• New Human Givens College launched
• HGI Conference to be in November 2010
• HG featuring at the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association's 11th International conference
  
• Norfolk HG Group sets up first HG co-operative company
• Doctorate awarded for research on HG
  

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New Human Givens College is launched

The sudden, unexpected closure of MindFields College at the end of June shocked all who heard of it, not least its staff who were stunned by the speed of the collapse and devastated at being forced by circumstances to let so many people down. (The closure was a direct result of our worsening economic climate and massive training budget cuts – click here to read an explanatory letter from the former principal.)

However, despite the initial sadness and relief that the HGI and other HG organisations were unaffected, there was also a tremendous outpouring of positive feeling about the College's achievements and immense gratitude for what people had learnt both professionally and personally from MindFields courses over the years, and the Human Givens Diploma in particular.

Hundreds of emails, phone calls and hand-written cards and letters from well-wishers overwhelmed those remaining in the HGI office – far too many to answer individually. (Some even came from people who had lost money paying for courses that were no longer to run.) The majority also expressed a widely shared view that the need for clear HG thinking is increasing day by day as our country's financial resources dwindle but its social problems increase.

Many offered support in whatever way they could to keep the HG approach alive and flourishing. One person, on hearing of the situation, immediately donated £20,000 to start up a small, flexible training unit dedicated to maintaining the teaching of Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell and to ensure that an official source of human givens training could continue.

This amazingly generous act has resulted in the opening of the Human Givens College and a new educational programme is currently being developed. Initially it will offer a range of two-day weekend courses along with the original HG Diploma and inhouse training. Further information about courses will be circulated shortly and posted on the college's new website, which is currently under construction. See: www.humangivenscollege.com

Joe, Ivan and all of us at 'HQ' (as it is often fondly referred to) would like to express our sincerest thanks for the tremendous, energising support we have received over the last few weeks from all those in the HG community wishing to work with us to ensure that HG's many achievements to date can continue to be developed and built upon. As ever, our aim is that more people can be helped to gain a better quality of life through the clarity and therapeutic benefits the HG approach and its insights bring us.

To read some of the letters we received, click here.

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Next HGI Conference to be in November

Many people have expressed a wish for our normally bi-annual conference to be brought forward in the light of recent events, and plans are now well advanced for the next HGI conference to be held in November 2010 (instead of May 2011). We will confirm the date and venue as soon as possible – but we can announce the conference's theme which is to be Relationships: The human givens perspective.

Throughout the ages people have looked for the rules that underpin relationships so as to better understand what is going on around them and improve their chances of survival. This includes the rules governing relationships between people and things, mind and body (consciousness and matter) as well as between couples, children, friends and colleagues. As social creatures it is human affiliations that interest most people first and foremost; however, thousands of years ago, searching for meaning through relationships also produced primitive nature worship, magical thinking, arts and crafts, trade and eventually religion, philosophy and science. Now we even develop relationships through the internet.

Nothing exists alone in itself or by itself, for the world is a vast tapestry woven of relations. Not even the smallest strand in this web can be tugged without affecting all the myriad strands and interdependencies to which it is connected and of which it is composed. It is relationships that make us who we are.

The event will be open to anyone interested in the HG approach as well as HGI members. We hope you will join us and participate in what promises to be another enjoyable, thought-provoking and richly rewarding weekend. More details will follow soon (and be announced on our website), but if you'd like to express your interest in coming or to reserve a place, please email Kathy Hardy to let her know.

There will also be some presentation slots available for any members who would like to present to the conference on any aspect of the topic. If you would like to do so, again please email Kathy Hardy with an outline of what you would like to offer.

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Raising awareness of HG in New Zealand and Australia

Dr Angelo Cacciato, a General Practitioner and HG Therapist, who is now based at the Waikanae Health Centre in New Zealand where he uses the approach in his work, has been invited to give a presentation entitled Human Givens: the new approach to emotional health and clear thinking at the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association's 11th International conference taking place on Australia's Gold Coast. After his presentation there will be a question and answer session. We wish him every success and look forward to hearing how the conference goes.

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Norfolk HG Group sets up the first HG co-operative company and goes from strength to strength

Caroline Smith reports:

As Val Giblett, Brenda Bingham and I travelled back from the HG Conference together three years ago, we could not stop talking about the amazing results our colleagues were achieving all over the country. In comparison, Norfolk seemed like a desert, despite Val's and Brenda’s best efforts over the years. And so there, in the car, we decided that we needed to do something about it, that together we would put HG on the local map and find a way to encourage others to join us. Read more  (Pictured are some of the group)

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Doctorate awarded for research on HG therapy improving adolescent emotional wellbeing

Having heard about the human givens approach from a colleague and then attended some training herself, Yvonne Yates decided that for her Educational and Child Psychology doctorate research project she would look at the impact of the human givens approach on the mental health and emotional development of three adolescents.

The high school pupils were suffering from differing mixes of low self-concept, anxiety and depression and the cases had varying backgrounds (from witnessing domestic abuse to experiencing sexual abuse). Each pupil had six, 30 minute sessions of human givens therapy and a range of standardised assessment tools were used to measure the severity and complexity of their needs, their subjective wellbeing and outcomes. The collection of qualitative and quantative data was repeated at the end of therapy and three months later and showed that all three pupils had improved in their subjective wellbeing and interviews with their parents and teachers corroborated the improvements. From psychometric scores, increases in self-concept were achieved in self-worth, competency and potency. Their levels of anxiety and depression were lower and fell within average ranges.

Dr Yates has now written a book based on her research - Human Givens Therapy and Adolescents - which is due to be published in January 2011. She is also currently writing up her research paper and hopes to have this published formally in the near future.

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One last thought...

“Life is thickly sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”  Voltaire

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With best wishes from all of us at the HGI.

Jane Tyrrell
Human Givens Institute
www.hgi.org.uk

Further information:
Useful publications: www.humangivens.com
Courses and training: www.humangivenscollege.com
Talk about the human givens: www.vimeo.com/754995
Registered charity:www.hgfoundation.com
Website about depression: www.lift-depression.com





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