Havening Techniques

1. Introduction

Version followed: Havening Techniques® as developed by Ronald A. Ruden MD PhD with Steven Ruden and taught and certified by the Havening Techniques organisation (havening.org, marks owned by Ronald Ruden); the facilitated session sequence is the one documented in the single-session study by Thandi, Tom, Gould, McKenna and Greenberg (2015). The organisation's own Primer, Procedural Guide and Protocol Sheets are the authoritative manual but are restricted to trainees [uncertain: not verified]. [source: havening.org certification page; Georgia Tech Havening page; Thandi et al. 2015]

Havening is described by its developers as a psychosensory technique: a set of tools that pairs gentle applied touch (to the upper arms, palms and face, given by a practitioner or by the client to themselves) with attention-occupying distraction tasks while a distressing memory or feeling is briefly brought to mind. [source: Georgia Tech page; ChoosingTherapy; Thandi et al. 2015]

Core idea of change, as Ruden holds it: a traumatic event is encoded as a lasting link between the memory and its emotional response. Ruden (2005) proposed that peripheral sensory input such as touch, combined with distraction, raises serotonin and disrupts reconsolidation of that link, so the memory remains but loses its charge. Later Havening material adds that the touch produces low-frequency (delta and theta) brain waves, which it calls an "electroceutical" effect, signalling safety to the amygdala and "depotentiating" the receptor changes (AMPA receptors) that hold the encoded response. These are the founder's hypotheses, not established mechanisms. [source: Thandi et al. 2015 citing Ruden 2005; ChoosingTherapy quoting Ruden; Swedish practitioner page] Ruden's encoding model is summarised by the acronym EMLI, which practitioner case-study templates ask Havening users to record; the expansion of the acronym is [uncertain: not verified].

Evidence status (one line): preliminary only; small single-session studies (uncontrolled in 2015; a touch vs no-touch comparison in 2022) report reduced distress, Havening practitioners themselves describe the supporting evidence as largely theoretical and anecdotal and call for more empirical research, and it is not an established evidence-based treatment for PTSD. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Sumich et al. 2022; Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025]

Scope: Havening is complementary. It is not presented here or by this guide as a treatment for any physical disease. A psychotherapist uses it as one technique inside an assessed, consented psychotherapy plan. [synthesis]

2. Framework

Havening is a toolset rather than a phased therapy. The sources describe a learning and delivery sequence plus a within-session cycle.

Training sequence (as one Havening trainer's case-study booklet sets it out): Havening Touch first (taught so that the client likes it and can use it), then Amplify Havening (a dry run of Event Havening), Hopeful and Informational Havening (questioning, exploring, generating ideas), Affirmational Havening (building new perspectives and predictions), Event Havening (aimed at depotentiating an encoded event), Outcome and Role Havening (narrative and storytelling), Transpirational Havening (releasing a difficult emotion, with shorter and gentler versions), and Self-Havening throughout. [source: Havening trainer case-study booklet, simplebooklet.com; Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] The detailed steps of most of these types are taught in the restricted Primer and Protocol Sheets [uncertain].

Phases of a course of work [synthesis, built on the booklet's pre-session guidance]:

Phase 1, assessment and safety: check whether there is a current, ongoing threat (the booklet's "current UTS", unconditioned threat stimulus) and whether medical aid, social care or skills-building is the better first action; confirm it is safe to offer Havening; identify the client's strengths and skills. [source: trainer booklet] Add your usual psychotherapy assessment, risk assessment and trauma history. [synthesis]
Phase 2, preparation: explain the method and its evidence status, obtain consent to touch or agree a hands-off (self-Havening) format, teach Havening Touch and Self-Havening as regulation skills, and practise a dry run (Amplify Havening). [source: trainer booklet; synthesis]
Phase 3, processing: Event Havening on specific memories or triggers, and other Havening types (Outcome, Role, Affirmational, Transpirational) where indicated. [source: trainer booklet; Swedish practitioner page]
Phase 4, consolidation: Affirmational or Hopeful Havening on future perspectives, Self-Havening as homework, review and relapse planning. [source: trainer booklet; synthesis]

