A practitioner using havening techniques helps someone overcome their anxiety by focusing on depotentiating the encoded experiences in the brain that are causing the anxiety. Unlike other approaches that focus on managing symptoms, havening aims to get to the root of the problem quickly and facilitate actual changes.
Here’s how a havening session might work:
- Establishing Trust: The practitioner creates a comfortable, safe, and non-judgemental environment, which is important for healing to take place.
- Identifying the Issue: The practitioner helps the client identify the specific stressful event, memory, or feeling causing the anxiety. They will also determine the level of distress associated with the issue.
- Applying Havening Touch: The practitioner will then guide the client to self apply a gentle, repetitive touch (though the practitioner can also apply touch). This touch helps to calm the brain and provide relief. The client will also be asked to engage in some kind of distraction such as humming or counting.
- Using Different Types of Havening: Depending on the client’s needs, the practitioner may use various types of havening. For single events, Event Havening is used; for similar emotional states over many events, Transpirational Havening can be used. The session is often concluded with Affirmational or Hopeful Havening to help reinforce positive thoughts and improve resilience.
- Working Content-Free: Havening does not require the client to talk about the specific details of the anxiety-provoking events; they can simply think about the event and the practitioner can use the havening protocols to alleviate the emotional response. This is especially useful for individuals who may not want to disclose the details of a traumatic experience.
Why Choose Havening Over other treatments?
- Not Re-Traumatising: Clients do not have to relive the traumatic event to heal.
- Speed and Efficiency: Havening aims to be quick, effective, and long-lasting.
- Focus on Resolution, Not Management: Havening seeks to resolve the root cause of the problem, not simply manage the symptoms.
- May work when talking about trauma doesn’t: It is not necessary to spend hours building a rapport or recounting negative narratives before finding ways to release the emotional impact of trauma.
- Self-application: Clients are often taught to self-apply havening so they can manage their nervous system.
Summary: A havening practitioner helps someone overcome their anxiety by using gentle touch to target and release the traumatic experiences stored in the brain, unlike other treatments that focus on managing symptoms, havening seeks to resolve the root cause. Clients may choose havening because it is designed to be quick and effective, and it does not require the client to talk about their trauma if they do not want to.
If anxiety is an issue that is restricting your life and you would like to find out if Havening could be the way forward for you then please get in contact.