Havening combines gentle, self-soothing touch on the arms, palms and face with brief recall of a memory and simple distractions, to take the sting out of stress and painful memories. Start with our complete guide, then use the videos, courses and directory below.
1 guide · 17 videos · 10 podcasts · 1 expert · 6 courses · 3 directories · 2 books · 1 app · 6 free tools
Havening Techniques are a psychosensory method developed by Drs Ronald and Steven Ruden. Soothing touch on the upper arms, palms and face is combined with briefly recalling a distressing memory and simple distraction tasks. The aim is to reduce the emotional charge of stress, anxiety or painful memories. You can practise it alone or with a certified practitioner.
This hub gathers the best places to learn and practise Havening in one spot. Our complete guide explains the method, the evidence and its limits. Below it you will find free videos from the developers and their trainers, guided self-havening sessions, podcasts, the two key books, accredited training routes and the official directory of certified practitioners.
If you are new, read the guide, then watch Kate Truitt's short introduction to the Havening Touch and follow her five-minute self-havening practice. Start with everyday stress rather than your hardest memory. Rate how intense the feeling is from 0 to 10 before and after, and notice what changes.
Once the movements feel natural, the longer guided sessions and the interviews with Ronald and Steven Ruden explain where the method came from and how practitioners use it. The havening.org pages on self-havening and the Havening Touch are a useful reference.
For trauma, PTSD or anything that feels too big to face alone, work with a qualified professional. The official Havening directory lists certified practitioners, many of whom work online. If you want to train yourself, the courses section explains the official certification route and lists UK and online trainers.
Every link here was opened and checked by our editors before it was listed, and each card notes who made it, where it lives and whether it is free. We favour the method's developers, certified trainers and established publishers over anonymous channels, and we recheck links regularly. Nothing on this page is paid placement unless it is clearly labelled as sponsored.
Self-havening is gentle, but recalling painful memories can stir up strong feelings. It is not a replacement for medical or psychological care. If an exercise feels overwhelming, stop, ground yourself and seek support.
New to Havening? Our complete guide covers the Havening Touch, a step-by-step self-havening script, what the research does and does not show, and how to find a certified practitioner.
Havening, or the Havening Techniques®, is a psychosensory method developed by Dr Ronald Ruden and Dr Steven Ruden. You recall a distressing memory or feeling while gentle, repeated…
The method's co-developer explains in three minutes what Havening is and the idea behind it.
UK practitioner Michele Paradise asks Ronald Ruden how Havening was developed and how it is used.
Clear demonstration of the four Havening Touch areas: palms, upper arms, forehead and cheeks.
A short guided self-havening practice to copy along with: a good first session.
A gentle follow-along practice focused on building calm rather than revisiting a memory.
Guided self-havening for the physical side of anxiety: a racing heart, a tight chest, restlessness.
Kate Truitt introduces the self-havening tools from her book Healing in Your Hands.
A quick protocol for moments of acute stress, explained step by step.
Paul McKenna, who brought Havening to UK audiences, guides viewers through a self-havening sequence.
A two-minute TV demonstration: an easy way to see what a session looks like.
A trainer demonstrates a facilitated Havening session with a client, start to finish.
A clinician-oriented overview from the continuing-education publisher PESI.
A retired anaesthetist and Havening trainer shares a simple daily routine.
A longer explanation of the proposed brain mechanism, and what is still unproven.
Co-developer Steven Ruden on the origins of Havening and the kinds of problems it is used for.
An in-depth conversation with Steve Ruden, hosted by a certified Havening trainer.
A show of short guided somatic practices, including many self-havening sessions.
Episode: an anxiety podcast explains Havening for listeners who are new to it.
Episode 13: the co-developer of Havening on trauma, memory and touch.
Episode 036: audio version of the Steven Ruden interview.
Episode 41: how Havening is used for fear, grief and trauma.
Episode: a relaxed introduction to Havening and self-havening.
