Week 1: What is the Human Givens Approach?
What is Human Givens Therapy?
I’m Lee Allison, a trainee Human Givens therapist based in Jersey. I offer practical, evidence based therapy to help people regain clarity, reduce emotional distress, and move forward with confidence.
Human Givens therapy is an evidence based approach designed to help people manage stress, anxiety, low mood, and emotional overwhelm. Unlike other therapy models, it focuses on understanding emotional needs, practical problem solving, and restoring balance, so you can move forward without getting stuck in the past.
Every day we navigate a flood of emotions, challenges, and uncertainties. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when we don’t know why we struggle, but the Human Givens approach asks a simple question ‘what emotional needs aren’t being met?’.
The Human Givens approach states that to maintain good mental health, we must meet our essential emotional needs and draw on our internal built in resources. Once we understand our needs and the resources we have to meet them, our day to day experience naturally becomes steadier. When we start viewing our emotions less as problems and more as signals, it becomes much clearer as to exactly what needs attention.
The Human Givens framework outlines that needs like security, autonomy, emotional connection, attention, achievement, status, privacy, and purpose must be met in balance. When these needs fall by the side distress can easily arise.
But knowing what you need isn’t enough. The HG approach also focuses on the innate (internal) resources you already have like your imagination, memory, rational thinking, and the observing self. Through the Human Givens lens therapy becomes less about teaching new skills, and more about guiding you to use what’s already within you.
Human Givens therapy is non intrusive and practical. We don’t need to endlessly revisit the past or re-live traumatic experiences, in fact evidence suggests this can do more harm than good. Instead, we focus on safely reprocessing those memories so they lose their emotional charge.For example, the Rewind Technique helps people revisit traumatic memories in a detached, controlled way, separating the emotional response from the memory itself. Its effectiveness is well documented and carefully used to treat trauma, phobias and PTSD.
A new NHS study has recently validated the effectiveness of the rewind technique:
The Human Givens model is a framework, not a rigid protocol. Symptoms like anxiety or depression are viewed as signals that something deeper is out of balance. The goal is to restore emotional balance and enable healing from within. As needs become better met, symptoms often ease, leading to greater stability and fulfilment.
It is one of the brightest developments to emerge in modern psychology. Rooted in neuroscience and practical psychology, it offers a refreshingly clear understanding of what people need to thrive. Its results focused approach has gained increasing recognition among mental health professionals, educators, and healthcare providers worldwide. As more people experience its effectiveness firsthand, Human Givens therapy is becoming widely accepted as a leading model for brief, solution focused holistic therapy.
Over the coming weeks, we'll explore our emotional needs, how they show up in daily life, and practical steps to meet them in a healthy way.
Please follow along for practical, science based tips to improve your mental health.
To book a free 20min consultation please click here.
Thank you
— Lee Allison HG.P.Dip.trainee
References:
1. Human Givens Institute – Emotional Needs Audit (ENA). https://www.hgi.org.uk/discover/emotional-needs-audit-ena/
2. Emotional Needs Audit (PDF). https://www.hgi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Emotional-Needs-Audit.pdf
3. New NHS study validates the effectiveness of the rewind technique:https://www.hgi.org.uk/news/new-nhs-study-validates-effectiveness-of-the-rewind-technique/
