Millions of people navigate both high sensitivity and sensation seeking daily, but professional training resources remain scarce.
Half of all highly sensitive people also score high in sensation seeking. They need recovery time after social events while simultaneously craving novel experiences. They process deeply but get bored easily.
Standard personality assessments don’t account for this combination. Most assume sensitivity means preferring low-stimulation environments. The research shows otherwise.
Weekly one-hour live sessions combine with self-paced learning modules. For helping professionals who are HSS/HSP themselves, this training offers both specialized skills and personal insights into sustainable practice.
Enrollment is limited to ensure quality interaction and peer learning.
Don’t wait, this combination of traits is present in millions of people, but this course is one of a kind and led by Dr. Tracy Cooper!
Please share with anyone in a helping profession or who is interested in learning deeply about HSS/HSPs!
Published research confirms what many of us suspected: up to 50% of highly sensitive people are also high sensation seekers!
Dr. Elaine Aron’s original HSP research identified both sensitivity and sensation seeking as potentially co-occurring but the majority of efforts since have focused on sensitivity alone. That gap left millions of people without adequate resources.
Current findings show HSS/HSPs face specific challenges:
• Higher rates of under stimulation despite needing recovery time
• More complex relationship patterns
• Increased difficulty with traditional stress management approaches
Traditional approaches recommend either stimulation reduction OR engagement increases. For HSS/HSPs, effective strategies require addressing both systems concurrently.
The ‘Thriving in the Chaos’ course applies these research findings to practical scenarios participants encounter weekly.
Early data shows promising outcomes for those who complete the full program versus those using generic HSP resources.
Join the first cohort of this new course focusing entirely on HSS/HSPs! Especially good for helping professionals but suitable for anyone interested in learning more about this dynamic population.
Ten+ years into my HSS/HSP research, I still get messages from people saying ‘Finally, someone gets it.’
Half of all highly sensitive people also score high in sensation seeking. They need recovery time after social events while simultaneously craving novel experiences. They process deeply but get bored easily.
Standard personality assessments don’t account for this combination. Most assume sensitivity means preferring low-stimulation environments. The research shows otherwise.
The Sensation-Seeking HSP: Thriving in the Chaos addresses this gap through a seven-week professional course for therapists, counselors, coaches, educators, or anyone in a helping profession.
The format includes weekly one-hour live sessions plus self-paced modules covering neuroscience, developmental work, practical strategies, and reflection-based interactions with Dr. Cooper and fellow participants.
For helping professionals who are HSS/HSP themselves, this professional education provides both core development in an underserved area and personal insight into sustainable practice methods.
Our labor of love – Sensitive Men Rising – is finally available for all to view for free!! Donations are highly encouraged to support the work of the Foundation for the Study of Highly Sensitive Persons and recoup the costs of creating this timeless film for the world.
Will Harper, myself, and all of the production team would like to express our thanks for all of your kind support since we started this project in 2019!! We know that SMR will now be out in the world communicating a very different message about what men can be and what the world needs from us – to be whole human beings FREE to live in our fullness, to love from our hearts, and to realize our potential to lead, inspire, and lift each other up!!
For too long, sensitive men have been told to toughen up, to stay quiet, to disappear into the background. But in Sensitive Men Rising, they rise—with science, with soul, and with unapologetic truth.
Three compelling episodes
Grounded in research, story, and heart
Offered freely to the global community
Are we finally ready to hear what sensitive men have to say?
Episode 1: The Call to Rise
How does sensitivity redefine strength in men—and why does it matter now more than ever?
Hosted by acclaimed narrator and HSP advocate Peter Coyote, this powerful opening episode sets the stage for a new conversation about masculinity, sensitivity, and transformation. With deeply personal insights from Alanis Morissette, a mother raising two highly sensitive sons, we witness how this often-misunderstood trait touches every part of life—from parenting to purpose.
Through science-backed commentary, poetic storytelling, and raw reflections from everyday men, scholars, therapists, and teachers, Sensitive Men Rising begins its journey. Together, they ask the questions that matter:
Can sensitive men lead? Can they thrive?
And more importantly—can we finally hear them?
This is the moment sensitivity rises from the shadows.
It’s not weakness. It’s awareness. It’s compassion.
And it may just be the antidote our chaotic world is searching for.
Episode 2: The Science of Sensitivity
What if sensitivity in boys and men wasn’t a weakness… but a hardwired gift?
In this revelatory second episode, we step into the heart of the science. Dr. Elaine Aron, pioneer of the Sensory Processing Sensitivity trait, joins fellow researchers to explore what makes sensitive boys and men biologically distinct—and emotionally powerful.
The episode features Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, the world’s most celebrated psychology podcaster and a return guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. A leading voice on self-actualization, Scott shares how his own sensitivity made him a deep processor of thought, feeling, and meaning—a trait he now champions as essential to growth, creativity, and human connection.
We also meet the young highly sensitive prodigy, Soborno Isaac Bari who expounds on empathy and social responsibility, along with mothers, teachers, therapist, and sensitive men whose short, moving stories reveal what it’s really like to grow up with a highly attuned nervous system in a noisy, demanding world.
And in a closing moment that’s both vulnerable and powerful, Alanis Morissette opens up about the challenges of raising sensitive boys—and the resilience it takes to protect their emotional truth.
Episode 3: The Future of Sensitivity
What happens when sensitive men are no longer silenced—but step forward to lead?
The final episode of Sensitive Men Rising weaves everything together—science, soul, and social responsibility—to reveal a new model of leadership grounded in emotional intelligence, perceptiveness, and care.
From boardrooms to classrooms, the film explores how sensitivity may be the most overlooked asset in business, education, and global culture. With insights from Dr. Tracy Cooper, Ph.D., experts in psychology and leadership discuss why highly sensitive men may be especially suited to guide the next generation—not in spite of their deep awareness, but because of it.
As the world searches for more mindful leaders, better fathers, and emotionally present men, this episode asks a final, urgent question:
What kind of world could we build… if we finally made space for the sensitive ones?
Dr. Tracy Cooper 