Havening Techniques®

Havening
Techniques®

What are Havening Techniques?

Havening is a psychosensory technique that involves touch, attention, and imagination in order to engender healing and positive change in individuals.  It is a neuroscience-based therapeutic modality that utilizes specific sensory input patterns to alter neural pathways associated with emotional distress and psychological trauma. When combined with targeted cognitive exercises, this method effectively disrupts the encoding of traumatic memories and stress responses.

To learn more about the origin of Havening, please visit Havening.org. To learn more about how to get trained in Havening, please visit midwesthaven.com.

How does Havening work?

Havening touch uses simple touch to work with unwanted feelings and emotions from the memories of distressing events.  Havening takes its name from the word ‘Haven’ which means a place of safety. Havening touch can create an electrochemical experience of safety in your mind and body.

Havening works by triggering the delta waves in our brains through touch, attention, and imagination, which helps to discharge and alter the way traumas and negative emotions are stored.  

Havening is like sending a reassuring message to your brain through touch that says “You are safe”; a bit like switching off the brain’s ‘alarm button’ associated with a particular memory.  

We can also use Havening to balance intense emotions, to reduce stress, and to create good feeling states, like relaxation, calmness, confidence and excitement.

Who can I see for Havening?

Certified Havening Techniques Practitioners:

Melanie Vinton 

What problems can Havening help with?
  • Fears & Phobias 
  • Chronic Pain
  • Trauma (Distressing memories) 
  • Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, domestic)
  • Anger
  • Anxiety or panic
  • Cravings
  • Grief and loss
  • Performance and test anxiety
  • Athletic performances and mental toughness and awareness of the game
  • Fear of abandonment
How is Havening Techniques different than EMDR?

There are three basic differences between the approaches of Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) compared to Havening:
 

  1. Touch vs. Eye Movements
  • Havening uses gentle, soothing touch (on the arms, hands, and face), also known as “Havening Touch,” combined with distractions like humming, counting, or visualizations to help reduce emotional distress and change how the brain stores traumatic or stressful memories.
  • EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, typically through eye movements, tapping, or sounds to process traumatic memories and reduce their emotional charge.
  1. Client Experience
  • Havening is often described as calming, gentle, and soothing, making it accessible to a wide range of clients, including those who may feel overwhelmed by revisiting traumatic memories in detail.
  • EMDR may involve more direct reprocessing of traumatic memories and can feel more intense or activating for some clients, especially in earlier phases.
  1. Neurobiological Focus
  • Havening is grounded in the neuroscience of electrochemical changes in the brain, using delta waves and sensory input to remove the emotional charge of a memory and support long-term healing.
  • EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, aiming to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they are no longer distressing.
What are Havening Techniques?

Havening is a psychosensory technique that involves touch, attention, and imagination in order to engender healing and positive change in individuals.  It is a neuroscience-based therapeutic modality that utilizes specific sensory input patterns to alter neural pathways associated with emotional distress and psychological trauma. When combined with targeted cognitive exercises, this method effectively disrupts the encoding of traumatic memories and stress responses.

To learn more about the origin of Havening, please visit Havening.org. To learn more about how to get trained in Havening, please visit midwesthaven.com.

How does Havening work?

Havening touch uses simple touch to work with unwanted feelings and emotions from the memories of distressing events.  Havening takes its name from the word ‘Haven’ which means a place of safety. Havening touch can create an electrochemical experience of safety in your mind and body.

Havening works by triggering the delta waves in our brains through touch, attention, and imagination, which helps to discharge and alter the way traumas and negative emotions are stored.  

Havening is like sending a reassuring message to your brain through touch that says “You are safe”; a bit like switching off the brain’s ‘alarm button’ associated with a particular memory.  

We can also use Havening to balance intense emotions, to reduce stress, and to create good feeling states, like relaxation, calmness, confidence and excitement.

Who can I see for Havening?

Certified Havening Techniques Practitioners:

Melanie Vinton 

What problems can Havening help with?
  • Fears & Phobias 
  • Chronic Pain
  • Trauma (Distressing memories) 
  • Abuse (physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, domestic)
  • Anger
  • Anxiety or panic
  • Cravings
  • Grief and loss
  • Performance and test anxiety
  • Athletic performances and mental toughness and awareness of the game
  • Fear of abandonment
How is Havening Techniques different than EMDR?

There are three basic differences between the approaches of Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) compared to Havening:
 

  1. Touch vs. Eye Movements
  • Havening uses gentle, soothing touch (on the arms, hands, and face), also known as “Havening Touch,” combined with distractions like humming, counting, or visualizations to help reduce emotional distress and change how the brain stores traumatic or stressful memories.
  • EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, typically through eye movements, tapping, or sounds to process traumatic memories and reduce their emotional charge.
  1. Client Experience
  • Havening is often described as calming, gentle, and soothing, making it accessible to a wide range of clients, including those who may feel overwhelmed by revisiting traumatic memories in detail.
  • EMDR may involve more direct reprocessing of traumatic memories and can feel more intense or activating for some clients, especially in earlier phases.
  1. Neurobiological Focus
  • Havening is grounded in the neuroscience of electrochemical changes in the brain, using delta waves and sensory input to remove the emotional charge of a memory and support long-term healing.
  • EMDR is based on the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, aiming to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they are no longer distressing.

Havening Techniques is a registered trademark of Ronald Ruden, 15 East 91st Street, New York. www.havening.org

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