We are a co-created movement that..
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Is grounded in relationships
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Believes culture work is central
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Provides mentorship & peer support
Our Vision
To realize a flourishing educational system where schools are communities centering purpose, presence, contribution, belonging, and growth at the heart of learning.
Our Mission
To build a collaborative movement of principals and educators who are supported to reimagine and revitalize our education system, one school at a time.
Origins of Our Movement
The Movement for Flourishing Schools is rooted in the rich soil of its organizational predecessor, Calmer Choice. Founded in 2011 by Fiona Jensen and others, the nonprofit Calmer Choice worked to bring evidence-based mindfulness, resilience, and wellbeing to elementary school classrooms through its innovative 8-week curriculum. Its work emerged as a response to a crisis facing young people unable to cope with the anxiety and pressures of life. Aware that children spend most of their time in schools, Calmer Choice’s foundational strategies for emotional awareness and stress reduction were delivered directly to students in their classrooms.
For 15 years, Calmer Choice worked in partnership with local schools to plant and grow the seeds of lifelong wellbeing. In the Spring of 2025, the organization paused its operations after a series of funding cuts. Committed to following its own practice, the Board took a moment to pause, breathe, and notice what was happening in the present moment with kindness and curiosity towards its own staff, supporters, and school partners.
In early 2026, the organization regenerated itself into a new form designed to respond to the current needs of the educational landscape. The Movement for Flourishing Schools (MFS) has emerged from the thoughtful review of the many successes, challenges and learnings of Calmer Choice. Today, MFS acknowledges and honors the work of its predecessor, and is committed to carrying forward the vision of realizing a world where children- and those who support them - can flourish.
Staff
Sarah Manion
DIRECTOR
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Sarah agrees with author and Potawatomi botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer who describes all flourishing as mutual. To achieve flourishing, she believes we first need to recognize our deep interconnection, and then respond knowing that our actions have ripple effects in the world.
Sarah is a fiber artist, spiritual ecologist, and nonprofit leader with over 15 years of experience working with diverse teams in more than seven countries. Most recently, she served as Calmer Choice’s Executive Director, a nonprofit that pioneered bringing mindfulness education into K-5 classrooms. In addition to her work with MFS, Sarah is the Founder and Director of The Interwoven Institute where she uses mindful craft as a pathway for reviving connection to ourselves, each other, and the earth. A student of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, Sarah uses her own mindfulness and craft practices as ways to ground herself in the wonder of the world in this moment.
Sarah is honored to participate in building a collaborative movement of educators who believe in the potential to build flourishing schools. She sees AFS as an important continuation of Calmer Choice’s vision and legacy.
In her spare time, Sarah weaves quahog shells and spins yarn from sheep she meets across New England. She holds an MA in Nature-Culture Sustainability Studies and lives on Cape Cod, MA.
Stephanie Goley
PROGRAM MANAGER
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Stephanie sees flourishing as a series of symbiotic relationships where everyone (human and non-human) reaches their potential and supports others on the way.
Stephanie holds a Master’s Degree in Education and has served in a variety of roles for over 25 years, including classroom teacher, administrator, consultant and mindfulness educator. She is a certified Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher through the IMTA. Stephanie has spent the past 10 years working for Calmer Choice supporting schools on Cape Cod through mindfulness-based education. She also supports at-risk youth as the program director for Amazing Grace of Cape Cod, a non-profit serving children affected by incarceration. Stephanie has a mindfulness practice that supports her professional expertise, as well as her personal role as Family CEO.
After working deeply in schools for many years, Stephanie sees the work of MFS as being critical to meeting the needs of an entire school community- including staff, students, families and supporting agencies and individuals. Children cannot learn and teachers cannot teach authentically when the system is dysregulated.
In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys hiking, biking, running and camping. She is always up for an adventure with friends or her husband and three teenaged children.
