Welcome to The Haven, a virtual home where highly sensitive people can find space and support to rest, re-frame, and rebuild from the inside out. It's a refuge for weary travellers gently rebellious souls looking for a calmer rhythm, a friendly support network, and a deep breath of playful creativity.
Rest
You Have Permission To Slow Down, Pause, and Know That You Are Enough Just As You Are
Reframe
Rewrite your story through the lens of your sensitivity - a different way of processing, valuing, and encountering the world
Build
Establish rhythms and routines that work for YOU in accordance with YOUR goals and desires
- Are your batteries more prone to draining quickly when there's a lot going on, unlike others?
- Do unfamiliar noises, smells, and sounds in your surroundings easily distract you, while others seem oblivious?
- Does your nervous system become jittery and stressed when you feel like you're being watched?
- When faced with a threat or dangerous situation, do you naturally tend to freeze or hide?
- Have you ever questioned if there's something wrong with you because you often prefer familiar surroundings while others are always on the go trying new things?
- Taking time to observe and think before making decisions or taking action — would that be your natural preference?
If any of that sounds familiar, you may be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).
What Does This Mean For You?
This provides transformational awareness and understanding so you can create conditions for a life that works for you (in partnership-not conflict-with your natural temperament)
You have a temperamental trait called Sensory Processing Sensitivity, which means:
- You have a wide sensory aperture (lots of sensory information pours in)
- You process that information deeply (harvesting for useful data to help keep you biologically safe and primed for survival)
- You are emotionally attuned to the environment (you might feel things deeply and pick up on emotions and moods in other people)
- You might notice subtleties that others seem to overlook (tastes, smells, sounds, textures, and sights)
It's a basic survival strategy found in 20% of humans and over 100 different species, built around...
- Observing/noticing (data gathering) before choosing effective, creative, and intelligent courses of action to ensure collective survival/thriving
- Cooperation/collaboration (strength - and peaceful co-existence in community)
- Nurturing well adjusted and emotionally stable future generations (to grow into a healthy collective culture)
If you have sensory processing sensitivity, you will experience the world differently from around 80% of people. When not understood, appreciated, or validated in a society, it can leave sensitive people feeling like there is something fundamentally wrong with them.
But...there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. And the surprising news is...there are actually loads of us! You'll find HSPs in every walk of life. It doesn't need to stop us doing what matters most in life.
It can take a village to encourage, inspire, and support a healthy and happily sensitive person.
And it's never too late to write the next chapter of our story.
The Haven is the perfect place to do just that!
I'm Andy Mort. I am an ambient sound artist, songwriter, and professionally qualified life coach (I prefer to call myself a 'Slow Coach'). I love making spaces for weary travellers who are exhausted by the pace and pressure of modern existence. I help gentle rebels and sensitive souls connect with their creative spirit and find sustainable rhythms to build life on.
The Haven began life in 2014 as somewhere for me to connect with other quietly creative and sensitive souls.
The world felt noisy and chaotic and I felt inspired to build somewhere we could slow down to explore the deeper parts of life. I wanted to share a space with other "gentle rebels" so we could figure out (and experiment together), in designing habits, environments, and lifestyles in sync with our natural rhythms and preferences.
It's been a professional passion project ever since!
A Safe Haven
Havenites (what we sometimes call ourselves around here), often describe the community as a place of safety. So what does that safety look, feel, and sound like?
Here in The Haven, safety gives us freedom to:
- Be/explore/express ourselves and figure out what that means (even when it's messy and chaotic)
- Connect in good faith (without fear of judgement) with others.
- Try things, make mistakes, and grow by embracing the joy of imperfection.
- Change our minds and recognise and replace old beliefs that no longer work for us.
This sense of safety emerges from the inside out when we can connect in a grounding and calming environment. When we begin from a rested state and release the urgency, panic, and scarcity that underpins so much of modern life.
I am mindful about creating and maintaining conditions for this spirit to move through everything we do in our village spaces, live happenings, creative collaborations, and ambient soundscapes.
We can learn to befriend our naturally sensitive nervous system in order to look after ourselves and work towards important goals in sustainable ways. That's what we do here. Through personal connection, encouragement, and support, as well as resources, tools, and practices, The Haven gives us somewhere to pause. A place where we can step back from the noisy pressures of an overwhelming world, connect with ourselves and others, and grow lives on meaningful and sustainable foundations from the inside out.
Most importantly, it's somewhere to be ourselves in rest. To play, laugh, and create, alongside like-minded people.
Here In The Haven, I Invite You To:
Rest (you have permission to slow down, pause, and receive acceptance at the level of being)
Reframe (rewrite your story through the lens of your sensitivity - a different way of processing, valuing, and encountering the world)
Rebuild (establish rhythms and routines that work for you in accordance with your goals and desires)
Whether you need some respite from life's noise, want inspiration for what could happen next, or you'd like to connect with "your people", you're in the right place.
Our library of resources, conversation forums, play prompts, and live happenings will help you come home to yourself, connect with like-spirited people, and gently ignite your creative spark.
Doors Are Open
Take a Look Around The Haven | Map and Audio Tour
This narrative soundscape takes you on a journey around the village.
Inside The Haven Village
The membership is built around a virtual village. With a Theatre, Library, Café, Fireside, and Kota, you'll find lots of space to reconnect with yourself, as well as a variety of places to meet other people.
Ready To Join Us?
Who You Will Find Inside
The community is full of friendly faces and gentle souls. We would love to welcome you in and help you feel at home.
If you need anything during your stay, Andy and Tuula are usually somewhere nearby.
Founder and Creative Co-ordinator
Assistant Co-ordinator and Sous Chef
