From one parent, an entire community of mindfulness grew.
Fiona Jensen founded Calmer Choice in 2010 as a way to support students on Cape Cod navigate the devastating mental and emotional effects of the opioid crisis. Watching her daughter and her peers struggle with addiction, depression, and anxiety, she looked to her own mindfulness practice to provide a different choice for these kids.
Calmer Choice surveys and studies a range of existing mindfulness teaching and training programs to develop its own innovative curriculum adapted to serve children based on cognitive scientific research supporting mindfulness practice. Since 2011, Calmer Choice continues to evolve and integrate social-emotional learning (SEL), trauma-informed practice and age-appropriate activities to support children and educational partners with impactful, evidence-based programming.
The Calmer Choice classroom program expands its reach to six school districts across Cape Cod, providing access and education to mindfulness practice for thousands of children.
When Calmer Choice could no longer be in-person, we adapted and created a range of online and hybrid learning programs to support children, adults and families . Technology allowed us new ways to be present in classrooms and living rooms and inspired the expansion of programs geared towards providing the same evidence-based support to adults as we had been providing to children.
After an extraordinary decade of vision and leadership, Fiona Jensen retires, transitioning the leadership of the organization to a new team excited to continue the work.
Calmer Choice introduces an updated program model that includes expanded services to support adults and community organizations. A Mindfulness Coach pilot is launched to extend the classroom program and build broader educational cultures of mindfulness. Guided by a thoughtful strategic plan, the team recommits to building healthy internal and external communities rooted in mindfulness.