Board of Directors
Allie Liimatainen, Treasurer
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Commercial Credit Manager, Not For Profit, TD Bank
Allie believes flourishing begins with emotional wellbeing, grace, acceptance, and compassion—qualities that shape every area of life and naturally extend to others in inspiring ways. In education, she sees this impact cascading from teachers and administrators to children, families, caregivers, and the broader community.
A commercial banking professional with 15 years of experience across sectors and industries, Allie has specialized in public finance for the past eight years. She leads a team of underwriters drawn to the field by the opportunity to help not-for-profit organizations fund and advance their missions.
Allie believes deeply in the mission of the The Movement for Flourishing Schools, especially in an era shaped by technology and economic pressure. She feels children thrive and contribute most meaningfully when emotional wellbeing is intentionally nurtured—and that schools, where they spend much of their time, are uniquely positioned to foster that growth through adults who model it themselves.
She maintains a personal yoga and mindfulness practice and brings that spirit of encouragement into her workplace to help create a positive, supportive culture.
A Cape Cod native now living in the Boston area, Allie is often inspired to bake cookies late at night after a cozy evening watching The Great British Bake Off.
Kelli Grew CFP®, Secretary
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Managing Partner, Beacon Financial Planning, Inc.
Kelli Grew is a Managing Partner at Beacon Financial Planning, Inc., and a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® with more than 15 years of experience helping individuals and families gain confidence and clarity in their financial lives. In 2022, she was honored as one of Cape & Plymouth Business Magazine’s Top 40 Professionals Under 40. In addition to her career, she has previously served on several boards, including The Estate Planning Council of Cape Cod and Calmer Choice.
Above all, Kelli considers her most meaningful role to be that of a mother to her three children. She is deeply committed to ensuring they feel safe, supported, and loved, and believes that flourishing begins early in life, with the emotional foundation and healthy practices children develop from the very start. This commitment is what draws her to support The Movement for Flourishing Schools and its mission to revitalize our education system. Because children spend so much of their formative years in school, they deserve an approach rooted in mindfulness; one that nurtures not only academic growth, but also the emotional and social well-being of everyone in that ecosystem, including students, teachers, and caregivers. Building these habits early helps create an environment where flourishing can truly take hold and continue throughout life.
When she’s not working, you can usually find her running a local road race, gardening, enjoying a summer day at the beach, or spending time with her family.
Derek Thompson, Chair
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Principal of South Elementary School in Plymouth
Derek currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Movement for Flourishing Schools and has dedicated his career to advancing a vision of education rooted in human flourishing. Over the past 14 years as an elementary principal, and throughout his 27 years in education, he has worked to bring that vision to life by creating school cultures centered on purpose, belonging, growth, and the full development of every learner.
Derek believes deeply in the mission of the Movement for Flourishing Schools. As he sees it, flourishing as an essential outcome of education and he believes schools have a moral imperative to nurture the whole child, not simply prepare students for tests. He envisions healthy, thriving schools as places that prepare young people not only with academic skills, but with the character, perspective, and human capacities needed to lead meaningful lives and contribute as thoughtful citizens of tomorrow. In Derek’s view, true educational success is measured not by our ability to prepare students for global competitiveness alone, but by our ability to prepare students for global leadership, cooperation and shared human progress.
When Derek is not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 children, playing music with his friends and going for long hikes with his dogs.
Advisory Board
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Fiona Jensen OTR/L,
Founder of Calmer Choice (Retired)
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Coming soon.
Dr. Chris Willard Psy. D.
Faculty at Harvard Medical School, Author, Executive Coach
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Dr. Christopher Willard, (Psy. D.) is a clinical psychologist, author and consultant based in Massachusetts. He has spoken in forty countries, and has presented at two TEDx events. He is the author of twenty books, including Alphabreaths (2019), Growing Up Mindful (2015) and College Mental Health 101, (2025), and Feelings and Like Farts (2025). His thoughts on mental health have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, mindful.org, cnn.com, and elsewhere. He teaches at Harvard Medical School.
Help us reimagine what's possible.
This work is possible because of people who believe schools can be different. If you share our belief that education is the cultivation of human beings — not the production of outcomes — consider supporting our mission.