Highly Sensitive Person Retreat

The HSP retreat will be held from Thursday 12th June until Sunday 15th June at the beautiful estate of Selgars Mill. Selgars Mill is a beautiful converted 19th Century mill house with cottages, set in eight acres of secluded grounds in the Culm Valley in Mid Devon.

Are you a Highly Sensitive Person?

Research tells us that 20-30% of the population are HSPs. We are born into this world with a unique set of traits that offer us depth of processing, empathy, and sensitivity to subtleties. We have great capacities and gifts to share with the world, but unfortunately, because of the fast-paced and overstimulating world we live in, many HSPs can struggle with overwhelm and anxiety and feel like they don’t quite belong. It can be difficult to articulate how we really feel and what our unique needs are. 

There are so many retreats and workshops available for social-emotional well-being and spiritual development, yet they are not built for the temperament of high sensitivity. They can often feel overwhelming with not enough ‘downtime' and can leave you feeling more exhausted than when you started! 

This is why we founded and created the HSP Retreat UK and are now expanding our offering to include regular in-person day retreats and workshops for our community.

What others are saying...

'It was such an uplifting experience, conversations and connections flowed so naturally, because we could all relate to and understand each others interests, needs and desires, so instantly. The space was beautifully held, with so many nurturing activities, and amazing food, all really well paced and considered.

(Alex Wilding - Child Arts Counsellor / Entrepreneur, London)

The HSP retreat was a life changer for me.  I walked into the retreat feeling that I have suffered from social anxiety, and walked out realizing that I don't have a problem after all. 

(Betsy, US)

Jules and Genevieve, the way you hold space, the quite, soft strength you both radiate, the unconditional respect and love you offer flowed throughout the entire weekend - and before and after. Your thoughtfulness in the poems, the words spoken, the meditations and music you both shared that were so beautifully in alignment with each element of the sessions, were what I am most grateful for/enjoyed the most. I also loved the dance session held by Josh, which was also hugely awakening for me.

(Lottie, UK - Breathwork Facilitator & Wellness Mentor @naturallylottie)

‘Thank you to everyone for the part you played in making this weekend what it was 🙏🏻 I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for helping to co-create the incredibly nourishing, healing and transformative experience that it was’

‘What a journey. What a rollercoaster. What an experience. Thank you so much everyone, sending so so soooo much love to you all’ 💛💛

‘Thank you to everyone for the part you played in making this weekend what it was 🙏🏻 I’m so grateful to each and every one of you for helping to co-create the incredibly nourishing, healing and transformative experience that it was’

Why Join us?

As Highly Sensitive People, we know just how important it is to come together in community and connect with like-minded people. This is why we are so excited to offer this Highly Sensitive Person Retreat for HSP where we have a unique opportunity to engage in holistic wellbeing activities, express our authentic selves and find ways to feel supported and nourished by each other. The retreat balances workshops, embodied activities such as yoga, dance and meditation. Time for connection through sharing circles and fireside songs and sound healing. There is also time to immerse in nature and free time to simply relax, rest and soak in the environment.

Check-in and Check-out Times

Check-in is between 1-3pm on Thursday, 13th June, followed by our opening circle, dinner and our evening fire ceremony. We then have another three full days on Friday and Saturday and Sunday where checkout will be 5pm on Sunday.

What's Included

Guided Mindfulness and Meditation

Throughout the retreat you'll be led through a series of guided meditations designed specifically for HSP to soothe and regulate the nervous system and help you to access expanded states of consciousness for greater wellbeing and spiritual connection.

Workshops on Highly Sensitive People

Jules and Genevieve will offer an informative workshop to help us explore our lived experience of high sensitivity, clarify the definitions of HSP and explore tools to support us with the more challenging aspects of being an HSP so we can access our gifts and capacities.

Sacred Sharing Circle

Including poetry and songs, we'll be creating a safe and supportive space for us to share and connect with each other in the depth and capacity that so many of us long for as a HSP.

Cacao Ceremony and Sound Bath

We'll be offering a cacao ceremony to access and open our hearts before guiding you through a healing and transformative sound bath with Tibetan bowls, crystal bowls and other instruments. The sounds will be gentle and soothing and adapted for those of us with sensitive nervous systems.

