Human Givens Counselling-Therapy
Life is really tough right now.
Are you looking for help with feelings of anxiety or depression?
Do you wonder how to start taking control of an addiction?
Have you suffered a trauma in the past, or do you have a phobia which dominates your life?
Are you struggling with unmanageable feelings of anger?
These are all strong emotions and can be hard to deal with alone. Human Givens (HG) therapy offers effective and practical help. It is brief and solution-focussed. My aim is to get you to where you want to be as quickly as possible. The HG framework offers a holistic, no-nonsense, no-psychobabble approach which draws upon findings from neurobiology and psychology about how people really function: what it means to be human.
Many people are finding that their security, control, and connection with others have been taken from them. These are essential emotional needs which we must fulfil in order to flourish. We all have a set of resources to help us to meet these needs, but it’s hard to know what these resources are and how to use them in a healthy way.
As a Human Givens Therapist, I am trained to offer practical help to deal with mental and emotional distress, right now. Drop me a line, I will really listen to you. You can relax and ‘borrow a brain’ for a while, to find out how a series of constructive, healthy conversations can help you see a way forward.
I have a specific interest in functional issues such as functional voice difficulties and Functional Neurological Disorder. This perplexing and complex issue is one which needs time and a sympathetic attitude. It is an indication that the nervous system is not functioning quite right. Under this umbrella term "functional" comes Globus- that awful feeling of having a lump in the throat. I use a bio-psycho-social, holistic approach to help you understand the functioning of the mindbody. Please get in touch if you are affected by FND and you would like support.
Clients who have benefited from HG therapy at Lismenary have said,
"I feel everyone would benefit from experiencing Human Givens therapy and I wish it was taught in school. It is a holistic approach that gives us a deeper understanding of what we need to live and thrive as human beings. The best part for me is having tangible tools to rely on in my day-to-day life - these help me to remain calm, cope with stress, and tackle self-doubt and criticism... amongst many others.
Elizabeth has been a huge help, she is kind, gentle and a wonderful listener. I felt very heard and understood and admired her ability to recognise patterns and articulate her understandings of being human, in direct relation to the issues raised in our sessions.
Working on you is the best gift you can give to yourself and those around you, and by doing the work you can make the most of being you."
"Don’t hesitate to ask for help no matter the pain and terror you may feel about certain events of the past. Through a careful approach and guidance to a place of peace, old memories and triggers can be disassociated from and let go of. With deep relaxation anything is possible: you won’t believe it until you try it! "
"I have found Human Givens therapy very illuminating. It has helped me understand myself much better and it has also changed the way that I interact with people. As a result of this therapy, I have learnt new ways to make my relationships with family and friends more meaningful and vital. My confidence and self esteem have also increased as I now have life long coping skills to deal with any stress and anxiety."
“If you are caught in a cycle of addiction, anxiety, or depression, or suffering from trauma or phobias please try the human givens approach, a gentle, solution-focussed approach to healing. With a human givens therapist you will be heard, trusted and respected, and you will be gently guided towards goals you set for yourself. This therapy does not turn you into a long-term dependent, but frees you in a few short sessions to live the life you choose for yourself.”
The two titles mean the same thing and describe a person who is trained to ease mental and emotional distress.
Did you know that "psycho-" comes from the Greek form of psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit; life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body; understanding, the mind (as the seat of thought), faculty of reason". Therapy for the soul/mind? Sounds right to me!
Your therapist should be registered with an appropriate body. I am a qualified Human Givens Therapist.
Feeling depressed is an awful thing to experience. However, it is surrounded by myths, one of them being that it is a chemical imbalance in the brain. This has been proven to be untrue. It might feel permanent, but there are effective ways to lift depression without drugs. It starts with being listened to in a calm, non-judgemental environment. You might be feeling exhausted, struggling to sleep, lacking the energy to get up in the morning let alone manage life and all its stresses. Maybe you have stopped doing any of the things you used to enjoy. There is a way to lift yourself from this.
I provide support for depression using the Human Givens framework, see above: examining how you can work towards getting your emotional needs met in a healthy, balanced way.
Yes. Fear is one of our fundamental, normal emotions which we need to protect ourselves from danger.
Anxiety is a hijack of this fear circuit, and if we mis-use our imaginations by worrying, we can feed our anxiety until the fight-flight response becomes overwhelming. When we were cavemen and women, we would run from (or maybe fight) the feared stimulus (eg sabre-toothed tiger). But these days, we tend to be experiencing anxiety/fear indoors, at work/ home, in a situation where it would be inappropriate to run away! So our bodies become overwhelmed with the urge to run/fight. This is manifested in the tight heart, pain in the chest, racing pulse, shallow breathing etc.
It's a bit like a washing machine. The spin cycle is frenetic and an important part of the process. But if the machine were empty, and permanently on spin, it would wear out the machine pretty quickly and use up loads of un-necessary energy.
Through constructive conversations, I will help you learn to calm yourself, breathe well, stand back and look at how you might break the worry circuit. Maybe this can be done though challenging negative thoughts and examining how you can ensure your needs are met in a balanced, healthy way.
A client who felt empowered after only a few sessions gives this advice:-
"There are solutions to your suffering! It is completely normal to have these feelings and emotions.
My experience with Human Givens has been extremely helpful. It has helped me as it has given me lifelong skills, tools , knowledge and advice on different areas of my life.
What has been particularly helpful is the science and understanding behind what causes anxiety and what sleep actually is made up of. I enjoyed how the sessions are not just talk therapy, but is multifaceted as science, understanding, advice and self knowledge came into play.
It impacted my life as the tools I learned can now be integrated into my daily life reducing and eliminating my symptoms."
Yes. Most of us are addicted to something, some of us several things, whether it is cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, screens, gambling, sex, exercise, in fact, any pleasurable activity can become addictive.
Beating addiction cannot be done with willpower alone. Willpower is a conscious choice to overcome an emotional drive. The good news is, that every time you gave up and 'relapsed' can be seen not as a failure, but as a constructive learning process, part of the journey.
I will help you understand the emotional component of addiction, how our bodies are tricked into believing that it will help us meet our emotional needs. Understanding the addiction process from a biological point of view can help us reverse our expectations, be kind to ourselves and move forward.
A phobia is a specific fear which can become debilitating and make you want to avoid certain situations.
Trauma is usually connected with a specific experience or set of experiences which, again, have a debilitating effect on your life. Some people recover naturally from trauma over time, and others need an expert helping hand.
The effects of these conditions are so powerful because your emotions have taken over and it is hard to think straight when gripped by fear and stress.
I will listen to you.. and we will not talk about the traumatic/ feared experience any longer than necessary. I am trained to help you to relax deeply and to use a specific technique called The 'Rewind' Technique which can help you re-programme your fearful memories so that they will lose their control over you. They won't be wiped out! Instead, they will be stored as memories of something that happened to you in the past. This can often be done in one session.
In Counselling/Psychotherapy we take one session at a time, according to your needs: my aim will be to help you see a way forward as quickly as possible, in as few sessions as possible. Sessions are 1 hour to 90 mins long and are £80 per hour.
Please get in touch to explore how I can help you.
I have been training in psychotherapy since January 2020 and have successfully passed the Human Givens Diploma at Practitioner level (HG.Dip.P)
The Human Givens Institute is accredited with the Professional Standards Authority.
If you have any concerns about your HG therapy, please click here: https://www.hgi.org.uk/therapist-register/raising-concerns
