In this issue:
Help HG – with a chance to win a prize!
New dates for 2026 announced
HG understandings – and the Russian/Ukraine War
Why people need to say no to more therapy
New Online Course - on the HG approach
Food for thought
Exciting plans for HG
– help us, with the chance to win a prize!
This is an exciting time for our human givens family of organisations – the HG College, Institute and Foundation. We are in the initial stages of working towards transitioning from private ownership to charitable incorporated organisations (CIOs) the HGI and HGC. This will enable us to access grants and funding previously not open to us, allowing us to invest in many more much-needed projects and activities and extend knowledge of the HG approach and our work far and wide.
We are particularly keen to train more therapists to meet the continually growing need for effective therapy. Importantly, we want to offer full and part-funded bursaries for people from backgrounds of hardship who could be excellent therapists and ambassadors for HG, if only they could afford the training. We also have big plans to extend our educational reach via affordable webinars for the general public and succinct attention-grabbing animations, to help more people help themselves to valuable HG wisdom. And we want to fund randomised controlled trials (which are expensive to run) to provide the most highly respected scientific evidence, to show how effective our methods are.
Some of all this work has already started but we need to raise more funds to carry it all through. So we are holding a raffle NEXT WEEK and invite all supporters of HG to help us meet our goals by buying tickets. Here’s what you could win:
First Prize – a 1-hour online mentoring session with your choice of either HG co-founder, Ivan Tyrrell or Joe Griffin: value = priceless!
Second Prize – a place at next year's HGI in-person conference: value £400
Third Prize – an HG College online (or live online) course of your choosing: value up to £145
Tickets are £25 each, with no limit on the numbers you can purchase, and every single one bought gets us closer to our goal. The draw will take place online on Wednesday 23rd July – so please buy now, if you can. https://www.hgi.org.uk/hgi-raffle-2025
We would also be enormously grateful for hands-on support that doesn't cost money. If you can offer skills in fundraising, marketing or anything that helps turn great ideas into reality, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you so much for anything you can contribute to help us spread HG knowledge even further across the planet.
New 2026 training dates
includes a return to Leeds
HG College has announced its 2026 dates for the in-person Diploma-linked workshops which make up Part 1 of the Human Givens Diploma – these include a return to Leeds and some trial weekend dates!
There's also a new Saturday date this year for the popular live online course on Moral Injury, so if you've just missed the recent one, make sure you don't miss out next time as places are limited.
To help anyone planning their Part 1 'journey' – the handy Workshop Planner download has been updated. And courses can be booked in handy blocks using the fast-track quick links.
2026 Part 2 courses – filling fast
Dates for next year's Part 3 have also been added to the website. And if you're interested in taking Part 2 next year, please contact Fiona Heffernan, to let her know as these courses are almost full. If there is the demand, we will look at running an additional Part 2 course. https://www.humangivens.com/college/all-courses/
HG understandings and the Russian–Ukraine War
The latest issue of the New England Journal of Public Policy features a powerful article by John Bell, director and also a founder (along with Ivan Tyrrell) of The Conciliators Guild, which focuses on the importance of understanding innate human needs and patterns of group behaviour in politics, The article explores, through an HG lens, the underlying motivations behind the Russia–Ukraine war and uses these to point possible ways forward.
As he writes, “Conflict resolution often focuses on material interests or trust building rather than the core psychological needs of the sides. Mapping the key emotional red lines of parties and addressing them creatively may offer new opportunities for peace.” [1]
He states that the ideas in the article are inspired by “an approach to wellbeing called Human Givens that was pioneered in the UK” and references an article by Ivan Tyrrell called “Psychological Dimensions of Peacemaking”, published in the same journal in 2021.[2] The current article also references The Charter of Human Needs in Politics, written by Ivan Tyrrell and published by The Conciliators Guild this year.
John is a mediator with over 30 years’ experience in Middle East conflict resolution. He served as a UN and Canadian diplomat in Beirut, Cairo, and Jerusalem and has worked with Search for Common Ground, the Toledo International Center for Peace, and the European Institute of Peace, among other such organisations.
John Bell (2025) "Understanding the Underlying Motivations of the Russia-Ukraine War," New England Journal of Public Policy 37, no 1. Article 12, https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol37/iss1/12
Ivan Tyrrell (2021), “Psychological Dimensions of Peacemaking,” New England Journal of Public Policy 33, no. 1. Article 7, https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol33/iss1/7/.
Why people may need to say no to more therapy
Effective therapy brings about positive change and more life fulfilment as quickly as possible, but sometimes people need to be encouraged to let go on ongoing support and to learn to trust that they can keep using their new knowledge in their daily lives. In her latest Helping Humanity Thrive blog post for Psychology Today, HG therapist and former editor of the HG Journal, Denise Winn, draws on her own case book as she considers why some people might want to continue in therapy and shows how the human givens approach encourages autonomy in clients... Read article >
NEW online course
An Introduction to the Human Givens Approach
HG College has recently launched a new online course presented by Ros Townsend, and featuring Joe Griffin and Gareth Hughes, that sets the human givens approach in its wider, historical context as it looks in detail at the HG ‘organising ideas’, how the approach first evolved and why it's needed, and the many opportunities it brings for improving the lives of individuals, families, organisations and more. Designed as an additional resource for those taking the HG Diploma, it's a really good general introduction for anyone else who is interested in psychology, mental health or HG.
Food for thought
"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."
Winston Churchill
We hope you've enjoyed our latest newsletter.
If you have any interesting news or case studies you think others might like to know about do contact us – we'd love to hear from you!
Jane Tyrrell
Editor, Human Givens News