Session format: usually individual, face to face (facilitated touch) or with the client touching themselves (self-Havening or practitioner-guided "facilitated self-Havening"), which also allows online delivery. Group and online workshops are offered for Self-Havening. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Georgia Tech page]

Session count: the published study used one session; promotional and practitioner sources claim one to three sessions may suffice for a single event. Treat this as a claim; plan for more where trauma is complex. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Swedish practitioner page; synthesis]

Within-session cycle (Event Havening): rate distress, briefly activate the memory, apply touch plus distraction tasks, re-rate, repeat. Criteria to move on: the 2015 protocol repeated rounds until the rating fell to 3 or below on a 1–10 scale or stopped improving; a secondary source describes two to four rounds or until distress reaches 1 or below. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy] Move from Event Havening to future-oriented work once the target memory can be recalled with low distress across several aspects. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

Havening is a sensory input, not a talking intervention. In practice: keep verbal processing brief during rounds; the work is done by touch plus distraction, not by retelling. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Georgia Tech page]
Activate lightly, then lower arousal. In practice: the client only needs to touch the memory briefly; you are not aiming for prolonged exposure. [source: Swedish practitioner page]
Distraction engages working memory. In practice: if arousal climbs toward panic or flashback, intensify the distraction task (counting, spelling, humming, eye movements). [source: Swedish practitioner page; Thandi et al. 2015]
Content-free and "clean" language. In practice: avoid adding images, words or interpretations that may themselves become triggers; use the client's own words. [source: Swedish practitioner page]
Safety and current threat first. In practice: do not process past events while a current threat continues; address safety, medical and social needs first. [source: trainer booklet]
Teach the touch so it is liked. In practice: introduce Havening Touch as a pleasant regulation skill before using it on distressing material. [source: trainer booklet]
Self-Havening for autonomy. In practice: teach the client to apply the touch themselves so they can use it between sessions and so touch by the therapist is optional. [source: Georgia Tech page; Thandi et al. 2015]
Measure with the client's rating. In practice: take a 0–10 or 1–10 distress rating before, between and after rounds and let it guide the next step. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy]
Consent to touch, before and during; the right to stop. In practice: ask permission before any touch, check again during, agree a stop signal, offer self-touch as an equal alternative; touch is never sexual and never on intimate areas. [synthesis, following professional touch-ethics norms]
Theory is attributed. In practice: present the amygdala, serotonin, delta-wave and depotentiation account as Ruden's model, not as established fact. [synthesis]
Practise within your licence and the certification ethics. In practice: Havening certification adds a technique, not a new scope; the organisation requires an ethics course (US) or signed Ethics & Conduct Policy acknowledgement. [source: havening.org certification page]

4. Intervention inventory

The organisation's restricted Protocol Sheets give the full scripts for each Havening type; below, Event Havening and Self-Havening are given in the detail that published sources allow, and the other types only as far as sources describe them. All example language is illustrative wording, not Havening script text.

4.1 Pre-session assessment and current-threat check

Purpose / when: before any Havening, to decide whether Havening is the right action now. [source: trainer booklet]
Steps: (1) Take a full psychotherapy and trauma history and risk assessment. [synthesis] (2) Ask whether the threat is still current (ongoing abuse, unsafe housing, active medical problem); if so, prioritise medical aid, social care, safeguarding or skills-building. [source: trainer booklet] (3) Identify the client's strengths, supports and existing coping skills. [source: trainer booklet] (4) Screen for dissociation, psychosis, current substance misuse, recent self-harm, and medical conditions that need a doctor's input; note that one secondary source says Havening is not effective for addictions. [source: ChoosingTherapy; synthesis] (5) Record the presenting issue in the client's exact words. [source: Thandi et al. 2015]
Example language (illustrative): "Before we try anything that touches old memories, I want to check that you are safe now, today. Is anything still happening that we need to deal with first?"
Watch for: ongoing danger or a safeguarding concern (stop and act on it); high dissociation scores or a history of losing time; a client who wants a "one-session fix" for complex trauma. It is working when you have a clear target, a safety plan and agreed alternatives.