Ecstatic & Conscious Dance

Josh Silver from Ecstatic Dance Bristol will guide us through a deeply healing dance, sharing his meditative and sacred sounds. This practice is extremely liberating and transformative for those of us who are seeking a space to tap into the deeper aspects of ourselves.

Closing Circle & Tools to Take Home

We'll wrap up the retreat with a closing circle and check-in, reflecting on the tools and experiences that have stuck with us from the day. The intention is to leave the retreat with long-lasting memories, tools, resources and friendships that will stay with you for a long time.

Daily Schedule

The scheduled events will vary each day but include the following: ecstatic dance, sound baths, breath work, nature activities, wild swimming, singing, yoga, meditation, workshops on High Sensitivity, sharing circles and cozy fire-side gatherings in the evening. All activities are optional and you'll also have plenty of time to relax in nature.

8.00 - 9.15am - Yoga or Breathwork

9 - 10.30am - Breakfast

10.30- 12am Community sharing circle (small pod sharing)

12.30 - 1.30pm - Lunch

2 - 3.30pm - Afternoon Activity

4.30 - 6.00 - Yoga/Dance or Breath work

6.00 - 7.30 - Dinner

7.30 - 9.30 - Evening activity

What you'll receive by attending the HSP Retreat

You'll leave the retreat feeling:

Validated about your lived experience of being a Highly Sensitive Person

Clear on what it means to be a HSP and able to communicate this with your loved ones

More attuned, relaxed and realigned with your authentic highly sensitive self

More confident and able to express your authenticity with the world

Connected to a supportive community of other like minded people

Resourced with a range of trauma-informed tools for navigating overwhelm and regulating your nervous system

The Facilitators

As the founders of the HSP retreat’s UK, Dr Genevieve von Lob and Jules De Vitto are two of the leading global experts in high sensitivity and have spent decades researching and studying the trait of high sensitivity.

Dr Genevieve von Lob

Clinical Psychologist and Parenting Coach

Genevieve is a clinical psychologist, conscious parenting coach and author. After 15 years working in the NHS, private practice in Harley Street and inside big corporations, she wrote two parenting books with Penguin, including ‘Five Deep Breaths: The Power of Mindful Parenting.’

Genevieve is one of the leading experts in the UK on high sensitivity in children, with regular appearances in the media including BBC Woman’s Hour, Channel 4 and The Guardian and has appeared on webinars with Sensitivity Research. Genevieve specialises in working with highly sensitive children and their parents. She is the author of “The Resonant Parenting Project,” and “The HSP Revolution.”

In the 20 years since Genevieve qualified as a psychologist, Genevieve has helped hundreds of people from all walks of life transform trauma and stress into a greater sense of confidence, ease and flow.

But her own healing journey has taught her that a supportive community can be the catalyst for transformation on a whole new level.

Born to a single mother in an alternative community in the east of England, Genevieve’s earliest experiences of feeling safe and protected in a village-like atmosphere laid the foundations for her later professional interest in community healing spaces.

While earning her psychology doctorate, Genevieve wrote a thesis on the psychological benefits of group singing. But it was only in her late 20s, when she was starting to confront unresolved traumas and losses from her own past, that she began to discover the true power of healing in community.

Over a period of several years, Genevieve explored countless healing modalities, investigating everything from nature connection to shamanic drumming, sound bowls and ecstatic dance. When she stumbled upon a sweat lodge ceremony in Oxfordshire in southern England, she finally understood what it meant to feel truly safe and held. The community there was so supportive that for the first time she truly felt comfortable being vulnerable in front of others, and never felt judged. Nobody stepped in to try to fix or rescue – but they did bear witness, and it was in that space that Genevieve did some of the most profound work on herself.

Running retreats for highly sensitive people represents the fulfillment of a vision that Genevieve has held ever since that time – of creating healing spaces where people can find sanctuary, connect and learn from others on the same journey, and rediscover who they really are.

