About Us

At The Haven, we believe finding one's true self cannot happen in isolation. It requires deep immersion in and harmony with other people and nature. Our participants explore their innermost selves and examine their own views and roles in the world, challenging themselves to heal, grow, and thrive.

Our programs are rich and diverse, yet all of them aim to help participants find the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health they need to live better, fuller lives and find peace on their own terms.

We are grateful for the land and sea that sustain us.

We are deeply grateful to learn, live and play on 7 acres of forested land by the sea that is the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Our peaceful yet vibrant centre on Gabriola Island offers a natural environment that supports the exploration of our innermost selves and our relationships with others. It's a special place where we can take back our lives and discover our potential.

We are a transformational learning centre.

We offer online and on-campus group programs that help people build richer relationships with themselves and others. For more than 35 years, The Haven has developed innovative approaches to teaching and learning, challenging thousands of people to define and shape their own lives.

The Haven is an "engage" centre, more than a "retreat" centre. Through our facilitated group process, participants begin a journey of relational discovery through direct experience. They learn to create richer relationships by experimenting with new ways of being and stepping forward with curiosity and compassion for themselves and others.

Our video testimonial series, Haven Portraits: Stories of Transformation, offers you a glimpse into the lives of people who have participated in programs and training at The Haven. Witness their experiences and the impact of living what they've learned at the Haven: real people, profound change.

 

We are a non-profit, charitable, educational institute.

The Haven is a certified educational institute and is registered with the BC Private Training Institutions Branch (PTIB). We are also a federally registered educational charity in Canada (89280-6407 RR0001) and the United States (30-0278642).

We offer a one-of-a-kind curriculum.

The Haven’s co-founders, Dr. Bennet Wong and Dr. Jock McKeen, created and developed our programs over many years, integrating east/west disciplines including wisdom from medical science, psychotherapy, existential thought, and eastern philosophy. Our diversity of offerings reflects the people that come to learn - individuals, couples, business leaders, elders, teens, and children. Common to all is a willingness to risk being vulnerable and curious, and a desire for richer connections.

Our teaching is grounded in the values of curiosity, self-responsibility, communication, relationship, embodiment, experiential learning, personal fulfillment, and inclusion and our highly skilled faculty embody and model what they teach in a very personal way. Most have been long-time students of The Haven and have integrated a wide range of life experiences and professional expertise into their teaching.

 

We are learning and growing too.

At The Haven we are committed to changing to ensure people of diverse cultures, backgrounds and perspectives all feel welcome. The diversity of our participants offers a rare opportunity to explore their own beliefs and those of others, both self-responsibly and with empathy.

As of 2020, The Haven, as an organization, has begun a journey of self-exploration to become more aware, at every level, of the broader social contexts of our lives in order to more consciously contribute to a more just, fair, and relational world. We have some distance yet to go and we embrace the journey.