4.2 Informed consent and the touch agreement

Purpose / when: at the start of Havening work and again before any session that uses touch. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Explain that Havening is a complementary technique, what a round involves (brief recall, touch, simple counting, humming and eye tasks), and its evidence status: preliminary, from small single-session studies. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Sumich et al. 2022] (2) Explain the touch: light stroking of the upper arms (shoulder towards elbow), palms and face, done by you or by the client. [source: ChoosingTherapy; Thandi et al. 2015] (3) Offer a hands-off option on equal terms: Self-Havening, with you guiding. (4) Ask explicit permission for each area; agree that the client can stop or change to self-touch at any time, with a word or a hand signal; check in during the round. (5) State plainly that touch is never sexual and never on intimate areas; keep to clothed upper arms, palms and face. (6) Document consent, the areas agreed and any refusal; follow your professional body's guidance on touch, chaperones and video recording. Havening certification itself requires signed permission agreements for recorded sessions. [source: havening.org certification page; remaining steps synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "In Havening, gentle touch on the upper arms, the palms and the face is part of the method. I can do it, or you can do it yourself while I guide you, which works too. You can change your mind or stop at any point, just say 'stop' or raise your hand, and I will stop straight away. Which would you prefer today?"
Watch for: freezing, compliance without real agreement (a quick "fine" with a stiff body), clients with sexual or physical abuse histories for whom any touch by a therapist may be activating; cultural or religious limits on touch. Default to self-Havening where in doubt. [synthesis]

4.3 Havening Touch (facilitated)

Purpose / when: the core sensory input, used during Event Havening and other types and as a stand-alone calming skill. [source: Georgia Tech page; trainer booklet]
Steps: (1) With consent, sit at the client's side or in front. (2) Stroke gently down the sides of the upper arms, from shoulder towards elbow, in slow, light, repeated strokes. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy] (3) Variants: gentle stroking of the palms (the client's palms rubbed together or held and stroked), and of the face (across the brow and down the cheeks). [source: ChoosingTherapy, quoting a Havening trainer] (4) Keep the pressure light and the rhythm steady; continue throughout the distraction tasks. (5) Stop immediately on request. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "I'm going to start the gentle strokes on your upper arms now. Is this pressure all right?"
Watch for: startle, flinching, holding the breath, or the client opening their eyes and looking at your hands, which can signal discomfort with the touch; switch to self-Havening. Signs it is working: slowing breath, softening shoulders, yawning or sighing, a falling rating. [synthesis]

4.4 Self-Havening and facilitated self-Havening

Purpose / when: the hands-off alternative to facilitated touch; homework; online work; general stress regulation. [source: Georgia Tech page; Thandi et al. 2015]
Steps: (1) Arm Havening: the client crosses the arms over the chest and strokes down the sides of the upper arms with their own hands. (2) Palm Havening: the client rubs the palms together slowly. (3) Face Havening: the client strokes their own brow and cheeks. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy] (4) In facilitated self-Havening, you guide the sequence and the distraction tasks in exactly the same way as a facilitated round while the client applies the touch. In the 2015 study, self-Havening was also taught in pairs with the facilitator checking comfort. [source: Thandi et al. 2015] (5) Agree when the client will practise between sessions, e.g. when stressed or at bedtime, as Georgia Tech and practitioner materials promote it for stress and sleep. [source: Georgia Tech page; Swedish practitioner page]
Example language (illustrative): "Cross your arms so your hands rest near your shoulders, and slowly stroke down towards your elbows, like a gentle hug. Keep that going while I give you something to count."
Watch for: stroking too fast or hard (an agitated rhythm); self-criticism ("I'm doing it wrong"); using the technique to avoid all feeling. It is working when the client can bring their own rating down outside the session. [synthesis]

