A Raglan health professional is at the centre of an ambitious drive to fund a health outcome study that he says could revolutionise mental healthcare in New Zealand.
The anaesthetist turned havening expert, Dr Robin Youngson, launched a crowdfunding campaign – Transforming Mental Healthcare through People Power – a month ago.
But while the PledgeMe page has raised well over $10,000, he says it will be “a real push now” to meet the minimum target of $28,000 by the middle of next week.
“If it’s not fully funded we can’t go ahead,” he told the Chronicle on Monday.
Dr Youngson practises a cutting-edge form of trauma therapy called havening techniques from his clinic at the top of Stewart St – treating Raglan residents for free – and believes a study will lead to mainstream health services’ buy-in, which in turn will benefit people in need of mental healthcare.
He heads a team of six mental health professionals and doctors who would help with the study design and oversee the project, using an innovative app to “directly measure the changes in the lives of the people we are trying to help”.
The purpose-built app would gather anonymous data from thousands of participants and, Dr Youngson believes, quickly accumulate evidence in support of havening – a process he describes as “more compassionate and healing” than mainstream medicine for disorders like anxiety and depression
“We believe that if havening is adopted widely, it could transform mental healthcare in New Zealand.”
The app is key to the whole project, says Dr Youngson, tracking as it does real-life changes in individual clients who give daily feedback on their symptoms and level of wellbeing.
“We can also measure physiological changes in those who use wearable devices like Apple Watch or Fitbit, and administer standardised measures for … mental wellbeing,” he adds. “These changes in outcomes can be correlated with the timing of the havening therapy.”
In the four years since being certified as a havening techniques practitioner and trainer, Dr Youngson has gained quite a following in Raglan and beyond. If the PledgeMe project goes ahead, the data collected can be used to advocate for public funding for both training and practice.
Dr Youngson explains that the actual techniques of this alternative therapy are based on three simple forms of human touch which can radically change our brainwaves – that by gently rubbing the hands, shoulders and face the brain is literally rewired to create a strong signal of safety and to remove the effects of trauma.
It’s not woo-woo, he insists. There’s detailed neuroscience behind havening which explains how trauma is stored in the brain and how it can be reversed, right down to the molecular level.
“Our mental health services are in crisis and demand is escalating,” he adds. “We urgently need new therapies, and new ways of proving what works and what doesn’t.”
Dr Youngson has been an advisor to the NZ Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on healthcare quality and patient safety. He is also internationally renowned for his leadership in compassionate healthcare.
In 2016 the NZ Medical Association gave Dr Youngson the Chair’s Award for his “outstanding contribution to the health of New Zealand”.
*pledgeme.co.nz/projects/7478-transforming-mental-health-care-through-people-power
By Edith Symes
