University of Wisconsin-Madison

This grant supports the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds in advancing a community-engaged project that empowers formerly incarcerated individuals to lead the delivery of contemplative, neuroscience-based well-being practices to peers in their communities. Building on years of partnership with justice-impacted individuals, community organizations, correctional institutions, and local academic collaborators, the project will implement a phased train-the-trainer model.  

Peer leaders will learn to facilitate mindfulness and meditation practices while gaining an understanding of the neuroscience research behind these approaches to support brain health and resilience. They will also produce an audio library of culturally relevant, accessible meditation practices adapted and recorded in their own voices. These resources will be disseminated through community partners, correctional facilities, and digital platforms, supporting mental health and resilience during the critical transition from incarceration to community life. This grant supports the Dana Frontiers program’s objective to support and empower neuroscience and society practitioners who champion inclusive, effective models of multidirectional engagement with diverse publics so that more communities can use neuroscience to address their priorities. By embedding lived experience into the design and delivery of these evidence-based interventions, this project reflects the Dana Foundation’s mission to advance neuroscience that benefits society and its commitment to fostering collaboration, empathy, and opportunity through community-centered neuroscience.