4.5 Distress rating

Purpose / when: to track change before, between and after rounds. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy]
Steps: (1) Ask the client to name the issue with an exact word or phrase. (2) Ask for a rating from 1 (or 0) to 10, with 10 the most distressing, as they think of it now. (3) Re-rate after every round and at the end. [source: Thandi et al. 2015]
Example language (illustrative): "As you think of that moment now, how strong is the feeling, from 0 to 10?"
Watch for: ratings that drop to zero immediately (possible avoidance or compliance) or that jump (a new aspect has emerged; target it). [synthesis]

4.6 Event Havening (the facilitated round)

Purpose / when: to reduce the emotional charge of a specific distressing memory or trigger; the type the developers link to "depotentiation" of an encoded event. Use after preparation, on one specific event at a time. [source: trainer booklet; Thandi et al. 2015]
Steps (sequence as documented in the 2015 study, paraphrased; current Protocol Sheets may differ [uncertain: not verified]):
1. The client names the difficulty in an exact word or phrase and gives a 1–10 rating.
2. The client clears the mind or thinks of something pleasant.
3. The client taps both collarbones with both hands while opening and closing the eyes twice.
4. Still tapping, with the head held still, the client moves the eyes left, right and down, then circles them fully in both directions.
5. The client crosses the arms over the chest and closes the eyes, imagines climbing a staircase and counts aloud from 1 to 20, one number per step, while you (or the client, in self-Havening) gently stroke down the sides of the arms.
6. The client re-rates the feeling.
7. Repeat the round with a different visualisation (the study used skipping a rope) and with humming a familiar tune in place of counting.
8. Close the round: the client lets the arms drop, circles the eyes, closes them, and receives five more slow arm strokes while you say a short calming phrase; the client rates again.
9. Repeat until the rating is 3 or below or no longer falls. [source: Thandi et al. 2015] A secondary source describes two to four rounds, or until distress reaches 1 or below, with counting backwards while visualising a simple action (opening a door, closing a cupboard). [source: ChoosingTherapy]
Example language (illustrative): "Just touch the memory lightly, you don't need to stay with it. Now let it go, and while I stroke your arms, picture yourself walking up a staircase and count each step out loud, one… two…" Closing phrase (illustrative): "Letting it go, all the way down."
Watch for: abreaction or flashback during activation (move straight to distraction and touch, shorten the activation, ground in the room); a falling rating with new images arising (new aspect, run another round on it); flat or numb responses, which may signal dissociation rather than resolution. Signs it is working: the rating falls round by round; the client reports the memory feels distant, "just a memory", or cannot easily re-find the feeling. Test by asking the client to think of the event again at the end and between sessions. [source: Swedish practitioner page; synthesis]

4.7 Distraction tasks

Purpose / when: to occupy working memory during touch, and to bring arousal down quickly when it rises toward panic. [source: Swedish practitioner page; Thandi et al. 2015]
Steps: choose one task per round and vary them: visualise climbing stairs and count steps aloud; visualise another simple activity (skipping, opening a door); hum a familiar tune; follow eye movements left, right, down and in circles; count backwards; repeat a sequence of numbers; spell a name forwards or backwards. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; ChoosingTherapy; Swedish practitioner page] Use a neutral tune and image the client has chosen in advance. [synthesis]
Example language (illustrative): "Now hum a tune you know well, something light, all the way through."
Watch for: tasks that carry their own associations (a song linked to the trauma, stairs in a client who fell); a task that is too easy for an aroused client (make it harder: count backwards in threes). [synthesis]

4.8 Amplify Havening (dry run)

Purpose / when: a rehearsal of the Event Havening procedure on low-distress material so the client learns the steps before working on trauma. [source: trainer booklet]
Steps: run the Event Havening sequence on a mild everyday irritation or on a neutral or pleasant topic, with full consent and touch checks. The detailed published steps are [uncertain: not verified]; this description is [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "Let's practise the whole thing on something small, like being stuck in traffic, so you know what to expect."
Watch for: discomfort with any element (touch, eye movements, humming) that needs adapting before trauma work.

