OUR STORY.

2017: Treasure Beach Jamaica

In 2017, Connie, the founder of Worthy Beyond Purpose, was lucky enough to be able to participate in a Summer Camp in Treasure Beach Jamaica. There was about 30 kids attending. One afternoon, while the children were eating their lunches, Connie went outside to practice her "quiet time" meditation. When Parys Francis, one of the attendees, saw her, she ran over and wanted to join. Parys was one of the most wildest kids of the bunch, and she was asking to try meditation. They sat down, took some deep breaths, and Connie did some light playful guidance. This is the moment that would change their lives forever. Connie watched at Parys dropped in to a calm, blissful state. It was like magic. This is the moment that Connie realized her mission, to teach KIDS meditation.

Parys was Connies very first student and still practices with her to this day. Now, four years later, Connie and her team have been invited back every year to not only teach mindfulness & meditation to the kids of the summer camp (over 80 attendees now), but she has been invited to teach the adults of the Parish as well. Proving that this does have a ripple effect and Worthy Beyond Purpose will transform the world, one mindful kid at a time.

In 2018, the Stoneman Douglas school shooter, Nicolas Cruz, a former student, was quoted saying shooting guns was his form of therapy. The proposed solution to these mass school shootings was to arm our teachers. This is where Connie made a post on Facebook... "How about we don't arm our teachers, how about we arm our students with the tools they need to manage their emotions." This is when WBP was created and became a nonprofit.

Our solutions lie in providing our students with the tools they need to productively navigate their emotions. This is when Worthy Beyond Purpose got to work and knew their place was in the school system.

In the next two years we developed a program , becoming part of the curriculum in multiple K-8 schools across LA County.

Moving this social/emotional developmental work into the school curriculum will have tremendous benefits, including:

~Developing attention and focus, better grades, more effective emotion regulation, better behavior in school, greater empathy and perspective-taking, better social skills, reduced test anxiety, less stress… etc.

To deepen their practice, Worthy Beyond Purpose went on a meditation retreat to Tanzania, Africa. While there they were invited to Kaole Primary School to teach the third graders some breathing and yoga techniques. With the help of their interpreter, Mandela, they were able to talk about their feelings and discuss various ways to help manage them.

WBP had the privilege of sitting with 150 students! Their interpreter was so moved by the experience, he decided to continue the work. With a couple weeks training with WBP virtually, he was equipped to go back week after week and teach these kids the mindfulness & meditation tools of WBP.

Transforming the WORLD, one mindful kid at a time.

In 2020 when the global pandemic closed schools, WBP immediately adopted an online platform reaching hundreds of kids worldwide. We developed an after school, donation based, creative arts & self expression program, operated under an overarching mindfulness umbrella. Through intensional lessons developing connections and emotional intelligence, our children learn how to bring mindfulness into their everyday lives.

We also created our first ever online summer camp featuring mindfulness, music, drama, singing, dance, improv and circus. We had kids from all over the country joining us and tapping into their unique expressions of self.

Experiencing the pandemic with children, was an incredible gift we never expected. Being one of the first organizations to get online, our classes were packed. We began talking with kids about their fears and uncertainties. We were able to discuss what they were going through and how they felt being asked to stay in their homes and not be with their friends. We got to go through this together… Another life changing moment was when a 7 year old girl started coming to class and talking about her panic attacks. She couldn’t control or express the anxiety she was filled with. After three weeks of coming to WBP classes daily, the young girl said, “I started to do these breaths when I get those feelings in my heart… and it really really helps! How do I teach this to my little brother and my parents?” This is yet another example of how this work will spread and help assist families and communities. When the student becomes the teacher!!!

Also check out this video of this boy experiencing meditation for the first time.

Now more than ever this work is necessary! Spending a year in isolation, our children are lacking social emotional development in a way that they previously got in schools. Before lockdown, they could socialize, they had face to face interaction, they were getting an understanding of their character, they were understanding how to be kind to people. All of these connection things that were lost in our isolated at home setting.

We do this work to develop soft skills, empathy, connection and community building. We do this work to teach children self-love and to give them the social emotional learning component that they were lacking being out of interaction with each other. These are the things that foster positive identity development.

We have been invited to join 7 new schools this year, reaching 700+ new students. We privately raised funds to support 1 year of this work. We are back to in-person events and hold quarterly fundraisers. We also are beginning to hold quarterly wellness events for school administrators.

With the support of our community, we have continued to grow. From teaching only 3rd graders to now teaching pre-k to 5th grade, our curriculum has expanded. From 700 students to 1200 students, we have also doubled our number of facilitators.

We were recognized on KNBC and WebMD for the benefits of mindfulness & meditation in schools. With your continued support, we were able to reach new families and communities as a result of our increased press.

Since 2022, we have been expanding our team, clients, and community of teachers, kids and leadership to transform the way we teach our children.