1-day workshop

How to lift depression

Gain the knowledge and skills that have already helped 10,000s people

This practical workshop gives you a deeper understanding of the causes and symptoms of depression, as well as the chance to practice the new skills, techniques and strategies you will learn…

Course Factfile

Depression Treatment Training

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  • Accredited CPD: 6 hours

  • Length: 1 day (9.30am - 4.00pm)

  • Tutor: Jo Baker

  • Suitable for: See below

  • Price: £198 per person

Includes course notes, refreshments and lunch.

£198.00

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Practical, inspiring and full of hope

Dr Gina Johnson, GP

NEXT DATE:  Tuesday 10th June, London – join therapist and Diploma tutor Jo Baker to gain powerful psychological insights and techniques you can use straight away to help people recover from depression. To ensure your place, book online now or call our friendly team on 01323 811690. Other dates and venues availableWhat you will learn >

Why take this course

CPD Provider Logo

Depression is one of the most common presentations in counselling and psychotherapy, and an even-increasing problem. The impact of depression reaches far beyond the individual; it can have an impact on relationships, work productivity and overall quality of life. A survey of 1,000 GPs (Mind 2018) indicated that around 40 per cent of GP appointments now involve mental health and around one in eight adults in England is on antidepressants, a figure that has risen by over 20 per cent in the past five years. Antidepressants can play a role in reducing symptoms, however not everyone responds well to them, they can come with a range of side effects and prove difficult to withdraw from – research shows that appropriate psychotherapy is as effective as antidepressant medication for treating depression, even among people who have severe depressive symptoms.

Understanding depression (no matter what type), what really causes it and how to break the cycle – is key to beating it.

On this practical workshop, you will gain new understandings of the causes and symptoms of depression and learn a range of effective approaches to treating depression, drawn together into a holistic model. The day will give you the chance to explore these ideas through exercises and to practice the new skills, techniques and strategies you will learn.

What you will learn

  • The causes, symptoms and impact of depression
  • Clear, evidence-based, practical steps for treating depression
  • Strategic toolbox for overcoming depression – the power of understanding our emotional needs and resources
  • Explore the barriers to good mental health
  • Exploring a number of possible physical causes, including inflammation
  • Why it is common for depression to occur when someone is experiencing relationship difficulties
  • Grief and depression – understanding the difference why the grieving process is different to the cycle of depression
  • Exploring different types of depression such as postnatal depression and bipolar I & II
  • Understanding the “3 Ps”
  • Using the RIGAAR model
  • How to establish what’s not working in a person’s life and why
  • What to do if you suspect someone may be feeling suicidal
  • The relationship between anxiety and depression
  • Understanding emotional arousal and how to lower it
  • The importance of evidence-based psychoeducation
  • The cycle of depression and the opportunities that understanding offers us
  • Approaches to working with rigid (black and white) thinking, negative expectancy and rumination
  • How to stop introspection
  • Insight into why depressed people often wake up tired and unmotivated, and what to do about it
  • The role of sleep and dreaming
  • How to build hope
  • How to combine our expertise and the client’s to co-create solutions that work for them
  • Effective life-long skills for overcoming depression – and preventing future setbacks
  • How to help a client to take the skills out of the therapy room and into their lives
  • Understand the role of sunlight and why that matters
  • How to help your client bring pleasure back into their life
  • The opportunity to watch a film of Joe Griffin, co-founder of the Human Givens approach, working with a client with depression
  • Practise in how to treat depression – case study and skills practice…

Live tutor Q&A – you will have plenty of time to ask questions of the tutor who is also a practising therapist.

I feel much more confident in how to target depression with helpful interventions

Daniel Cooper
Counts towards a Diploma

Counts towards a Diploma

By taking this course, you could be on your way to completing Part 1 of the Human Givens Diploma – a flexible, part-time psychotherapy course which will deepen your psychological knowledge and increase your ability to help people effectively and quickly.  Learn more >

The Diploma is recognised by the new, national SCoPEd Framework for counselling and psychotherapy training.

Everyone, not just the caring professions, should do this day

General Practitioner

Who is this course suitable for?

  • If your life is affected by depression in any way – perhaps the staff or students you are responsible for at work present with depression, or a friend or family member is depressed – you will benefit from attending
  • Anyone who, for whatever reason (personal or professional), would like to better understand the causes of depression and be able to offer practical help to people who are depressed
  • If you would like to know how best to prevent relapses and help clients build long-lasting resilience against future setbacks, this workshop is for you
  • Anyone concerned about the side effects of drug treatments for depression, who would like to know about the easy-to-learn psychotherapeutic techniques that can lift depression quickly, will benefit from attending
  • It is essential training for counsellors, psychotherapists, social workers, occupational therapists, HR professionals and all other health and welfare professionals – since depression is now so common, it is crucial to understand it and know how to treat it quickly and effectively.
Good to know

Good to know

Guided imagery and visualisation and Therapeutic Language are useful skills to have for implementing the strategies taught on this training.