4.9 Hopeful and Informational Havening

Purpose / when: questioning, exploring and generating new ideas while touch keeps arousal low. [source: trainer booklet] A Swedish practitioner describes a related exploratory use: touch while the person explores an experience and notices differences. [source: Swedish practitioner page]
Steps: with touch running, invite open questions about the problem, possible options and what the client notices. Detailed steps [uncertain: not verified].
Example language (illustrative): "While I keep the strokes going, what do you notice now when you think about that decision?"
Watch for: drifting back into an unprocessed traumatic memory (switch to Event Havening).

4.10 Affirmational Havening

Purpose / when: after distress has come down, to build new perspectives and predictions, such as positive expectations and qualities the client wants to strengthen. [source: trainer booklet] A perinatal Havening paper describes using it once distress ratings are about 3 or less. [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] One secondary source links palm Havening with the affirmational type. [source: ChoosingTherapy]
Steps: with touch running, the client states positive words of their own choosing (for example "calm" or "peaceful") [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025], or brings to mind matching memories or future images. The organisation's scripts are [uncertain: restricted materials].
Example language (illustrative): "What would you like to feel more of, in your own words? Keep saying that word, gently, while I continue."
Watch for: affirmations the client does not believe (reduce to something smaller and true); premature positivity used to skip unprocessed material. [synthesis]

4.11 Outcome Havening

Purpose / when: imagining a different outcome to a past distressing event while touch lowers reactivity; uses narrative. [source: Swedish practitioner page; trainer booklet]
Steps: after Event Havening has reduced the charge, the client imagines the event unfolding to a better ending of their choosing while touch continues; the same process can be used to prepare for a future event. [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] The organisation's detailed steps are [uncertain: restricted materials].
Example language (illustrative): "If you could have the ending you needed then, what would happen? Picture that while I keep the strokes going."
Watch for: confusion between imagined and real events, especially where memory is part of a legal process; advise the client and their lawyer before memory-altering work on evidence-relevant events. [synthesis]

4.12 Role Havening

Purpose / when: described by one practitioner as drawing on gestalt therapy: the client uses an empty chair to address someone from the past, for example to say something left unsaid to someone who has died, while touch is applied. [source: Swedish practitioner page; trainer booklet lists it as narrative work]
Steps: run touch or self-Havening, and invite the client to speak to the person, either imagined in an empty chair [source: Swedish practitioner page] or voiced by the practitioner, who takes the other person's role so the client can say what they could not say then and may ask the "other" to say something specific, such as an apology. [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] The organisation's detailed steps are [uncertain: restricted materials].
Example language (illustrative): "Imagine they are in that chair. What do you want them to hear?"
Watch for: high arousal when addressing a perpetrator (go back to Event Havening); grief that needs time rather than rapid resolution. [synthesis]

4.13 Transpirational Havening

Purpose / when: releasing a difficult emotion, such as anger, guilt or a sense of abandonment. [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] Trainers list it with short and gentle versions and suggest it where a client shows new insight or takes responsibility after Event Havening. [source: trainer booklet]
Steps: the client names the emotion and repeats the word while touch continues, until it eases or shifts into another emotion, which then becomes the focus; in the gentler talk version the client speaks freely while touch continues. [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025] Learn the full protocol from accredited training [uncertain: restricted materials].
Example language (illustrative): "Give the feeling one word. Keep saying it softly while I continue, and tell me if it changes."
Watch for: emotional flooding; the perinatal paper does not recommend the standard version in pregnancy and uses the talk version or a blend with Event Havening instead [source: Crowther, Mellor & Sun 2025]; as for all types: consent, arousal level, dissociation.

