Our History

The Well has been creating community programs centering art, writing and mindfulness as a vehicle for connection and healing since 2005. Founder Stacy Sims understood the complexity of the space between suffering and wellness.

In 2005, the True Body Project launched as a pilot program in partnership with ArtWorks, a Cincinnati nonprofit that hires youth as apprentice artists for summer-long programs. That summer, 13 teen girls took an art-fueled, mind-body journey together inspired by founder Stacy Sims' own lived experience of losing ones self to wellness.

True Body Project (TBP) was The Well's first program and provides a depth of experience in trauma-informed, social-emotional, culturally literate work. Currently, TBP offers Leadership Training, workshops, and curricula so that individuals can bring this work to schools and organizations in their area. The TBP curriculum serves all genders ages 8 and has been experienced by individuals and groups from around the world. Additionally, TBP is the backbone of the national My True SELF (social emotional learning fun) curriculum for schools.

True Body Project also created multiple theatrical works out of community engagements in Cincinnati, New York and Los Angeles, winning Audience Pick of the Fringe in Cincinnati's 2009.

In 2015, City Silence was created to support individuals who wished to hold space for their own meditation/mindfulness practice and invite others to join. In its first year, individuals and organizations held space for silence in community across the U.S., and in Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia.

In 2016, Mindful Music Moments was piloted at a Cincinnati Public School after Sims recognized more and more students were suffering from anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation at younger ages than ever before. Now in more than 320 PreK-12 schools nationally, the program reaches 116,000+ students in a calming and focusing ritual. Each day, students, teachers, and administrators take 3-5 minutes to turn inward together with a mindfulness prompt and world-class music. We partner with world-class performing arts organizations to create daily audio and video journeys for classrooms, workday and other uses.

Mindful Poetry Moments was incubated with the On Being project in 2019 to bring mindfulness and poetry to students during National Poetry Month. Now, The Well holds space for monthly gatherings as well as works with guest curators to center poems listening, writing and sharing during the month of April each year. This content is provided free to all Mindful Music schools and the community at large. Since 2020, The Well has published annual collections of poems written during Mindful Poetry gatherings by poets of all ages from around the globe.

In 2019, these formerly fiscally-agented programs were rebranded under The Well and the organization became its own nonprofit.

In 2022, The Well found a place for wellness and growth in Camp Washington, Ohio, allowing the organization to hold space for community events, trainings and collaborations in addition to having a dedicated office for its growing staff. The space includes a gallery and event space, two small studios for meeting and making, and a loft office, complete with meditation zone and hammock. Additionally, The Well has access to the adjoining Campsite Sculpture Park.