Welcome to The Mattering Movement

The Mattering Movement is a nonprofit advancing the science of mattering in education to create campus communities where everyone is valued, contributes, belongs and thrives, together.

Invite the Mattering Movement into your school to create a learning environment where everyone belongs, knows they matter, and feels seen, heard, and valued.

Bring Mattering to Your School

At The Mattering Movement, we support schools in building cultures of mattering—where every student and educator knows they are valued and have a meaningful role. Our programs offer practical tools and shared language to deepen connection, purpose, and well-being.

“The Mattering Movement has been extremely life-giving to me and to our school community. Because of this curriculum, our staff have gotten to discuss these important issues of students and faculty feeling like they matter for the first time.” - School Counselor

“The teaching modules allowed us to be deliberate and intentional about showing our students they matter. This program helped us “teach” something that most of us believe in, but most of us did not know it had a name.” - Senior Administrator

“Having the shared understandings, frameworks, and language make growing our and our students' senses of mattering feel more possible.” – Teacher

“It has positively impacted my mental health because it made me feel like I matter.” – Student

Learn More

The Mattering Movement at Harvard

We are grateful to partner with Harvard College to help create a campus where students and faculty know they matter. Alongside Harvard, we are proud to work with New York University, Washington University, the University of Pennsylvania (PennPAC), and Emory University (Oxford).

PARTNERSHIP HIGHLIGHT

Mattering in Colleges & Universities

In 2024, over 40% of college students reported feeling too depressed to function, and over 60% reported overwhelming anxiety. Recognizing the deep need for actionable tools and resources for young adults and drawing on the large body of scientific research correlating mattering to positive mental health, our work increasingly focuses on bringing mattering to college campuses. We are grateful to work with Harvard, New York University, Washington University, the University of Pennsylvania (PennPac), and Emory University (Oxford).

Mattering in Middle and High School

In 2023, 40% of students in middle and high school reported persistent sadness or hopelessness, and over 50% of students reported that anxiety or depression are major obstacles to learning. Drawing on robust research illustrating the positive mental health outcomes of a strong sense of mattering, our curriculum for 6-12th grades is making a tangible impact throughout the U.S. and beyond.

Click here for more information about our Mattering curriculum.

What is The Mattering Movement?

The Mattering Movement is a national nonprofit dedicated to creating cultures of mattering in schools and educational spaces.

Mattering is about how we treat ourselves and how we treat one another. It is both a research-backed mindset and a skill set that can be learned. The Mattering Movement provides actionable strategies to create environments that foster mattering—at home, in classrooms, and across wider communities.

Research shows that at the root of many mental health struggles in young people—pressure, anxiety, depression, and loneliness—is an unmet need to feel that we matter: that we are valued for who we are at our core, and that we can add meaningful value to the lives of others.

Who is the Mattering Movement?

Drawing on their deep expertise, co-founders Dr. Sarah Bennison, NYU faculty and founder of Trinity School (NYC) Office of Public Service, and Jennifer Wallace, author of NYT bestsellers Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic – and What We Can Do About It and Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose, alng with a team of expert advisors, provide powerful tools to help parents, students, and teachers untangle self-worth from achievement. This is the essence of mattering.

What kids and adults need in their lives is not more pressure, but to feel like they matter.

Meet Our Team

Why We Need to Know Our Lives Matter

It’s not enough to do important work — we need to know it truly matters, says The Mattering Movement co-founder Jennifer Wallace. Drawing on her research into firefighters, caregivers and more, she shows how simple acts of acknowledgment and connection can fuel our sense of purpose in a world that too often undervalues recognition.