Mental Wellness Innovations™

A non-profit organization

Mission/Impact

Our Mission

Mental Wellness Innovations™ (MWI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting mental health literacy and holistic self-care for children, teens, and families.

We pioneer child-friendly, culturally neutral, effective, natural, and safe therapeutic options designed to complement organizations that support the basic physical needs of children and their families.

MWI also intervenes in traumatic situations, teaching self-care skills that rebalance the stress response and build resilience.

Through these combined efforts, we help children overcome ongoing challenges and flourish into adulthood in mind, body, and spirit.

Our Impact

The Feel Better Pack initiative began in 2005 as a recovery tool for hospitalized children undergoing surgeries and cancer treatments.

In 2006, we expanded the program, distributing Packs internationally to children displaced by the tsunami in Thailand. We continued this outreach in 2010, delivering Packs to Haiti after the earthquake and to Laos following the 2018 floods.

Most recently, Feel Better Packs have been utilized in classrooms within under-resourced schools in Cleveland, OH, and sent to North Carolina and Florida to support children displaced by recent hurricanes.

To date, MWI has delivered over 50,000 Feel Better Packs worldwide.

The core values that guide our work:

  1. Unconditional love and support for all children.

  2. Understanding that all children can engage in self-care skills to help heal themselves in mind, body, and spirit with evidence-based therapies.

  3. A passionate commitment to preventing the negative impact of toxic stress from traumatic experiences and environments on the mind and body, by intervening as early as possible to avoid future medical and mental health disorders.

  4. Child, teen, and individual empowerment—helping families actively participate in their own health and wellness by engaging in self-care skills. 

  5. Belief in the Power of the Pack—providing simple, cost-effective, engaging solutions that are user-friendly, environmentally friendly, and culturally agnostic. Solutions that help reverse the harmful effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) inherent in humanitarian disasters worldwide. 

MWI is a non-profit effort, and all funds raised will be focused on the crucial areas of development, distribution, and education, ensuring that our mission and initiatives can reach as many children and families as possible.

Get Involved

MEET THE FOUNDER

Timothy Culbert, MD

Timothy Culbert, MD, is a retired board-certified developmental/behavioral pediatrician with over 30 years of practice in the Twin Cities. Early in his career, he trained and became certified in mind/body skills, including biofeedback and medical hypnosis, later adding MBSR, Reiki, clinical aromatherapy, and functional medicine to his expertise. 

He further expanded his knowledge through a Bush Foundation Fellowship and a Kaiser Institute Fellowship in Integrative Medicine Leadership.

From 2000 to 2009, Dr. Culbert led an interdisciplinary team of pediatric healthcare professionals offering non-pharmacological therapies for children and teens undergoing surgery or cancer treatment. 

The team focused on managing symptoms like pain, nausea, anxiety, and fatigue using techniques such as mental imagery, mindfulness, biofeedback, aromatherapy, and energy therapies. This successful approach culminated in the Oxford University Press textbook, Integrative Pediatrics, co-edited by Dr. Culbert and Dr. Karen Olness.

  • "The good we can do together surpasses the good we can do alone"

    Benjamin Franklin

Meet the Team

Board of Directors

  • Dr. Tim Culbert

    Founder and CEO

  • Angela Culbert

    Co-Founder & Operations

  • Rollyn Renstrom

    Chief Financial Officer

  • Dr. Gerard Banez,

    Community Psychology Expert, Cleveland Clinic

  • Kaitlin Brown

    Lead Teacher, Ronald McDonald House Charities Upper Midwest

  • Kathy Flaminio

    Mind-Body Skills Expert Education Committee Chair

  • Dr. Kevin Harrington

    Psychologist and Family Perspective Expert

  • Chrissy Mignogna

    Mind-Body Skills Expert

  • Dr. Karen Olness

    International Health, Developmental & Behavior Pediatrician

  • Dr. Lynda Richtsmeier Cyr

    Trauma and International Mental Health

  • Dr. Anastasia Ristau

    Mental Health Expert Research Committee Chair

  • Open

    Fundraising Philanthropy Committee Chair

Advisory Council of Experts

  • Dr. David Alter

    Psychology and Mind-Body Skills

  • Dr. Henry Emmons

    Integrative Psychiatry

  • Anjanette Johnson

    School Psychology, Social Emotional Learning

  • Rebecca Kajander

    Mind Body Skills, Integrative Medicine

  • Anne Knipe

    Legal & Community Advocacy

  • Katie Lindenfelser

    Integrative Medicine, Music Therapy, Hospice/Palliative Care

  • Cheryl Raile

    RN, MPH

  • Dr. Geoff Raile

    Medical Leadership

  • Dr. Susan Sencer

    Integrative Medicine Expert, Research

Get in Touch!

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