What is Human Givens Psychotherapy and why does it work?

The Human Givens model is a new approach to mental health based on an understanding that like all living things we not only have physical needs but also emotional needs. These needs are the givens of nature which when met well, and in balance, we not only survive but thrive.  We also possess resources evolved within us through nature to help us get these needs met.

Our Emotional Needs

• Security – safe territory
• Attention – giving and receiving attention is as vital to human life.
• Control – we all need to feel autonomy and control in our lives.
• Community – we need to belong, feeling part of wider community.
• Status – a sense of status within a social grouping or network
• Achievement – a sense of competence and achievement (builds self-esteem)
• Privacy – a space where we can be alone and reflect consolidate experiences.
• Meaning – the need for meaning and purpose that we are being stretched and life is meaningful.

The resources which nature has given us to meet our emotional needs include.

• Ability to develop long-term memory.
• The ability to build rapport, empathise and connect with others.
• Imagination which enables us to focus our attention away from our problems and problem solve more creatively and objectively.
• An observing self (frontal lobes) which helps us step back and be self-aware, separate from our thinking, emotions and intellect.
• A dreaming brain which helps us to metaphorically defuse emotionally arousing expectations, evidenced through brain imaging and neuroscience to be the brains way of de-stressing and the optimal phase for healing and growth.

It is a law of nature that if these needs are met well, using our innate resources we cannot be mentally unhealthy.  They are our biological inheritance and make up the human given which enable us not just to survive but to thrive. 

When our emotional needs are not met or our resources are used incorrectly, through harmful conditioning or damage we suffer considerable distress and so do those around us. Life changing events such as the end of a relationship, losing a loved one, our home, or our job can leave us feeling vulnerable insecure and helpless. A traumatic experience for example can soon feel like we are spiralling out of control leading to difficult emotions and poor coping. Coping with life’s daily stress and demands in an ever-changing world can feel overwhelming as we move through our lives, it can often drain us of the joy and happiness we once experienced.

Learning to find meaning again may not take as long as you might think. Focusing on solving the problem alone may help however evidence proves that our feelings and emotional reactions often precede thoughts therefore effecting our behaviours.

As a Human Givens practitioner, I am trained in a skill’s based, solution focused therapy model. I do not waste time on journeys of self-discovery or endlessly drudging up real or imagined memories, which tends to upset and confuse vulnerable people when what is needed is practical help in the here and now.

It is also a cost-effective approach of which its framework and values have been adapted and transferred to affect change through a solution focused therapy model which has been adapted universally across business organisations, policy makers and communities across the world.

Human Givens is one of the six accredited registers who form the SCOPed partners to implement governance and assessment. The scope of practice and education for the counselling and psychotherapy professions, known as SCoPEd, is a partnership which has developed a competence framework that maps the core competences and practice standards for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adults. It was adopted in February 2023 by the following six organisations who all hold Professional Standards Authority (PSA) accredited registers: 

• Association of Christians in Counselling and Linked Professions (ACC) 
• British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) 
• British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) 
• National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) 
• Human Givens Institute (HGI) 
• UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP

Please see here for further information.