Activities

Representation

The HGI takes every opportunity to promote the interests and views of its professional members to government agencies and other organisations, participating in relevant activities and consultation processes, as invited or initiated, and commenting on issues and published documents on topics relating to counselling and psychotherapy. The HGI can arrange speakers to address other organisations for this purpose.

Importantly, the HGI is one of six leading founder members of the Partnership of Counselling and Psychotherapy Bodies (PCPB), engaged in groundbreaking work to ensure that the therapy profession can be respected, trusted and fully understood by members of the public, as well as employers and commissioning bodies.  All six have their registers accredited by the independent Professional Standards Authority, which sets its own stringent standards.

The PCPB represents over 75,000 therapists and has an increasingly powerful voice in creating norms for safe training and delivery of therapy, published in the Scope of Practice and Education for Counselling and Psychotherapy (SCoPEd) framework, which was developed by the six founding members, including the HGI.

Education

The HGI supports and monitors the examination standards of Human Givens College, which offers a wide variety of courses related to human wellbeing, including evidence-based psychotherapy and counselling skills and using the highly effective human givens approach.¹(The original official source of HG training was MindFields College, predecessor of Human Givens College.)

As part of career development, thousands of organisations have sent their employees on the UK-based seminars, workshops or diploma courses offered by the college and tens of thousands of individuals have also chosen to attend these events at their own cost – many of the most popular seminars are available online and there is a wide selection of live online training to choose from, enabling people worldwide to benefit from HG training, at a time and place convenient to them – you can view all online courses here. Individual courses may be taken as stand-alone training or as part of a core diploma training leading to a professional qualification.

People travel from all around the world to take the Human Givens Diploma and, after completing it, HGI members can keep their knowledge up to date by attending the college’s other courses to ensure continued professional development (CPD).

The College also supplies speakers and trainers to a variety of organisations to share the organising ideas behind the human givens approach and discuss their wider implications, and/or to teach effective psychological interventions for a wide range of emotional distress and behavioural problems. (See: In-house training)

As well as fulfilling their CPD requirement of membership, regular supervision and attendance at peer groups (see below) members are encouraged to form specialist sections to share knowledge about using the human givens approach when working in a particular sector, such as the NHS or education, or to look at specific topics, such as philosophy or politics, through an HG lens.

Maintaining a professional register

Once Human Givens Diploma students have demonstrated their practical psychotherapeutic competence by successfully passing all three parts of this flexible, part-time diploma, including of the Practitioner Level (Part 3), they are eligible to become HGI Registered Members (which ensures that their training, continuing professional development and professional conduct is monitored by the HGI), and are invited to be included on the HGI’s professional register of Human Givens Practitioners, which is independently accredited in the UK by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).

The HGI’s complaints procedure is approved by the PSA, and all Trainee, Registered, Accredited, Senior Accredited and Fellow Members sign up to HGI’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, which is also approved by the Professional Standards Authority.

Communication

On this website, the HGI provides accessible, engaging, jargon-free information in line with current psychological knowledge and of interest to both general public and professionals alike. Our aim is to raise awareness about what makes psychotherapy or counselling effective and organisations psychologically healthy, and what all human beings, young or old, need to thrive. In addition, we post articles in line with the latest scientific understandings on a wide range of issues related to mental, emotional and psychological health.

Biennial Conference

A members’ committee is set up to organise the HGI in-person conference which takes place every two years, enabling members to hear speakers on various topics of relevance, network with their colleagues and share information and experiences with one another. (Announcements about upcoming conferences are made via advanced invitation to our members, on this website and via the HG newsletter.)

Additional Events

The HGI also organises other special events, which are open to the public as well as advertised to members.  These include online conferences, such as the Lifting Depression online summit and Overcoming Addiction online summit – replays of which are still available to purchase.

Peer group meetings

As it is important that practitioners stay connected with each other, meetings are arranged by members at various locations around the United Kingdom, and also online, where HG practitioners and trainees can discuss their work, and any problems arising from it, share case histories and help one another in any way they can.

This is in addition to the regular supervision sessions all HG practitioners must have, with trained HG supervisors.

Professional Services

Any member requiring advice on any professional matter should contact the HGI in writing at [email protected]

Publications

Professionals and the general public can avail themselves of a wealth of helpful books, back copies of the Human Givens Journal and audio downloads produced by the HGI’s sister organisation HG Publishing.