4.14 Shoulder Havening for panic

Purpose / when: one practitioner mentions facilitated shoulder Havening during panic attacks. [source: Swedish practitioner page]
Steps: with prior consent, light touch on the shoulders and upper arms combined with a simple distraction task (counting, humming) until breathing settles; otherwise use self-Havening. Details are [synthesis].
Example language (illustrative): "You're safe here. Is it OK if I put my hands on your upper arms? Count with me, one, two, three…"
Watch for: never touch during panic without consent agreed earlier; some clients in panic feel trapped by touch.

4.15 Closing, homework and documentation

Purpose / when: end of every session. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Re-rate the targets. (2) Ground the client (orientation to the room, a few rounds of self-Havening). (3) Agree self-Havening practice and what to do if memories come up between sessions. (4) Record targets, techniques used and in what order, reasons, ratings, time spent on each process, and any adverse reactions, the elements Havening case-study templates ask for. [source: trainer booklet]
Example language (illustrative): "Memories sometimes surface over the next few days. If that happens, use the arm strokes and the humming, and note it down for next time."
Watch for: delayed reactions (body aches, tightness, more emotion are listed by one source as possible effects); re-emergence at the next session. [source: ChoosingTherapy]

5. Handling problems

The Havening sources give little problem-handling guidance beyond intensifying distraction when arousal rises and using clean language; most of what follows is [synthesis] and marked as such.

Overwhelm, abreaction or flashback during activation

Move straight from recall to distraction plus touch; make the task harder (count backwards, spell a name backwards); keep the activation brief. [source: Swedish practitioner page]
If the client does not settle: stop the round, eyes open, orient to the room, feet on the floor, name five things they can see; use self-Havening for regulation only, with no further memory work that session. [synthesis]
For complex trauma, titrate: work on the edge of a memory or one small fragment, rather than the worst moment first. [synthesis]

Dissociation

Signs: glazed eyes, delayed answers, a rating that drops to zero with a flat face, "I can't feel my arms". Reduce activation, keep the eyes open, increase orienting and touch on request, and check present-moment awareness before continuing. [synthesis]
Clients with dissociative disorders should receive stabilisation within a phased trauma treatment before any Havening processing. [synthesis]

Touch-related problems

Discomfort, freezing, or a trauma history involving touch: switch to self-Havening and say so as a normal option, not a failure. [synthesis]
If the client says stop, stop at once, acknowledge it, and do not resume touch in that session without a fresh explicit invitation from the client. [synthesis]
Never touch intimate areas; never use touch in a way that could be sexual; never touch a client who is intoxicated or unable to consent. Record consent and any withdrawal. Follow your professional body's touch, chaperone and recording guidance; a professional-body position specific to Havening is [uncertain: not verified].
Rupture over touch (the client later feels it was too much): raise it openly, apologise for the impact, agree new limits, document. [synthesis]

Stuck: rating does not fall

Check the target is a single specific event in the client's exact words; split a general theme into specific memories. [source: Thandi et al. 2015 uses an exact word or phrase; splitting is synthesis]
Look for a different aspect (a sound, a smell, a meaning such as "it was my fault") and target that. [synthesis]
Check for a current threat that keeps the response "live"; deal with safety first. [source: trainer booklet]
Change the distraction task or the touch area; some clients respond better to palm or face touch. [synthesis]
If repeated sessions bring no change, move to an established trauma therapy (e.g. trauma-focused CBT, EMDR). [synthesis]

Too-rapid improvement or avoidance

A sudden zero may be compliance or avoidance. Re-test by asking the client to recall the event in detail at the next session and rate it then. [synthesis]

