“Safeguarding the future is not just a matter of laws and government regulations: it also requires individual initiative. We need to change our way of thinking and to close the gap between perception and reality.”

— Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama

In the fall of 2009, a group of concerned parents and educators in the Wood River Valley asked Ryan Redman to teach mindfulness to students in the Wood River Valley. With over 9 years of experience in teaching meditation, three years of intensive study of contemplative practices in India, and a strong desire to serve the community that shaped his childhood, Ryan began designing a three-month program for 5th-grade students at Bellevue Elementary.  

In the winter of 2010, Ryan entered one fifth grade classroom and for 30 minutes a week introduced children to secular mindfulness practices that supported the cultivation of attention, stress reduction, and kindness. To everyone’s great surprise, the students were deeply interested in exploring their inner-life and appreciated the time to relax and steady their minds. Within two years this program expanded exponentially into 22 classrooms.

In 2011 Flourish Foundation was co-founded by Ryan Redman, Katie Corkery, and Eryn Michaud, and the initial in-class instruction evolved into what is now our Mindful Awareness Program (MAP). Today, many Flourish-trained facilitators teach a secular mindfulness curriculum weekly in all schools in the Wood River Valley and beyond.

MAP is one of two flagship programs at Flourish. The other is the Compassionate Leaders Program (CLP). Whereas MAP teaches in schools K-12, CLP is an extracurricular program that supports high school juniors, seniors, and college students in creating an intentional youth community dedicated to creating a better world through personal transformation, human values, and community service. 

Up until 2020, Flourish's growth was gradual. However, in the last couple of years, Flourish’s growth has increased rapidly with the MAP curriculum being adopted locally and abroad.

Paralleling the growth of MAP in schools, CLP has grown to be the largest teen leadership program in the Wood River Valley.  In addition to weekly meetings, CLPs are given opportunities to explore their leadership skills in many countries around the world. Along with participating in international projects, CLP engage in Environmental Stewardship Retreats in Idaho and Hawaii.  On these retreats students restore trails and take in the wonders that our natural environment has to offer our students' mental health.