This workshop complements our online course: How to break the cycle of depression.


CPD Provider LogoThis course has been independently accredited by the internationally recognised CPD Standards Office for 6 hours of CPD training.

On completion of this training you’ll receive CPD certificates from the College and the CPD Standards Office.


Course Programme

The ‘How to lift depression – the practical skills you need’ course starts at 9.30am and runs until 4.00pm.

Please note

Please note

This course is not a substitute for individual therapy

Register your interest – next date

If you can’t make any of these course dates, please complete the form below and we’ll email you when another date becomes available.

Reviews for this course

4.7/5 (69 Reviews)
  1. General Practitioner

    Really excellent!

  2. James Cooper, Residential Rehabilitation Manager

    Very engaging, broken up well and a great opportunity to apply and consolidate learning.

  3. Daniel Cooper, Neuroscientist & Psychoeducator

    Found the course clear and interesting and I feel much more confident in my understanding of the process of depression and how to target it with helpful interventions.

  4. Iakovos Flaskis, Psychotherapist - Company Owner

    Useful and insightful content
    Beautifully structured, great audio visual
    Many aha! moments for anyone who has been through depression

  5. Stephanie Tutty, Coach

    Excellent on every front – style, input, awareness of audience and humour

  6. Jamie Tutty, Student

    Great presentation and flexibility of running when questions introduced.

  7. Behaviour Management Support in dementia

    Useful resources to work with depression.

  8. Katie Gilruth, Marketing

    Brilliant! Loved the discussions.

  9. Susan Lakhan, Optometrist

    Really enjoyed the course – love Jo’s teaching style
    A lot of good information
    Love the guided imagery and still fascinates me how effective it is

  10. Ingrid Steele, Coach/Facilitator/Mediator

    Very good day – very informative.

  11. Rebecca Lagan, Investment consultant now FT mum

    Really enjoyed today. Good balance of exercises/breaks/teaching.

  12. Counsellor

    Provoked deep thinking – lots to process. Lots of brilliant slides and examples of therapy

  13. Development Manager

    Informative, innovative and practical. Lots of tools

  14. School Safeguarding Manager

    Great insight into depression and some good discussion around various topics associated with it

  15. General Practitioner

    Extremely practical course which could be taught as a stand alone course and be implemented the next day.

  16. School Counsellor

    Great skills for lifting depression. Very useful and effective psycho-education to pass on.

  17. Flood risk adviser

    Huge wealth of information and knowledge packed into the day with lots of opportunity to practise, and excellent guidance and support from Jo.

  18. Key Worker

    Another superb course explaining depression symptoms and treatment options. Skills based, applicable and good to be able to seek clarity from Jo. Thoroughly enjoyed learning about this area.

  19. Paulina Wiszniewska, Psychologist

    Excellent, practical and empowering. It gave me a deeper and in-depth understanding about depression and what to do about them. Wonderful to be improving my skills like this. Denise Winn is professional and I love listening her.
    Thank you!

  20. Coach

    An excellent worthwhile investment of my time.

  21. Clinical Hypnotherapist

    Denise was clear and knowledgeable. Joe Griffin film was excellent particularly re language use, feeding back information in Guided Imagery. Listening to others questions and insights was very helpful. Although i missed the live Course on Zoom i have worked through the exercises and feel i have gained from listening/watching the Course on Vimeo.

  22. Mental health facilitator. Directors of charity

    The course itself is extremely well done. The quality of the information provided was second to none but I feel the zoom was not a great idea as connecting with the tutor was some times hard. Overall a great day.

  23. Nadia Hristova, Neurotherapist

    It was a fantastic course! Left me craving further Human Given courses, and I the same evening I went and booked the Therapeutic Power of Language! Great balance of theory and practical exercises, and an incredibly knowledgeable, experienced and engaging lecturer! Such a joy to participate! Thank you!

  24. Martin Lijinsky, Teacher

    It was very informative and a very well-delivered course. It had lots of interesting information and facts, as well as the opportunity to try out a little practice. I did find the sound quality on the videos of Joe Griffin a little lacking and so for me at least, it wasn’t always easy to follow certain aspects as clearly as I would have liked. I also found that some of the handouts did not match exactly the slides that Denise screen-shared with us. Sometimes I thought I was missing a sheet and found myself searching through my print-outs and then of course, I wasn’t listening to all that was going on. I think in the end it seemed I did have everything except it was presented in a different way to that which was presented on the screen. I think it could be really helpful if it matched. Or if not, perhaps the tutor could just say that we do actually have all the info in the handouts, and what is seen on screen might be presented a little differently. I think considering how many people were on the course, it was excellently run which cannot be so easy on Zoom and not being face-to-face. I’m much looking forward to the other workshops. Thanks again!

