Meet the Founders
Meet the people behind HSPconnect
Between us, we bring many years of experience, care, and thought to creating a space where highly sensitive people can feel understood, supported, and less alone.
HSPconnect has grown from both professional expertise and lived experience, with a shared commitment to depth, gentleness, and genuine community.
Cindy’s journey
Many of us are living through a crisis of friendship. Not a lack of people exactly, but a lack of deep, steady, nourishing connection. HSPconnect exists to change that.
If you have felt too much, too sensitive, or too alone, this is for you.
This is a community for Highly Sensitive People who want more than occasional chats or surface level belonging. It is a space where care, respect, emotional maturity, and genuine mutual support are actively cultivated, so relationships can grow over time, not just in a single event or one off conversation.
Cindy is an HSP and a UKCP registered psychotherapist, practising since 2002. Her work for the last 15 years has specialised in supporting Highly Sensitive People, with training from Elaine Aron, Jacquelyn Strickland, and Barbara Allen. Alongside one to one therapy, she has spent many years holding groups, teaching, and creating spaces where sensitive people can feel understood without having to over explain themselves.
The community is also shaped by a love of nature and spirituality. Cindy trained as a Work That Reconnects facilitator with Joanna Macy in 2009 and was mentored for many years by Malidoma Patrice Somé. She coordinates therapeutic support for the Climate Psychology Alliance, supporting those living with eco distress and the emotional weight of our times.
HSPconnect is grounded in a clear commitment to anti racism and decolonisation. If you identify as Black, Asian, or from a Minority Ethnic culture, you are especially welcome here.
Cindy formed this community from the foundation of a large HSP community she has been running since 2011, with regular gatherings and community meetings. HSPconnect takes that further by offering a place to build real relationships over time, through ongoing circles, teaching, and shared practices that strengthen trust and belonging.
The hope is simple. That sensitive people find their people, and that community becomes a source of steadiness, joy, and resilience. If that is what you have been longing for, you are warmly invited to join.
Cindy Gale
My therapy practice is at cindygalehsp.com
Priyal’s journey
For Priyal Shah, sensitivity has always been a source of insight and courage. Raised in a Jain family shaped by non-violence and spiritual depth, he has spent his life exploring how ancient wisdom can support modern sensitive souls. As a Yoga Ācārya and facilitator of The Work That Reconnects, he brings a grounded, embodied approach to sensitivity — one that restores balance, steadiness, and belonging in a world that can feel overwhelming.
At HSPconnect, Priyal is committed to co-creating a community where we lean into our sensitivity together rather than navigating life alone. He believes deeply in interdependence, collective care, and the power of community to transform despair into courage. His invitation is simple: let’s build a movement of sensitive people who support one another, lift one another, and remember that gentleness is not a retreat from the world — it is a way of shaping it.
Connect with Priyal at HSPGURU on Instagram
Find your people
Find and connect with other Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) either online or in-person. Feel supported and validated in your sensitivity. Create friendships and collaborations with other HSPs who share similar interests to you.
