At SINA, we have long seen the power of personal transformation. Young people from deeply challenging backgrounds grow into confident changemakers, ready to lead their own lives, communities and social enterprises. Many come from difficult and traumatic backgrounds, and even as empowerment blossomed on the outside, many were still silently struggling inside. Occasional breakdowns, depressions, anxiety episodes, and long-term emotional distress in our SINA Communities kept occurring. We tried what we could. Our framework included buddy systems, life-coaches, accountability partners, check-ins, mediation and a lot of healing from living in a community. But something wasn’t landing deeply enough.
When we tried to address this more directly, just saying the words “mental health” was often enough to turn people away. There was resistance, fear, and stigma. Few saw themselves as needing mental health support — the language felt foreign, clinical, or simply not for them.
Then we met the Contentment Foundation.
They didn’t speak the language of illness. They spoke the language of life. Through their Four Pillars of Wellbeing — mindfulness, community, self-curiosity, and contentment — they offered tools to support emotional resilience without ever labeling anyone as unwell. Everything is framed around holistic wellbeing, grounded in day-to-day practices. Gentle, preventative, and beautifully human.
Since partnering two years ago, we’ve been steadily integrating these tools into the SINA Framework. And now, we are preparing for a major new milestone: the launch of our first Wellbeing Week — a one-week guided experience where entire SINA Communities, including scholars, trainers, facilitators, staff, and visitors, will pause to reflect on personal and collective wellbeing using the Four Pillars. The design is complete and we are excited to see the first SINA Communities begin its piloting in the coming weeks.
With every intake of the Four Pillars training, each SINA Community sends one of its own facilitators to participate. The goal is to strengthen the local wellbeing systems from within, so every community is supported by people who understand and live these tools. We are working to ensure that wellbeing is not an add-on, but a foundation of how we live and learn together.
To the Contentment Foundation — thank you for the support and for choosing to stay. Your presence is helping us grow strong, regenerative wellbeing systems, one step at a time. Special thanks to Susan Gathu, Senior Programs Lead for Africa, for visiting our Ugandan communities, and to Jenniffer Jones — together, you have always cheered SINA on and offered generous support along the way.