Resistance or scepticism

Present the method transparently as a complementary technique with preliminary evidence; offer a dry run on something small; never pressure. [source: trainer booklet on dry runs; rest synthesis]
If the client finds the eye movements or humming silly or embarrassing, normalise and offer other tasks. [synthesis]

Non-adherence to self-Havening

Link practice to existing routines (bedtime, after a stressor); keep it short; review at each session what got in the way. [synthesis]

Memory, legal and false-memory risks

Outcome Havening and imaginative work can blur memory. Where events may be subject to legal proceedings, discuss with the client and, with consent, their lawyer before memory-processing work; do not suggest events or interpret images as recovered memories. [synthesis]

Risk, medical and medication issues

Havening does not replace medical care and is not offered for any physical illness. Somatic reactions such as aches or tightness are listed as possible effects; persistent physical symptoms go to the client's doctor. [source: ChoosingTherapy; synthesis]
Do not advise on medicines; route questions to the prescriber. [synthesis]
Suicidality, self-harm or psychosis: follow standard risk assessment and safety planning; defer Havening processing until stable. [synthesis]

Children and young people

Use only with parental or guardian consent and the child's own assent, within your competence for child work; favour self-Havening over therapist touch; follow safeguarding procedures. [synthesis]

Training, certification, scope and combining with psychotherapy

Route: attend an accredited training run by a Havening Techniques Trainer (lecture, demonstration, practice and neuroscience); pass an online science exam drawn from the Primer, guide and DVDs; complete the ethics requirement (an online Ethics Course for US practitioners; a signed Ethics & Conduct Policy acknowledgement elsewhere); submit an application; submit 20 case studies and 3 video sessions with two different people, with signed permission-to-video agreements; competency is judged by the programme director. Certified status requires an annual licence fee; without current accreditation a practitioner may not use the logo or promote themselves as certified. [source: havening.org certification page] Trainings are offered in person, live online and one-to-one; Georgia Tech lists a 16+ hour foundational training. [source: havening.org events listings; Georgia Tech page]
Certifying body: the Havening Techniques organisation; the marks are owned by Ronald A. Ruden. [source: havening.org certification page] Georgia Tech names the Center for Havening Research and Training as trademark holder. [source: Georgia Tech page]
Scope: certification adds a technique, not a licence; licensed psychotherapists use it within their existing scope, assessment and record-keeping duties. Unlicensed Havening practitioners also exist, so clients may arrive having seen one. [synthesis] Published positions by psychological licensing boards on Havening are [uncertain: not verified].
Combining with psychotherapy: sources show Havening used as a stand-alone single session and as a set of skills for regulation. Within psychotherapy, use Havening Touch and Self-Havening as stabilisation and between-session skills, Event Havening as one processing option inside a phased trauma plan, and Affirmational or Outcome work for consolidation, with ordinary therapeutic work on meaning and relationships around it. [source: Thandi et al. 2015; Georgia Tech page; integration is synthesis]
Commerce and conflicts of interest: do not sell trainings, recordings or products to your own clients; disclose any financial link to a training provider. [synthesis]

Sources

Sources consulted:

Books and papers cited at second hand [uncertain: not verified]:

Ruden, R. A. (2005). A neurological basis for the observed peripheral sensory modulation of emotional responses. Traumatology, 11(3), 145–158. [cited via Thandi et al. 2015]
Ruden, R. A. (2011). When the Past Is Always Present: Emotional Traumatization, Causes, and Cures. Routledge. [title and author confirmed by the Cousins 2011 review record; subtitle and publisher uncertain]
Ruden, R. (2013). Havening, A New Way of Healing. [cited via Thandi et al. 2015; uncertain: not verified]
Havening Techniques Primer, Procedural Guide and Protocol Sheets (Havening Techniques organisation; restricted training materials). [uncertain: not verified]
Cousins, W. (2011). Mesmer's ghost: A new approach to treating trauma conjures up shades of history. Book review of R. A. Ruden, When the Past Is Always Present. American Psychological Association, 56(25). Ulster University repository record

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