HG Newsletter - November 2017
In this issue:
- HG Conference 2018
- 20 years of 'human givens'
- International peace brokers call in HG training
- Could you become an HGI Board Member?
As promised, we now have more information for you about next year's HGI Conference and we also take a look back at what's been achieved in 20 years of the HG approach...
2018 HGI Conference:'Living with Uncertainty'
SAVE THE DATE: The HGI’s next conference is being held on 12th–13th May 2018 at the beautiful Woodland Grange in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.
Its theme, suggested by our chairman Declan Lyons, couldn’t be more pertinent with the tumultuous state of affairs we see all around us and the ever-increasing numbers of people suffering from mental health problems.
Our brains evolved over millions of years to reduce uncertainty: we learn to give us a survival advantage. We study the past to try and read patterns of possibility in situations around us. We observe, reflect and try to peer into the future in order to predict threats, or deduce how people might react to us, see round the next bend, so to speak.
In other words, uncertainty has impelled us to develop and unfold our powers. That is the positive side of living with uncertainty.
But in an ever more rapidly changing world, with 24-7 global news coverage, we now constantly live with the unexpected – which creates a miasma of low-level anxiety in the population.
The Conference speakers, who are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, will explore the topic from multiple angles with a selection of broad-ranging talks and presentations. The list of speakers is currently being finalised and will be announced soon, they include: Sue Cook, the well-known journalist, writer, radio and TV broadcaster and David Goodhart.
Sue is an Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust and a patron of the Rainbow Trust, the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation, and the British Wireless Fund for the Blind. She has an honours degree in psychology.
David is a prominent figure in public debate in the UK, founder and former editor of Prospect magazine and author of the best seller The Road to Somewhere, of which Jonathan Haidt said, “The best and most complete explanation I’ve seen for why things seem to be coming apart.”
Just some of the topics to be covered over the weekend include: why PTSD keeps people hypervigilant; overcoming fear of failure; developing resilience in the face of personal trials; how the media keep us alarmed; birth and uncertainty; how HG practitioners can help with uncertainty and teach people to live well in the face of it; how GPs introduce the HG approach to colleagues; how uncertainty caused by government budget restrictions is being side-stepped by HG training.
Prices and full booking details will be announced very soon – places are limited – but you can register your interest in advance here.
Celebrating 20 years of 'human givens'
Amazingly, it’s now 20 years since the term ‘human givens’ was first coined.
Much has been achieved since Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell first put a name to this powerful understanding of human nature and went on to introduce significant new insights to the field which have had a major impact on our knowledge and effectiveness.
You can read about these in the current issue of the Human Givens Journal, along with an overview of some of the many successful initiatives that others have gone on to develop as a result of their HG training.
Many ground-breaking discoveries and inspiring developments were first published in the Journal – and every issue provides you with a wealth fascinating articles, case histories, interviews, book reviews and a round of up of the latest research findings. To maintain its editorial freedom, the journal doesn’t take advertising, but as a result it is entirely dependent on subscriptions.
If you’ve found the articles on the HGI website helpful or you would simply like to support the human givens approach – please consider taking out a subscription, or purchasing a back issue today from HG Publishing’s new website.
Crisis Management Initiative (CMI)
CMI is a major Finnish NGO currently working to resolve violent conflicts in thirteen countries. After attending Fear and Political Chaos they asked HG College and The Conciliators Guild to devise a two-day workshop to introduce their staff in to human givens ideas in order to increase the effectiveness of their work. John Bell and Ivan Tyrrell are travelling to Helsinki in December to deliver it.
Protracted violent conflicts corrode the foundations of society in many ways: they create and exacerbate poverty, corruption, refugee flows, and political and economic strife, not to mention the vain loss of human lives. It is clear that present-day conflicts cannot be resolved through further violence. Independent actors like CMI have a crucial role in supporting and supplementing the conflict resolution efforts of official institutions and governments.
Additional Board Members needed
The Human Givens Institute is looking to expand its Board of Directors to increase its range of skills and expertise. The HGI welcomes applications from anyone seriously committed to HG, who is keen to help further the work of the Institute and promote wider awareness of the benefits of the human givens approach.
The Board is particularly keen to extend its mix of skills to include anyone with a legal, insurance or marketing background, and to have additional lay members (i.e. no therapeutic experience).
Board meetings are held every two months via Skype and an AGM once a year (also held online). Directors are expected to pro-actively engage in specific tasks and take specific responsibility for a range of activities.
You can read more about the roles and responsibilities of the HGI Board Members here.
If you would you like to apply or propose someone else for the Board, please contact Silvana Limpus at the HGI Office in the first instance.
One last thought...
“A story can correspond to or evoke a deep structure in our minds,
and, with time, reflection, and instruction, enrich our understanding and show us ways
our work might be more beneficial to the human community”
Steven Nightingale
We hope you've enjoyed this edition of the Human Givens e-newsletter – if you have any news you think our readers would like to hear about, do get in touch. We love to hear from you.
With best wishes,
Jane Tyrrell, Editor
Human Givens News
Explore our articles and interviews
Emma Charlton describes how the human givens approach provides the framework for the fertility support group she co-facilitates in Bristol.
Emma Charlton describes how the human givens approach provides the framework for the fertility support group she co-facilitates in Bristol.
“How can you sleep at night?”
What does it take for lawyers to be able to defend the perpetrators of shocking or morally indefensible crimes? Denise Winn tried to find out.
Why we dream to forget (I don't dream)
Joe Griffin explains why dreaming, and forgetting our dreams, fulfils a vital human need.
Unconscious bias
With debates raging around racism, cultural conditioning and freedom of speech, Carol Harper reflects on the problem of unconscious bias.
The evolution of the human givens approach
John Halker interviews Joe Griffin (co-founder of the human givens approach) at the human givens conference 2018.
Inside our ethics committee
In the first of what will become an annual feature, Ian Thomson, deputy chair of the HGI’s Registration and Professional Standards Committee (RPSC), shares learning points from cases presented within the past year for adjudication or advice.
The human givens: in our own words
A set of stand-alone articles on Stress, Anxiety, Phobias, Panic attacks, PTSD, Depression, Addiciton, Anger and OCD that human givens practitioners can use to promote both the approach and their own practice.
Psychotherapy's Third Wave? The promise of narrative
The fundamental new direction in therapy is more than just a set of new techniques explains Bill O'Hanlon in an article first published in 1995.
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