Jules De Vitto

Transpersonal Coach, Trainer and Educator

Jules De Vitto has a BSc in Psychology, MA in Education and MSc in Transpersonal Psychology, Consciousness and Spirituality and is an accredited transpersonal coach, trainer and experienced educator. She is the founder of the Highly Sensitive Human Academy - a central hub that offers courses, coaching, articles and a podcast for Highly Sensitive People. She is a leading expert in the field of high sensitivity and helps those who identify with the traits of to navigate emotional overwhelm, step into their authentic power and align with their true purpose in life.

She is a published author and wrote one of a series of books on Resilience, Navigating Loss in a time of Crisis. Her research has also been published in the Transpersonal Coaching Psychology Journal and Journal of Consciousness, Spirituality, and Transpersonal Psychology.

In addition to her academic and coaching pursuits, Jules has spent years engaging in deep transformative healing work. She is a Reiki Master and Teacher and has completed Michael Harner’s Shamanic Practitioner Training through the Foundation of Shamanic Studies and a Grief Ritual Leadership Training with Francis Weller. She offers holistic sound baths with Tibetan Singing Bowls, a ancient healing modality she studied in a monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Jules is passionate about creating community for Highly Sensitive People and embracing the full spectrum of our emotional and sensory capacities rather than trying to ‘fix’ ourselves. Deepening the connection to our sensitivity enables us to open our hearts and form better relationships with ourselves, others and the world.

As an expert in the field of high sensitivity, her writing has been featured in SAND and Highly Sensitive Refuge and she has been invited to speak on the Sensitive SEO Podcast, Quiet and Strong Podcast and the Healthy Sensitive Podcast.

Healthy, Nutritious Vegetarian Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner is included and we'll be providing Homemade Vegetarian cuisines provided by Leon Lewis, using healthy ingredients such as handpicked wild food, fresh fruit and vegetables and high quality wholefoods. Gluten-free and dairy-free diets will be catered for.

Alan Piatek

Breathwork Sessions & Group Space Holder

Alan is a certified Systemic Coach, NLP Practitioner, and YACEP Yoga Alliance Breathwork instructor. With a deep passion for working with people, he guides them to a healthier, more balanced, and more meaningful life. His coaching is rooted in research and evidence-based methods that prioritize tangible results over empty promises and draws upon a combination of ancient wisdom and modern coaching techniques. Originally from Berlin, Alan has lived several years in Portugal, where he has also worked and practiced at a research-led mindfulness and wellness retreat center. He will be facilitating men's groups and providing introductory workshops to breathwork, using his knowledge to deepen the power of the mind-body connection and cultivate useful skills to navigate life's challenges with more ease.

Josh Silver

Conscious Dance Session

Josh will be facilitating a conscious dance session. Josh’s life dream is to bring dance to the collective as a medicine as he truly believes in the healing power of movement and music! Josh’s dance spaces are often referred to as joyful and playful and nothing brings him greater joy in life than to see you, the dancer, expressing yourself through movement! Josh has been DJ’ing for two decades and involved with Conscious Dance practices since discovering 5 Rhythms in 2015. Josh has been running “Dancing the Elements” since the summer of 2021 and has developed his own down-to-earth, intuitive and empathetic style. All music is improvised as a collaboration between you, the dancers, and himself. (Photo Credit: @mo_visual)

Brogan King: Retreat Yoga Teacher

Yoga Teacher

Brogan is a certified Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga Teacher. While working in a highly stressful job in education, Brogan fell in love with yoga as a way of dropping deeper into the parasympathetic nervous system. After completing her Hatha and Ashtanga yoga teacher training in Kerela, India, Brogan has been sharing her knowledge and is passionate about creating welcoming spaces for beginners to explore and, most importantly, invite play! As a qualified art teacher, yogi and enthusiastic gardener, she is now working with the Ministry of Justice to improve the lives of prisoners.

Purchase your Ticket & Accommodation

Please select your chosen accommodation below. Use the code 'HSH10' for your early-bird discount.

All tickets include accommodation, all meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), all activities, a team of facilitators, unlimited tea/coffee and full access to all site facilities. If you would like to set up a payment plan to pay in 2,3 or 6 monthly instalments please email hspretreat@gmail.com.