  25. Sarah Swanton, Solution Focused Hypnotherapist & Psychotherapist

    I found it an incredibly practical day, with the right blend of teaching, group exercises and group discussion including Q&A. I particularly enjoyed the way Denise used many (anonymous) examples of cases from her own practice, where it’s evident that this approach to lifting depression has been transformative for so many people, and has undoubtedly saved lives, literally. I came away feeling confident, hopeful and quietly excited about restarting my private practice in the coming months.

  26. Wellness Coach

    This is a great course. It provides essential insight, outline and structure for working with clients who present with depression as their predominant experience.

  27. Counsellor

    Very useful and adaptable practical skills.

  28. Philip Carr-Gomm, Psychotherapist

    An excellent workshop that has a great deal to offer people new to the field as well as professionals.

  29. Derith Powell, Mindfulness Teacher & Coach

    I found the course useful with lots of relevant information provided.
    It was well facilitated, encouraging the participation of all attendees but not forcing anyone to contribute. The content was insightful and of a high standard and the pace of the day was good. There was limited time to learn from the experience of participants because there was a lot of information to cover in a relatively short period of time. The atmosphere was relaxed and conducive to learning with everyone’s input valued. I think it achieved what it set out to do and I’m sure that everyone will have a better understanding of depression and its treatment as a result of the course.

  30. Training to become HG Therapist

    This is the 3rd live online course I have completed with Human Givens and I have to say that this is my favourite. We learnt lots of interesting things about depression, but it was also immensely helpful seeing these principles being put into practice in a video with Joe Griffin having a session with a client – very useful and helpful to see

  31. James Stanney, Senior Wellbeing Centre Advisor

    Nice mixture of Broader Human Givens ethos and approach, underpinned with cited research followed by practical techniques and anecdotal situations. Nice use of Zoom, and practical consideration for small group work to embed conversations and techniques.

  32. Leslie R Staines, Retired Probation Officer

    The course took you step by step through the actual practitioner/ client process of a first session. Each step was examined and explained. Time was given for break out groups to experience the process. This was followed by an actual video of a live recorded session of Joe Griffin interaction with a client attending suffering from depression. Prior to all this, the underlying principles and concepts of the Human Given approach to Counselling was articulated in the Innate human needs and resources that we all have when born.

  33. George Bower, HG Diploma Student

    A great follow on from the self study stage 1 diploma course on Lifting Depression. Denise keeps a good pace throughout the day, engages actively with participants and the break out workgroups give a fantastic opportunity to discuss & reflect with other participants. Built around the Human Givens (Emotional Needs & Innate Resources) and the RIGAAR model the day offers practical insights in working with depression in a pragmatic and scientifically backed way. Getting a client to feel positive that road to a better life in the first session is so important.

  34. Aneta Kwiatkowska, Pedagogue /kitchen manager

    Very interesting and practical.

  35. Julia Ellis, Retired LA Homelessness/ Housing Advisor

    This course and the techniques used are positively life changing. Practical skills in using the RIGAAR model, the importance of relaxation and guided imagery, understanding REM sleep and a complete psychobiological explanation for clinical depression. How all of these practical skills can significantly improve our health and wellbeing swiftly, reducing the need for antidepressants, highlighting the importance of early intervention. A fascinating course.

  36. Lise Bratton, Book editor, designer, artist

    As I follow each course in Part 1 of the Diploma, I have a sense that the Human Givens organising ideas and psychological knowledge are incrementally developing my understanding of good mental health. With the usual rehearsal of our human needs and resources (which also makes this course useful to anyone interested in the Human Givens), How to Lift Depression really did deliver on the “practical skills you need” to achieve and maintain good mental health – for yourself and for others.

  37. General Practitioner

    For me this is refreshing in it’s non medicalised understanding of depression as a consequence of needs not being met.

  38. Patryk Kwiatkowski, Pedagogue/Assistant Manager

    Superbly organised, well balanced amount of knowledge and practice exercises.

  39. Jennifer Loudon, International Programs Manager

    An extremely informative and practical day combined knowledge with working through how to apply that knowledge in a “real live” case. Denise and Arlene are warm, welcoming and professional and are great ambassadors for Human Givens.

  40. VERONICA WILLIAMS, Trainer

    This is my second course with Denise and she hasn’t let me down. She is skilled in her topic, style and delivery and I highly recommend you do any courses with her name on it.

  41. Susannah Bolt, Consultant

    Really useful informative course exploring brief and effective solutions for depression.