Episode: self-havening for parents dealing with their own past trauma.
Episode: Kate Truitt on the neuroscience of mindful touch, with a guided practice.
Episode: a follow-up discussion of Havening, its uses and its limits.
Episode 61: the co-creator of Havening, interviewed from a coaching angle.
Paul McKenna has sold over 10 million books worldwide and helped millions of people lose weight, overcome anxiety, sleep better, and build unshakeable confidence. He is widely regarded…
The official route to certification: an accredited training, a science review, ethics sign-off, 20 case studies and three video sessions.
The official list of upcoming accredited trainings, including dates in London and online.
A UK-based accredited training with an integration day and mentoring through certification.
A two-day live Zoom training run by a Dublin-based certified trainer.
An affordable recorded self-havening workshop for personal use, plus details of their live practitioner training.
On-demand self-havening and Healing in Your Hands workshops from Kate Truitt.
The only official finder for certified Havening practitioners, searchable by country, with many UK and online listings.
The founders' organisation: it sets the training standards and accredits practitioners and trainers.
A clinical psychologist and Havening co-developer: her books, courses and talks on self-havening.
The founding text of Havening: the theory of trauma encoding plus clinical guidelines for Havening Touch. Paperback ISBN 9781138872615.
Self-havening practices for traumatic stress and resilience, written for the general reader. ISBN 9781683735489.
A free meditation app that includes Kate Truitt's self-havening meditations. No dedicated Havening app is recommended yet.
The developers' list of published studies. Read it alongside the independent evidence summary in our guide.
A free nine-minute guided self-havening track that plays in the browser. Kate Truitt has several more on her Insight Timer page.
A UK charity's plain-English explainer on Havening and trauma.
Research on Havening is still early. The published studies are small, mostly uncontrolled or non-randomised, and many involve the method's developers or promoters. A single-session study of 27 people with work-related distress found lower depression and anxiety scores at two months (Thandi et al., 2015). A non-randomised study with a waiting-list comparison reported reduced distress and Type D personality traits, alongside some physiological changes (Hodgson et al., 2021; trial record NCT03568591). A small study suggested the touch itself may add something (Sumich et al., 2022).
One randomised trial found no benefit for pain, opioid use or hospital stay after joint replacement surgery (Cizmic et al., 2018), and the proposed brain mechanism has not been proven. For PTSD, NICE recommends trauma-focused CBT and EMDR (NICE NG116). Treat Havening as a promising self-soothing and complementary tool, not a proven treatment.
Read our complete guide, then watch Kate Truitt's short introduction to the Havening Touch and follow her five-minute self-havening practice. Begin with everyday stress, and rate how you feel from 0 to 10 before and after.
Yes. Self-havening uses the same touch on your own arms, palms and face, and many of the videos here are follow-along sessions. For serious trauma, PTSD or anything that feels overwhelming, the developers and UK charity PTSD UK both advise working with a certified practitioner.
Use the official Havening directory at havening.org. It lists only practitioners who have completed the accredited training and certification, including many in the UK and many who work online. Ask about their wider professional background too, such as counselling or psychology registration.
Attend an accredited training with a certified Havening trainer, then complete the certification process: a science review, an ethics agreement, 20 written case studies and three video sessions. The havening.org training calendar lists upcoming courses, including in London and online.
No. Both are sometimes called psychosensory or body-based techniques, but EFT uses tapping on acupressure points with spoken statements, while Havening uses slow, soothing stroking touch with distraction tasks. Our guide compares Havening with EFT and EMDR.
We have not found a dedicated Havening app we are happy to recommend. Dr Kate Truitt's free self-havening meditations on Insight Timer are the best app-based option we have found.
Are you a certified Havening practitioner or trainer? We are building a directory of trusted practitioners, courses and apps for every technique. Get in touch to be listed.
Apply to be listedThis hub is for general information and self-help education. It is not medical or psychological advice. External resources are selected by our editors and checked when listed; we are not responsible for third-party content.
