Who we are

A small team building something larger than ourselves.

Rise to Wellness began developing its curriculum in 2022 and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) in Boston in 2023. We are a team of clinicians, educators, researchers, and operators building a curriculum we wish had existed when we were children.

Our origin

Born from a simple regret.

Rise to Wellness was born from the desire to see children not make the same mistakes we've made, for them to live a life we would have wanted for ourselves.
Sorachantha Chan, Executive Director

Looking back on our own lives, we can all see things we might have done differently. "If I had known that then, my life would look so different." We can give children what we wished we'd had for ourselves.

Most of the skills that protect people's mental health, managing anger, setting boundaries, communicating what you need, bouncing back from setbacks, are things nobody ever explicitly teaches you. You figure them out by trial and error, or you don't figure them out at all. What if we taught children those skills the same way we teach them math? Every day, in the classroom, with practice?

That question became Rise to Wellness. We started building the curriculum in 2022. Three and a half years later, more than half of it is drafted, two full modules plus additional chapters are being prepared for academic peer review, and we have a school in Pakistan that's agreed to implement it. Pakistan is our proof of concept. Once a curriculum and its assessment battery are validated in one non-English-speaking country, the model replicates: find a local university partner, translate, validate, deploy. That's how we get to every country.

What guides us

Mission, vision, and the standards we hold ourselves to.

Mission

Teach children the practical skills to live a life of peace, happiness, and joy.

Through evidence-informed mental health education that's free for every school and every child.

Vision

A world where every child has the inner skills to navigate life well.

Where emotional regulation, healthy communication, and resilience are taught as core curriculum, alongside reading and math.

Values

Rigor, honesty, and the long view.

We measure what we do. We don't claim outcomes we haven't earned. We build for decades, not news cycles.

Where we are

Honest about what we've built so far.

We're a young organization. Rather than dress up the numbers, here's exactly what three and a half years of work has produced.

01

Two curriculum modules fully drafted, two more partially drafted

Managing Your Emotions and Building Relationships are fully drafted. Additional chapters are drafted within Getting What You Want and Creating Your Own Identity. Sixteen of the 30 total skills across the curriculum are drafted.

02

Two modules and additional chapters being prepared for academic peer review

Managing Your Emotions and Building Relationships are being readied for outside review by researchers in child development and clinical psychology, along with drafted chapters from Getting What You Want and Creating Your Own Identity. Everything going to peer review will be teachable in our first programs.

03

Complete psychometric assessment protocol designed

Thirteen validated scales mapped to a day-by-day administration schedule for ages 8-18, with built-in distress-response protocols.

04

First school partner committed

In August 2023, Hope, an NGO running schools and hospitals across Pakistan, agreed to implement the curriculum at their Zia Colony school in Karachi once it's complete.

05

Boston pilot sponsorship secured

Our first 12-week youth wellbeing pilot in Boston, planned for this fall, is sponsored by Northeastern Crossing and the Office of City and Community Engagement at Northeastern University.

06

Urdu validation pathway scoped

Only one of our thirteen assessment scales has a validated Urdu version for ages 8-18. We're in discussions with research and translation teams about translating and validating the other twelve. Nothing is signed yet, and we'd rather say that plainly.

07

501(c)(3) status established and operational

Incorporated in Massachusetts; EIN 93-3363823; bookkeeping, governance, and donation infrastructure in place.

On the ground

From Boston to Karachi.

About a year into developing the curriculum, we wanted to know: would a school actually agree to teach it? Not in theory. For real, as part of their daily schedule, at no cost to them.

From the U.S., Sora connected with Hope, a nonprofit that runs schools and hospitals across Pakistan serving low-income communities. After several conversations with Hope's U.S.-based team, he arranged to visit their facilities in Karachi over two days. But the school partnership wasn't guaranteed yet, so in August 2023, Sora traveled to Karachi to find a school willing to partner with Rise to Wellness. He spent the first days on the ground physically walking through Karachi, going into educational facilities, asking whether they'd be willing to implement their mental health curriculum for free.

Then he visited Hope's school at Zia Colony and met with their chairperson at her office in Karachi. Within the first few minutes of that meeting, she agreed: Hope would implement the World Mental Health Curriculum at their school once the curriculum is complete.

Within two days, we had a partner school. Now we need to finish what we promised them.

Sora Chan meeting with the chairperson of Hope in Karachi Sora Chan visiting a classroom at a Hope school in Karachi

Left: Sora meeting with the chairperson of Hope at her office in Karachi. Right: Sora with educators at Hope's school.

Sora speaking to students in a classroom A teacher with students at a Hope school

Classrooms at Hope's school in Zia Colony, Karachi, where the curriculum will be implemented.

The team

The people building this, dedicated and growing.

Sora founded Rise to Wellness and serves as Executive Director on a volunteer basis, building the organization alongside his career. The clinical, behavioral, and operational team are dedicated paid staff. We engage trusted educators and researchers on a project basis as needed.

Sorachantha Chan

Sorachantha Chan

Founder & Executive Director

Sora is the vision behind Rise to Wellness. He recognized that the way a person handles life events directly shapes their mental health, and that the underlying skills can be taught. He brings over a decade of accounting and operations experience from Boston to the work of building the organization. For the past 3.5 years, he has built Rise to Wellness alongside a full-time accounting career, treating it as a daily commitment.

Imama Aamir

Imama Aamir

Assistant to the Executive Director

Imama is an arts student with a strong interest in mental wellbeing. She supports the founder with day-to-day operations and behind-the-scenes coordination, helping the organization continue creating real impact in the lives of those it serves.

I love the idea of giving kids the right tools for a healthier lifestyle upfront. While there's nothing wrong with therapy and many people encourage it for children, I prefer the approach of equipping them from the beginning so they may not need it later. It's proactive and that really resonates with me.

Consultants & Advisors
Farah Shaik

Farah Shaik

Educator

Farah runs an educational facility in Hyderabad, Pakistan with her family. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Education and brings practical insight into delivering programs in a Pakistani classroom context.

Farrukh Ijaz

Farrukh Ijaz

Researcher

Farrukh is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology with research focused on mental health, psychosocial wellbeing, and evidence-based wellness practices. She has twenty published papers and brings extensive experience in academic teaching, research supervision, and psychotherapy.

Board of Directors

Rise to Wellness is governed by a board of directors that provides oversight, strategic guidance, and accountability to our mission.

Sorachantha Chan

Chairperson

Arsh E Zahra

Director

Imama Aamir

Director

If this work matters to you, we'd love your help.

Whether that's a donation, an introduction to a school or community center, or expertise we don't yet have on the team, we want to hear from you.

Get in touch →