The WiseMind App
The problem
Oregon has one school counselor for every 461 students¹ — nearly double the recommended ratio. More than one in three students is chronically absent.² Achievement gaps persist, especially among students experiencing poverty and students of color.³
Academic intervention can't close those gaps when students can't access learning. The bottleneck isn't curriculum. It's capacity.
This is an education problem with mental health effects. Many students don't need intensive therapy — they need a tangible process to get back to their wise mind. The WiseMind App provides that: a five-minute, self-guided stress-reset tool students use themselves, in the moment, without a counselor or a trained adult in the room.
¹ Oregon Health Authority workforce needs assessment, 2025
² Oregon Department of Education, 2024-25 school year
³ Oregon Community Foundation equity research; ODE Statewide Report Card
What it is
A browser-based tool for students across all grades. No login. No installation. No teacher training required.
A student in grades 3-12 independently opens any browser, maps where stress is showing up in their body, and self-guides through a brief physiological recovery sequence matched to their state - in just five minutes. Teachers guide PreK–12 students through the same process as a whole-class or small-group practice.
The app operates across MTSS Tier 1 and Tier 2 — universal prevention and targeted support — in the same tool. COPPA, FERPA, and GDPR compliant.
what makes it different
Most SEL tools start with thinking — naming what caused the feeling, reframing it, choosing a different response. That works when the prefrontal cortex is online. When stress has activated the nervous system's protective response, the ‘WiseMind’ goes offline.
WiseMind’s framework starts with the body. Students learn to recognize their stress patterns physiologically and use body-based recovery tools to shift the state. That shift — the body first — is what reopens access to focus, connection, and clear thinking. Cognitive strategies follow naturally once the state has changed.
No other tool in the market takes this approach at scale.
where it stands
The WiseMind framework has been delivered directly to nearly 400 students and over 400 adults across Salem-Keizer and Silver Falls school districts and the iBuild workforce program from 2023 to 2025. Every partner school requested continuation.
Impact Map 2023-2025
The app formalizes that framework into a self-guided tool. Beta launches summer 2026 with approximately 200 students. Four Oregon school districts across rural, Title 1, CTE, and early childhood contexts have been identified for fall 2026 pilots. The 2026–2027 school year is the formal data collection phase.
the ask
We're seeking $300,000 to complete app development and launch pilots, and establish the outreach infrastructure for broader district adoption across Oregon.
Funding is structured as a grant or philanthropic partnership — not an equity investment. WiseMind Educational Services holds WBE and ESB certification and a fiscal sponsorship relationship with United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley.
If you're a funder, foundation program officer, or district leader interested in what's being built here, we'd like to talk.