  42. IT Solution Architect

    This was the first time I’ve attended an online (or in person) course of this nature, I found it really informative, well paced and a challenge at times. I’m looking forward to the next one I go to.

  43. Geologist and trainee Ecotherapist

    The online “How to lift depression” live training with Denise was a full day of content focused on the practise tools needed. Both Denise and her facilitator Arlene were excellent and skilful in the material and keeping a large group on track!

  44. Pauline Ronan, Teacher

    Denise, as always, is captivating in her delivery. I really enjoy the explanation of why depression forms and the links to our evolutionary biology. I really look forward to the next session.

  45. Dance artist, choreographer

    ‘How to lift depression’ course was very insightful. The concepts were approached in simple and clear ways, making the day very impactful.

  46. Mindfulness Teacher, Therapist & Coach

    Denise is brilliant. The course was informative & straightforward.

  47. Sean O’Callaghan, Retired teacher

    Very informative and well-structured learning opportunities provided.

  48. Jenny Annetts, Local Government Officer

    I found the day to be very illuminating with loads of practical tips to take away that anyone can use to help themselves or someone else with depression. The online breakout groups worked well & I didn’t feel at all disadvantaged doing the training via zoom rather than in person. Denise was an excellent teacher and facilitator and made it very easy to understand. Thanks to Arlene who ensured it all went smoothly and everyone who attended – I learnt lots from you all.

  49. Charles Curry-Hyde, Architect

    The examples from Denise and case studies were a very useful addition to the written HG material on this subject.

  50. Emma, Counsellor

    Why didn’t I learn about this on my counselling course?! At last I finally have a handle on depression and how to treat it – can’t thank you all enough.

  51. HTLA, Behaviour support

    The interpersonal, cognitive and behavioural techniques needed to lift depression were very useful and are brilliant tools to help me work more effectively with my clients. Also embedding further the use of guided imagery. A great practical day.

  52. Sandy, Carer

    Immensely helpful. Such a neat understanding supported with rich examples and facts … all held together with a clear route to diagnosis and treatment plus the therapeutic skills needed to bring about the best outcome for the patient.

  53. Fine Artist

    I had very interesting insights today on issues that I have been dealing with for some time. I have read from books and I was familiar with the HG ideas, but the training day highlighted the points and made things clearer. We all need this knowledge very much, even if we are not therapists. Knowledge brings clarity.

  54. Psychotherapist

    The framework of the information is strong and evidence-based which appeals greatly.

  55. Priest

    A very helpful and informative day, delivered in an engaging and humourous way.

  56. Occupational Therapist

    This was my second course with HG and I am very taken by its commonsense approach. Can definitely see its huge potential for use in my profession and will continue attending other workshops/sessions.

  57. Student Mentor

    The power of guided imagery was impressive and something that would be useful for me to explore. The course was well set out and conducive to learning – totally absorbing and enjoyable.

  58. Counselling Psychologist

    This has been the clearest explanation of the causes and symptoms of depression I’ve heard – it makes perfect sense and I can immediately see how my clients will benefit.

  59. Children’s Service Officer

    Really inspiring – thank you.

  60. Lecturer / Trainer and Psychotherapist

    The new material on bipolar and postpartum depression was first class! The style and use of case studies did not disappoint and have triggered ways of helping my students and clients by giving me the ‘breathing space’ I needed, through listening to a valuable presentation.

  61. Youth Worker

    Today has been invaluable. My understanding of depression has soared and I can already see how helpful this is going to be in my work.

  62. Teaching Assistant and Emotional Literacy Support Assistant

    The information about how depression may present in adolescents was very useful to me as I work in a secondary school.

  63. GP/Young Person’s Charity Health Leader

    Very useful and practical day – brought a lot of strands from different days together. Very interesting information on sleep, insomnia and the biology of neurophysiology.

  64. Occupational Therapist

    All the information about excessive REM sleep and how it links with depression is so interesting. I love the Human Givens approach – so useful for myself as well as how I interact with work colleagues, patients and family. Thanks for yet another great day’s training.

  65. Consultant Psychiatrist

    Totally absorbing. Confirmed my disquiet about the medical model of depression.

  66. Occupational Therapist

    I’ve been looking for an effective way to treat depression for years – and now finally here it is!

  67. Carer

    Immensely helpful. Such a neat understanding supported with rich examples and facts … all held together with a clear route to diagnosis and treatment plus the therapeutic skills needed to bring about the best outcome for the patient.

  68. Support Worker Home Treatment NHS

    I have worked in a community team for a good number of years, but I’ve learned far more today than on other training courses I have attended. Found the day really informative and it will definitely enhance my practice.

  69. Mental Health Nurse

    Thank you – I know I’m going away from today with life-saving skills.

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