COPPER BEECH INSTITUTE

As a community that values awareness, connection, transformation, open-heartedness, and compassionate action above all else, Copper Beech Institute strives to cultivate an environment where healing and justice are possible for all. Since our founding in 2014, we have offered mindfulness and resilience practices to over 50,000 people from more than 50 countries through 100+ in-person and online programs each year. We believe that our deepest healing happens in community and we are working to create physical and online spaces where all people feel not just welcome, but that these spaces were made for and by them.

Our Community Collaborations and Resilience Exchange Program (CARE) is at the heart of all of our work. Through CARE, we offer 1) Community Outreach, 2) Free Meditation Groups, 3) our Transformative Leadership Program, and 4) Scholarships to those most in need. Our Community Outreach includes work in the prison system, mental health and addiction treatment facilities, low-income health clinics, veteran’s associations, and more. We bring meditation and movement classes into these communities in order to meet folks where they are at, supporting them to bring more awareness, compassion, and ease into their situations. We also offer Free Meditation Groups through our online community twice-daily, 5 days a week. This community of practice grew out of necessity during the pandemic and has become so strong that even with in-person programming starting again, we know it is a lasting part of our learning ecosystem.

Through our Transformative Leadership Program (TLP), we heal the healers, care for the caregivers, and inspire the changemakers. Mindfulness sharpens focus, eases conflict, and creates happier and healthier teams. Through TLP, we bring mindfulness practices into the workplace and schools, creating cultures of mindfulness. Through grant-funding, we offer free and subsidized programs, with a focus on supporting teams at social justice nonprofits and schools in low-income areas. We have also offer a mindfulness-based Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program in collaboration with an anti-racism education nonprofit.

We have a robust scholarship program, offering $75K-$100K each year to those who need financial support. We especially encourage those most impacted by systems of oppression to apply, and we ear-mark funds each year specifically for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Our Healing & Justice Collaborative guides our work in the social justice space, including our BIPOC meditation group, our social justice programming, and anti-oppression training. With the year-long development of our Healing & Justice Accountability Plan, we have laid out metrics for the changes we would like to see in our organization and in the mindfulness community at large. This includes greater diversity on the facilitation team and our board, stronger protocols regarding harassment and discrimination, more inclusive marketing and programming, and developing relationships and collaborations with other nonprofits and groups led by people most impacted by systems of oppression. We clearly see the connection between contemplative practice and compassionate action to transform the world, and our work reflects this understanding.