Calm.com Launches National College Mindfulness Program

Seven US Schools Become the First to Offer App Free to Students

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Calm.com, one of the world’s leading companies in the meditation space,
announced today that it has launched the first platform in the US geared
towards improving the mental health of college students through
mindfulness. Calm
College will kick-off this semester in seven pilot schools,
gradually expanding across the country, and eventually internationally,
as well.

In recent years, mental health has become a growing concern, especially
for students at the collegiate level. Approximately 95%
of college counseling centers say that student psychological problems
are on the rise, while half
of college freshman today rate their own mental half as poor. And for
the first time ever, depression and anxiety are now recognized as the top
impediments to student academic performance.

Sadly, while the mental health of the country’s student population is at
an all-time low, there is also a severe lack of resources available to
combat this rising issue. In fact, the average student to counseling
staff ratio is 1600:1, with most counselors working overtime — usually
without compensation. And even if there are counseling resources for
them, many do not seek them out due to time, cost, stigma, or other
factors.

However, mindfulness & meditation have been scientifically proven to
improve anxiety and depression in people of all ages, and with Calm
being easily accessible to users via an app and web-platform, students
will be able to avoid reasons that have previously kept them from
seeking other methods of mental help.

So far, over 100 colleges are currently involved in the onboarding
process to participate in Calm College, with seven schools leading the
initial launch this Fall semester. (Harvard, Princeton, Northwestern,
Cornell, Johns Hopkins, University of Pennsylvania, NYU). Students,
faculty, and staff at Calm College partner schools will have free access
to all features of the app, as well as the new “College Collection,” a
brand new series of mindfulness programs focusing on how to practically
apply mindfulness into the college lifestyle. This new series will
include 8 original guided meditation programs, which will help students
learn to manage test anxiety, stay focused in class, and find more
peaceful night’s sleep, among others.

Co-CEO/co-founder Alex Tew said, “As someone who personally used
meditation to cope with stress in college, I’m particularly excited to
enable a new generation of college students with the power to find calm
during a difficult life period through mindfulness.” Calm College is
also collaborating with national collegiate mental health organizations
such as Active
Minds and The
JED Foundation to make Calm affordable and accessible to students
around the country. For those not affiliated with our partners, a Calm Student
Discount is available.

ABOUT CALM.COM

Calm.com, Inc. is a leader in the meditation space with over 12 million
downloads to date and an average of 25,000 new users daily. Founded in
2012 by British entrepreneurs Michael Acton Smith OBE and Alex Tew, Calm
has a mission to make the world healthier and happier through the
superpower of calm, and eventually become the “Nike for the mind”. In
December 2016, Calm launched “Sleep Stories”, the first bedtime tales
for adults, that have since been listened to over 22 million times. In
March 2015, Calm launched a book with Penguin by the same name, which
quickly became a best-seller in the UK and received rave reviews in the
US the following year. It has since been translated and sold in over a
dozen countries, including China, Taiwan, Germany, France, and Spain. In
July, 2017, Calm released “Sleep Mist”, an all-natural aromatherapy
sleep spray that pairs with the Sleep Stories to mix scent and
storytelling for a totally unique sleep solution.

Contacts

for Calm.com, Inc.
Morgan Oliveira, 415-515-8078
morgan@groundedpr.com