the haven
The Online Village for Sensitive Souls and Other Gentle Rebels
Gentle Rebel (noun)
/ˈdʒɛnt(ə)l ˈrɛb(ə)l/
- A person who embodies the qualities of gentleness and rebellion, often characterised by a deep sensitivity to the world around them and a desire to challenge societal norms when necessary in pursuit of connection, justice, and integrity.
- A highly sensitive individual who combines a firm back (strength, values, and principles) with a soft front (openness, compassion, and care), enabling them to respond thoughtfully and creatively to life’s challenges without resorting to impulsive reactions or avoidance.
- Someone who forges a new path by rejecting the status quo when it no longer serves their values, creating a way of being that aligns with their natural rhythms, needs, and preferences.
Hi, I’m Andy Mort and I'm delighted to welcome you to The Haven. This is an online village for highly sensitive people, deep thinkers, and introverts.
Since 2014, The Haven is a place for gentle rebels to meet, explore, and create alongside one another without judgment, pressure, or the weight of expectation. It’s somewhere to (re)discover, befriend, and come home to who you are beneath the protective layers you might have built up over time while trying to conform to a world that doesn’t always value your natural sensitivity and pace.
What is The Haven?
I created The Haven as one of the early online communities for highly sensitive people and introverts to be alongside folk like them. Over the years, I’ve been lucky to meet so many incredible people here, each with their own story to tell. I absolutely love hanging out with and getting to know members over time through our regular gatherings and community areas.
It's evident to me that while our need for time and space to process may influence our preferences and beliefs, highly sensitive people are all very different (in the best possible way). It is a trait found across cultures, backgrounds, and experiences, we get to enjoy a range of different ways HSP's creatively engage with their sensitivity.
It is not an identity or personality type and there is no such thing as a "typical" HSP. But this is why there’s something special about being in a group of them - I hope you’ll come and experience that for yourself.
HSPs are often naturally gentle rebels. We don’t fit neatly into boxes or categories and are deeply attuned to particular happenings in the world around us.
In The Haven, we reinforce and nurture gentle rebellion by:
- Strengthening Our Firm Back and Soft Front: Meeting the challenges of the world through our sensitivity, listening, staying open, and holding difficult things with care, while standing firm in our values and principles.
- Building a Library of Responses: Developing thoughtful, intentional ways to respond to life’s uncertainties, adversities, and conflicts, rather than reacting impulsively or avoiding action altogether.
- Forging a New Path: Going against the path of least resistance set by societal norms and creating a way of being that aligns with our natural rhythms, needs, and preferences (forging a NEW path of least resistance).
- Connecting With The World: It's not about retreating into knowledge about high sensitivity and staying there. Instead, we seek to raise understanding and awareness so we can be a positively sensitive presence in the places, situations, and communities that matter to us.
What You Will Find Inside
The Haven is a space to connect, create, and grow in ways that feel right for you. Here’s what you’ll find:
- A Welcoming Community: Hang out with me and others who truly “get” you and share your experiences in a private, judgment-free setting.
- Creative Exploration: Whether you’re developing a craft, exploring everyday creativity, or using art to process emotions, you’ll find gentle, low-pressure ways to express yourself.
- Personal Growth: Access resources, tools, and coaching to help you understand and embrace your innate sensitivity as a pathway for flourishing in your environments, projects, and relationships.
- Live Gatherings: Join me at our regular events to connect, learn, and explore the contours of a range of structured gatherings...note there is always the potential for detours into unpredictable and absurd landscapes, underpinned by a contagious laughter and sense of playfulness. I can't help myself - and when the defenses come down, neither can others!
What You Will Find Outside
If you’re not ready to become a full member, there are plenty of free resources to explore:
Gentle Rebel Podcast: Dive into conversations about sensitivity, creativity, and gentle rebellion.
The Haven Blog: Reflections, insights, and creative tools for navigating life as an HSP.
The Library: An archive of articles, videos, interviews, and prompts to explore at your own pace (you'll find many posts in the public domain).
