE).
Combining these with new insights from the human givens approach means our graduates are armed with both a clear understanding of what all adults and children need to live healthy, fulfilling lives and a powerful, flexible ‘toolbox’ from which to tailor their work to each individual they see. As a result, countless people in difficult circumstances have been helped to regain their mental health and take back control of their lives – often remarkably quickly.
(The Human Givens College continues the work begun in 1996 by a different company, MindFields College, but its aims are the same: to improve mental and physical healthcare, education, social services and the way organisations are run and to increase our collective knowledge of the givens of human nature.)
Skills that work – even with the ‘hard-to-reach’
Every skill we teach is based on a solid understanding of why it works, backed up by practice-based evidence and the enormous range of hands-on experience of our tutors. This, combined with the profound organising ideas that underlie the human givens approach, is what makes our training so effective.
As you thoroughly absorb this psychological knowledge (presented clearly, without jargon), gain new understandings and practise the easy-to-implement skills we teach, your confidence and effectiveness will increase – even when working with the most difficult and complicated cases (see: case histories).
The common sense approach to mental health
The human givens approach is gaining international recognition and rapidly being adopted throughout the UK and Ireland in a wide range of settings – mental and physical health, social services, education, HR and more. This is due to its efficacy, the many benefits (including financial) that it immediately brings to service provision, and the sheer clarity of its straightforward, holistic and empirically supported framework for understanding what constitutes mental health and wellbeing.
At the heart of the approach is a fundamental law of nature: that when our innate physical and emotional needs are met healthily and in balance, we flourish, both physically and mentally. But if they are not, we quickly become anxious and distressed – which can lead to mental illness – or use unhealthy ways such as addiction in an attempt to meet them or deaden the pain. Combining these insights with the range of proven therapeutic skills we teach, enables our graduates to not only effectively help emotionally disturbed people make lasting changes and regain their quality of life, but also to help prevent such distress arising in the first place.
Inspirational results – far-reaching benefits
Because the essential skills we teach are cost-effective and have such a wide range of applications, numerous organisations wanting to make the best use of limited funds – such as Primary Care Trusts, schools, universities, Connexions teams, SureStart, the MOD, police departments, charities and major public and private companies – include them as part of their CPD programmes.
Wherever the human givens philosophy is embraced, staff turnover rates go down, money is saved and big improvements in performance are seen. Many of HG Diploma graduates have taken the knowledge they’ve gained and gone on to achieve outstanding things – transforming mental health services, failing schools and other environments for the better and quickly becoming leaders in their field. (See: An Idea in Practice: using the human givens approach, shortlisted for MIND's Book of the Year, 2008.)
Incorporating the latest research
All course material is monitored by the educational committees of the College and the Human Givens Institute (HGI), chaired by College Principal, Ivan Tyrrell, and Director of Studies, Joe Griffin, respectively. The HGI is the professional body
for our graduates and it informs the caring professions about the practical impli-
cations resulting from efficacy studies and continuing research into neurophys-
iology, psychology and behaviour through its peer-reviewed journal and website (www.hgi.org.uk).
Our events are constantly kept up-to-date as a result, ensuring their leading place in training programmes across a wide variety of fields.