Who we are

We reach people where they are and invite all to participate: In Public schools, in maternal health clinics and hospitals, in libraries, and in community spaces wherever people who traditionally do not have access to mental health support feel safe and want to gather. 

Our founders and facilitators have collectively been trained in many evidence-based mindfulness programs including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindful Self Compassion, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindful School’s curriculum, Cultivating Emotional Balance and Mindfulness in Schools Project's .B program, Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program (Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield) and Deep Play for Kids, among others.

We provide direct services through partnership with local nonprofits, education and healthcare spaces. 

Our Leadership

  • Ella is the Founding Executive Director of Community Mindfulness Project.

    Ella’s 15+ year career has been dedicated to scaling social impact missions and leading partnerships at organizations such as charity: water, Clinton Global Initiative and TED.

    Her meditation started in the isolation of COVID-19 and transformed her relationship with herself and her anxiety. She is dedicated to partnering with people and organizations passionate about fighting the mental health crisis, and uplifting the tool of mindful meditation to be as available as a toothbrush.

    Ella lives in Fairfield County, CT with her husband and 3 year old daughter.

    “I stand on the sacrifices of the million women before me thinking what can I do to make this mountain taller so the woman after me can see farther?” - Legacy - Rupi Kaur

    Ella.crivello@communitymindfulnessproject.org

  • Erika began meditating while working in finance on Wall Street, and found that it helped her see more clearly, respond more wisely and relate more closely to the people and events in her life.

    For the past twenty years, she has followed the teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), Joseph Goldstein, Bob Thurman, Sharon Salzberg, Gil Fronsdal and many others; and travelled in India with Shantum Seth (a student of Thich Nhat Hanh). She has also studied non-violent communication and believes in its power to create community.

    Erika is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher under MMTCP (the Meditation and Mindfulness Teachers Certification Program led by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield) in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and is a Certified Mindfulness Teacher - Professional Level, International Mindfulness Teachers Association. She has trained with Mindful Schools and the New York Center for Nonviolent Communication. She is particularly fascinated by the neuroscientific research on meditation and mindfulness and feels passionately about expanding access to the benefits of meditation and mindfulness.

    In addition to Community Mindfulness Project, Erika sits on the board for ConnCan and Maverick Capital Foundation.

    “If you can breathe through it, you can live through it.”

    Erika.Long@CommunityMind.org

  • Lucy Ball is the Founding Executive Director of Lone Pine Foundation, a private Foundation supporting organizations that fight poverty through education while cultivating a spirit of philanthropy at Lone Pine Capital LLC.

    Lucy has been a leader in the nonprofit sector for 35 years. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was Executive Director of Starlight Children’s Foundation (now known as Encourage Kids Foundation) where she remains involved on the Chairman's Circle.

    Lucy has served on numerous local boards of directors. She is a founding board member of Impact Fairfield County, a women’s giving circle helping to leverage individual giving to achieve greater impact. She also currently sits on the advisory board of Fairfield County’s Community Foundation’s Fund for Women & Girls. In 2013, the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy awarded Lucy its Martha Newman Award recognizing her integrity and dedication to philanthropy. In 2018, Lucy received the Greenwich YWCA Brava Award, acknowledging her leadership in her field, for mentoring others and her commitment to both philanthropy and community involvement.

    Lucy has had a regular meditation practice since 2011. Her practice has greatly improved the quality of her life and she wants to pass along the opportunity to others. She is also certified in playing Tibetan bowls.

    “There is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it" - Amanda Gorman

  • Lucy Ball, Board Chair

    Erika Long, Co-Founder, Board Member

    Will Heins, Co-Founder, Board Treasurer

    Michelle Seaver, Co-Founder, Board Secretary

    Nick Seaver, Co-Founder

    David Smith, Board Vice Chair

    Gary Phelan, Board Member

    Carol Shear, Grantwriter, Facilitator

    Lisa Sheehan, Mentor, Facilitator

Services Include

Meditation & nonviolent communications sessions and workshops

Community listening, brave space conversations

Training & support for affiliates, facilitators

Offered in-person in trusted and safe community spaces seated in chairs, with no special equipment needed or virtually so that we can meet you wherever you are.

Sessions & Workshops are

Inclusive, trauma-informed & open to anyone. 

Appropriate for people with any level of experience, including first-timers.

Secular and science-based with facilitators certified and rooted in multiple trainings. 

Accessible in English and Spanish with transcripts available to those with hearing impairment.

 

The science of mindfulness

Numerous studies strongly support the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, which include improved emotional regulation, focus, resilience, compassion, and mental and physical health.

Mindfulness and regular practice of meditation have been indicated to lower and reduce levels of anxiety, fear, depression, OCD, stress, and more. And this is proven for community members aged 5 to 105.

Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to reduce blood pressure and inflammation, and help with chronic pain, psoriasis, Type 2 diabetes, and fibromyalgia. improve sleep, and there's even early research on how it can help protect against Alzheimer’s.

Why community mindfulness?

We can't control the waves, but we can teach each other to surf. We have a loneliness epidemic in America. Loneliness can cost us an estimated 15 years of life expectancy. When we come together to support each other as a community, we are more connected & ever more resilient. We prioritize our initiatives on counterbalancing the overwhelming lean towards isolation that recent advances in technology and the pandemic have exacerbated. When we meet community members at their work, school or in public places that bring them together with their friends, family and others they can find connection with, the spaces become conducive to advancing positive relationships, identifying common needs and challenges, and gratitude.

Why community partnership?

Meditation and mindfulness have been linked through decades of research to physical and mental health benefits.  Additionally, there are many emotional and social benefits which support community resiliency. 

Despite the fact that the mindfulness tools that we share are portable, affordable and flexible, they have not historically been accessible to all.

Barriers historically have reduced accessibility to mindfulness, including:

  • Language: historically predominantly in English, and often in language that can culturally feel “othering”

  • Physical ability: encouraged or assumed must be seated on the floor

  • Time: taught on multiday retreats that require time away from work and caregiving obligations

  • Cultural considerations: taught in a religious tone despite it’s secular nature

  • Financial resources: fees for access to sessions and travel/housing for retreats

  • Transportation: offered in remote, hard-to-access locations 

We have prioritized community partnerships to reduce these barriers certain communities are facing to access critical healthcare resources.

But working within systems differs from changing them. We love this quote from Desmond Tutu, “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”  We are inspired to work with our community partners to find the root causes of these barriers, and help create sustainable structures that reduce suffering over the short term and long term.