The HSP Owner's Guide: Do you ever wish an instruction manual existed for your (or other people's) highly sensitive temperament? We created one!
Come and join us!
Interested but unsure if The Haven is the right fit for you (or if you're the right fit for The Haven)? These questions will help you work that out.
Ready to join? I'd love to welcome you in and show you around!
Current Member? Sign-in here
Take a Look Around
The social element of The Haven offers different ways to engage with like-spirited Havenites around the world.
Remember when social media used to be a place to hear what people were up to during the day? Or when something caught your attention, and you wanted to share it with people who might appreciate it? The Haven Timeline provides space to playfully engage like this. And, you won't find noisy algorithms and adverts anywhere! You have full control over what you want to see and how you want to express yourself.
The Forum is somewhere to slow down and dive into deeper, longer, meandering discussions that we can return to and build on over time.
Our live online events allow members to connect over Zoom. Everyone is welcome to observe and absorb the safe and gentle vibe, whether or not you wish to get actively involved in the discussions.
Our ever-evolving library of resources is curated to inspire, equip, and encourage deep thinkers and highly sensitive people in accordance with the latest research. The materials support deepening self-awareness and growth through often accidental creativity, playfulness, and adventure.
In our book club, we take slow, deep dives into different books (new and old). Maybe there's something you would love to read alongside others. It would be great to hear about it!
The archive contains articles, videos, workshops, ambient soundscapes, and live music. Andy brings his creative passion and expertise as a coach, songwriter, and performer to help members find their creative voice amidst life's noise.
Step away from the busyness and disturbances of everyday life and rest. There are coaching options to suit your needs.
A range of self-paced courses guide you to identify how you want life to look, overcome challenges, and achieve meaningful goals in accordance with your sensitive temperament.
Our group sessions, conversations, and workshops provide opportunities to engage with the hive mind and get fresh perspectives on familiar topics.
The One-to-One program includes personalised calls with Andy alongside materials for use between sessions to deepen your relationship with your creative spirit, let go of unhelpful voices, and accomplish your aims on YOUR terms and in YOUR way.
Founder and Creative Co-ordinator
Here's a little more about me...I am a professionally qualified coach (I like the term 'Slow Coach'), songwriter, and sound artist. I facilitate creative and restful spaces to support deep thinkers and highly sensitive people to process life and express their unique sound in meaningful ways.
My life has been full of professional and personal creative projects (music, writing, animation, podcast production, film making, web development, building The Haven, coaching etc). I also spent six years working in a funeral home as an undertaker. It helped me grow as an individual and taught me a huge amount about the things that matter most to us in life.
I love what The Haven has become since 2014. It is a beautifully welcoming, encouraging, and accepting home for quietly strong and highly sensitive folk, where we can celebrate our imperfections, ordinary silliness, and weird depths together. I love connecting with everyone, whether they pop in, pass through, or choose to unpack and stay a while. It never ceases to reinforce my faith in humanity!
I could not run The Haven without the help and support of my great friend, Tuula, who I first met when she joined back in July 2014. She has been an invaluable presence around the community ever since.
Assistant Co-ordinator and Sous Chef
Hei, I'm Tuula. I love learning, mystic souls, deep sounds, ice photography, accidental mentoring, witty humour and long lists. The Haven is my soul’s home with many memories, stories, growth, friends, love and music.
Throughout my career, I have mainly worked in visual design, online learning design, and content development and production. I have also always been interested in studying human nature, continuously learning also about myself as I go. Somewhat unintentionally, while deeply involved in establishing the Finnish HSP Association in 2014, I founded Erityisherkän Elämää (Highly Sensitive Living), which is a resource website for Highly Sensitive People and professionals working with HSP's in Finland.
I also co-created and now run Photoyoga (also here inside the Haven), a concept that encourages creative awareness and self-knowledge through photography.
I love this opportunity to collaborate with Andy at the Haven. I deeply appreciate his multifaceted wisdom and his ability to create a supportive and safe environment where everyone feels accepted and capable of growing at their own pace. I have to mention Andy’s playful creativity! Thanks to him, I have found those in myself, too.