Our mission
Connection and belonging.
Our mission is to create safe, engaging, story-rich digital spaces where people can connect and belong.
About Second Haven
A shared world.
A very human purpose.
We’re a nonprofit creating places where people can experience connection, creativity, and belonging, even when everyday social spaces are difficult to reach.
Our vision
Community within reach.
A world where illness, disability, difference, or circumstance doesn’t keep someone from having a place to belong, people to connect with, and something meaningful to contribute.
How it began
Built from lived experience.
Second Haven was founded by Lisa Lindeman, Ph.D., a research psychologist whose work has focused on social and emotional well-being. Living with chronic illness brought the challenge of accessing everyday community into her own life.
Minecraft offered a way to share experiences, create, and spend time with others from home. Second Haven grew from the desire to make that kind of connection available to more people.
Today, members, volunteers, and creative contributors help build the world and the community within it.
Meet our staff
A place where you can still be part of something, on the days you can’t get out into the world.
What guides us
Kindness is something
we practice.
Our strongest focus is people facing barriers to social connection: chronic illness, disability, neurodivergence, isolation, stigma, and more. Our community welcomes people across ages and backgrounds.
Dignity and inclusion
People deserve respect without having to explain or prove their experiences. Differences belong in our community.
Flexibility and agency
Participation can be quiet, active, creative, or occasional. Members help shape the experience instead of fitting one mold.
Care and curiosity
We bring research, lived experience, and a willingness to learn to the work of building welcoming digital spaces.
Our board
People behind the purpose.
Second Haven’s board provides the governance and stewardship that support our nonprofit mission.
Lisa Lindeman, Ph.D.
Founder, President
Regina “Gina” Misch
Vice President
Charles D. Smith, Ph.D.
Director
Ovi Sacasan
Treasurer
Nonprofit stewardship
A mission with a foundation.
Second Haven, Inc. is a Florida nonprofit corporation recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. We welcome conversations with funders and partners who want to understand our governance, plans, and needs.
- Incorporated
- June 8, 2026
- Federal tax status
- 501(c)(3) public charity
- Employer identification number
- 42-3073233
Why “Second Haven”?
Another place
to feel at home.
A haven is a place of refuge, where you can be yourself. Libraries, cafés, parks, and community centers can offer that feeling, but they aren’t equally accessible to everyone.
We believe a shared virtual world can offer another place to connect, contribute, and find familiar faces. A second haven, built together.
There’s a part for you in this story.
Help us grow a community where more people can find their place.