Why was the human givens approach developed?
If you could read a potted history of psychotherapy you would see an evolution of break-neck speed from the birth of the field to the chaotic situation of today, where we have at least 650 models of counselling and psychotherapy. Although many of these offer some effective techniques and useful insights, overall we have an uncoordinated disarray of theories, terminology and methods, which causes confusion among both health professionals and those in need of help.
Mature sciences like chemistry, physics and engineering are built on a broad common ground of understanding. Despite the wealth of psychological and neuroscientific knowledge available to us, this is currently lacking in psychotherapy. It was to address this lack that the human givens overarching idea was first proposed.
Psychologists Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell, co-founders of the human givens approach, looked to the fundamental principles of what it means to be human to develop a simple, robust, scientifically up-to-date, coordinated and agreed bio-psycho-social model of healthy human functioning: a shared language and a practical framework upon which to build an effective, integrative approach to emotional health which truly understands us as human beings with human needs.
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Why we need to understand healthy minds
It took millions of years for the human mind to evolve into the self-forming creature we can now become. We have reached a watershed where exciting recent discoveries about how the mind/body system works enable us to understand the processes by which the human nature of a new child can successfully unfold to create an effective and fulfilled individual.
Great Expectations
Joe Griffin goes back to basics to arrive at some powerful new insights into the givens of human nature.
Eco-anxiety: active solutions
Julia Welstead considers the connection between our mental health and our planet
The mental health continuum: spreading the message
Jon Neal describes how Suffolk Mind is successfully introducing human givens concepts across the whole county.
No more dancing around the problem
After almost losing his life, Stuart Waters is passionate about bringing emotionally healthy practice to the dance world.
Why psychiatrists should be more like plumbers
Dr Farouk Okhai opens his casebook to show how the human givens approach can best help severely distressed people.
Humanity under stress: a survival strategy
The governing organisations of the world seem all at sea. They are missing an essential element: that of the psychology of human nature, which is programmed into us from our genes (the human 'givens').
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HG practitioner participates in global congress
HG practitioner Felicity Jaffrey, who lives and works in Egypt, received the extraordinary honour of being invited to speak at Egypt’s hugely prestigious Global Congress on Population, Health and Human Development (PHDC24) in Cairo in October.
SCoPEd - latest update
The six SCoPEd partners have published their latest update on the important work currently underway with regards to the SCoPEd framework implementation, governance and impact assessment.
Date posted: 14/02/2024