Speakers and Programme 2018

Registration

Living with Uncertainty – Introduction to the Conference theme
Dr Declan Lyons – HGI chair and consultant psychiatrist at St. Patrick’s University Hospital, Dublin

Report on the latest Human Givens research, illustrating the use of the language of uncertainty in research
Dr Shona Adams, clinical psychologist and HG practitioner, and Dr Steven Allan, clinical psychologist, University of Leicester

A summary of Dr Adams' and Dr Allans' research on the effectiveness and acceptability of a single rewind session and the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis based on 13 studies. The talk will illustrate the language of uncertainty in research and will include what claims you can now make about HG research.

The rise and fall of civilisations and human adaptability
Ivan Tyrrell, HGI and Human Givens College director

Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty, which makes us strong. In this helicopter view of history Ivan looks at the importance of taking the long view when considering and dealing with the large and small challenges we face today. We can all see that our form of civilization is undergoing rapid changes and Ivan asks if that means we are in a rising or falling stage and what this pressure is doing to us?

Tea/coffee break

Creating ‘Safe-Uncertainty’ with let-down children
Chris Dyas, HG practitioner at NSPCC

Far too many children with identified mental health problems face a prolonged and uncertain wait for clinical services. In these situations they easily become targets for bullying or exploitation and frequently resort to self-defeating and dangerous behaviour. Chris describes an innovative project underway in Stoke-on-Trent aimed at quickly equipping professionals and carers to understand these children’s emotional needs so as to respond more effectively to acute distress.

Hannah looks at the many forms of domestic emotional abuse and the impact they have on people’s lives, and describes how she helps people suffering from psychological abuse.

Transitioning from being a serviceman to being a civilian is always an uncertain business; even more so when harbouring hidden fears and trauma.  Two ex-clients tell their stories, through interviews.

Lunch

The Road to Somewhere
David Goodhart, journalist, commentator, and founder and former editor of Prospect magazine.

David’s best-selling book The Road to Somewhere described how people came to be divided into two camps: the ‘Anywheres’, who have achieved identities derived from their careers and education, and the ‘Somewheres’, who get their identity from a sense of place and from the people around them and who feel a sense of loss due to mass immigration and rapid social change.

Tea/coffee break

On the road: How uncertainty broadens the mind
John Zada, travel writer, photographer and co-founder of the Conciliators Guild

John, a Canadian, shares some tales of his experiences while travelling in remote and unsettled parts of the Middle East and North America. Drawing together his own observations, and those of others, he'll show how uncertainty when travelling to places off the beaten path can also be a catalyst and key ingredient for profoundly enriching experience. 

Questions from the floor to the day’s speakers

Conference Day ends

Annual General Meeting of the HGI chaired by Dr Declan Lyons
(Not part of the conference but open to all HGI members)

Conference Dinner

Registration

Introduction
Dr Declan Lyons

Entering motherhood and the labyrinth of uncertainty that follows
Sara Shoesmith

Sara, an HG therapist, explores the common uncertainties, anxieties and unrealistic expectations felt by many women as they transition to motherhood for the first time. She explains how her own experience motivated her to help other mums who struggle on this difficult journey.

Families disunited: what happens next?
Tina Hamilton-James

Each year a number of children are taken into local authority care for neglect. Many crave to be reunited with their family and live for long periods of time with the uncertainty of whether they ever will be. It is a similar situation with the parents, despite the poor way in which they cared for their children. Tina believes HG can help improve the situation.

Why and how to encourage GPs to use HG tools
Dr Sue Beckers

With the waiting times for NHS mental health services so long and services so stretched, GPs are in an ideal position to offer quick, effective interventions to support their patients with anxiety, stress and low mood within the consultation. However, they are understandably reluctant to take on anything that they perceive will add to an already fraught and over-long working day. Sue Beckers shows how sharing her HG skills transformed her GP colleagues practice in Dorset.

Tea/coffee break

Whistle-blowing and Resilience
Bernie Rochford, former clinical commissioner

If resilience is about “...quickly returning to a former condition... springing back into shape...recover quickly to original form,” what does that mean for whistleblowing in the NHS?  Bernie Rochford was a clinical commissioner when she raised serious concerns about patient safety. She talks about what that experience meant to her and the implications for us.

How I dealt with uncertainty
Sue Cook, journalist, broadcaster and author

As a freelance journalist, broadcaster and novelist (On Dangerous Ground and Force of Nature), Sue Cook found herself picking her way through the ups and downs of an exciting and varied broadcasting career (including Crimewatch and Children in Need) and personal life and evolved an optimistic perspective on living with uncertainty. She has an honours degree in psychology.

Lunch

Taking the HG organising idea to the next level
Joe Griffin, social psychologist and co-founder of the human givens approach

After three years spent reflecting on how to refine HG ideas and embed them in the world more securely, Joe now offers an exciting way to do this. He will present a valuable new tool, grounded in innate needs, that fosters individual and group intelligence in a way that effectively helps individuals and organisations more easily find meaning and purpose in what they do.  Working closely with his HG colleague Bart McEnroe, they developed and tested this in their consultancy work for business with great success. Joe feels that this tool is so powerful that it could help counter the twin curses of nihilism and materialism that beset so many people in the world today.

Tea/coffee break

Questions from the floor to the day’s speakers

Thanks and close