Our Mission

“High Sensitivity” is an evolutionary strategy, meaning that nature employs this approach to life in multiple species throughout the animal kingdom.

Let that sink in for a minute.

People with the evolutionary physiology of high sensitivity have unique physiology and brain function, making them highly aware of both their internal and external environments. As such, they have a unique role to play in human society. And since research has shown that 87% of high IQ or “gifted” individuals have the traits of high sensitivity, they are naturally included in the 30% of the general population who are highly sensitive.

At GiftedConnect our mission is to help highly sensitive individuals learn about nature’s approach to life that is present in their genes and physical makeup. We are interested in helping them identify the unique challenges they face as well as the strengths and gifts that come with high sensitivity.

We are here to:

Promote and enable the identification of highly sensitive and gifted people as early as possible in life in order to facilitate a) their personal health and b) the realization of their potential and contributions to humanity
Support healthy, vibrant individuation in highly sensitive and gifted young adults
Support healing and recovery and resumption of growth for highly sensitive and/or gifted adults who may have not had their traits adequately supported while growing up
Enable recognition and ownership of the value and importance of the genetic, evolutionary traits of high sensitivity and giftedness
Promote in person, real world relationships between highly sensitive and gifted individuals and healthy social lives.
Facilitate the understanding that gifted individuals may need non-standard and unusual pathways for self-actualization. And to provide self-actualization resources for gifted and highly sensitive people.
Advocate for highly sensitive people and gifted individuals. This can be with their parents or at state and federal levels to receive funding, etc.
Work to reduce or eliminate the conflagration of the trait of high sensitivity with the ideas of being “too sensitive” or neurotic or overreactive.
Provide ancillary learning resources to HSPs and gifted individuals to make up for the complete lack of such resources available through mainstream education.
Expose the community to guests that are successful, or highly successful, highly sensitive people and/or gifted individuals
Facilitate the emotional health and balance of society (by acknowledging the need for intelligent and sensitive reflection as critical leadership skills)
A Note from the Founder

Welcome. If you’re considering joining this platform, I want to provide some context for the experience. Let me say first though that if you just want to meet other highly sensitive and/or gifted people, you’re in the right place and it doesn’t have to be any more complex than that. If you are interested in a deeper take, read on.

A Vision for Highly Sensitive People & Gifted Individuals

I had a big “aha” moment as I’ve been reviewing Dr. Elaine Aaron’s work on high sensitivity. There were two pieces of research that jumped out at me:

High sensitivity is an evolutionary strategy present in approximately 25-30% of the population. This strategy has been documented throughout the animal kingdom, not just in humans.
Highly sensitive people raised by skillful mothers tend to be more well adjusted and can go on to become leaders of their group or tribe (as seen in the animal kingdom).
So high sensitivity just might be an evolutionary strategy to produce leaders?

Think about that for a minute.

The challenge being that, if a person doesn’t know they are highly sensitive and what that entails, they can end up struggling very hard to understand themselves and what their contributions are. Part of that struggle is that the evolutionary strategy is emergent, meaning, among other things, that it’s not consciously recognized or understood within society.

I see unrealized potential as a loss, both for the individual, the family, and for the greater community.

So the vision for this site and the project behind it is to come together as highly sensitive people and gifted individuals to:

help each other to know ourselves and the power of our contributions to each other and to society
help each other heal and grow from the difficulties that come with having a highly sensitive ego/body/mind
provide the depth of attention and care to each other that only we are capable of giving
simply share our presence and light with one another
Getting Practical

So what does all that mean, practically speaking?

Enjoying the Company of Highly Sensitive People

I’ve put this site together with the clear intention of helping HSPs and gifted individuals meet each other in the real world. In other words, this project isn’t about creating another online meeting space; it’s about actually bringing people physically together.

Because this platform is brand new, it’s going to take some time for HSPs to find out about it. That’s why if you join now, you’re a leader by default. Welcome.

While we’re all waiting for the community to grow, you can connect with other HSPs who don’t necessarily live near you. The goal though is to begin creating the opportunity for HSPs to find each other locally and be able to meet up in whatever ways they are interested in (i.e., making friends, dating, meeting other HSP parents, or networking).

If you feel aligned with, and maybe even excited about, what you’re reading here, there are some things you can do:

Create an account on the site. It’s likely that not much will happen for a while. But just adding your presence paves the way for others to follow. 
Share the site with other HSPs that you know.
If for some reason you feel particularly motivated to build HSP community in a particular geographic area, you can donate resources to help us raise awareness in your community.
Strong and Healthy Boundaries

Creating an account on this platform means that other people will start being able to find you and connect with you. And just because the focus here is on high sensitivity, that doesn’t mean you should connect with people that you don’t want to connect with.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind:

It’s OK to ignore requests for contact and/or block people from contacting you
The site has tools to block and report users. Users should be reported for not following the community guidelines.
Your site profile allows for a clear boundary statement. “I am open to:” (friendship, dating, meeting other parents, networking). If someone is contacting you in a way that crosses your stated boundaries, simply block them and report them if you wish. Since this site is designed for HS peas, who are by nature more sensitive to boundaries, hopefully that won’t be as necessary as it would elsewhere, but the tools are there for your safety.
Note that just your presence is valuable. Being on the site doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to be meeting people and doing stuff. 

with Love,
John Nicoll
Founder, Gifted Connect