Measuring What Matters: Mental & Behavioral Health at Scale

We believe media should do more than entertain—it should make lives better.

At the Mindful Media Foundation, we design digital experiences to measurably support mental and behavioral health for children, caregivers, and families. Our impact approach centers on advancing evidence-based, scalable, and joyful therapeutic media that addresses real-world needs—especially for vulnerable populations.

The Vision

We are pioneering a new category of digital therapeutic media—merging the emotional resonance of storytelling with the rigor of clinical insight. Our goal is to prove what we already feel: that screen time, when guided and shared, can be a powerful tool for prevention, healing, and connection.

We do this by:

  • Designing programs to support mentalization, regulation, and attachment

  • Measuring outcomes related to stress, attention, and relational health

  • Embedding tools to help families co-regulate, reflect, and grow—together

Our Research Priorities

We are actively developing partnerships to study how therapeutic media can improve outcomes across family systems. While our roots are in early childhood, our model expands across lifespan needs.

Our initial areas of focus include:

    • Co-viewing as a tool for strengthening caregiver-child bonds

    • Mentalization and emotional literacy in ages 0–5

    • Reducing stress through digital co-regulation

    • Interactive storytelling that supports emotional recovery and sleep

    • AI-guided content designed to reduce isolation and promote rest

    • Personalized, structured co-viewing experiences

    • Complementary tools for behavioral therapy and sensory attunement

    • Story-driven pathways to trust, safety, and resilience

    • Experiences that rebuild shared emotional language

    • Nighttime programming guided by sleep science

    • Interactive wind-down routines to calm both body and mind

Our Framework

We are developing a research framework grounded in behavioral science and emerging biometric validation.

Behavioral & Psychosocial Outcomes

  • Caregiver-child co-regulation

  • Engagement and usability

  • Mentalization, reflection, and emotional attunement

Biological & Stress Markers

  • Cortisol and HRV (heart rate variability)

  • Physiological synchrony between caregivers and children

  • Attention and calm using wearable tracking

These studies are being designed for deployment in homes, hospitals, schools, and high-need community settings.

A Call for Collaboration

We’re looking for research institutions, philanthropic partners, and healthcare collaborators to help pilot and validate these initiatives.

Together, we can co-create a new standard in digital well-being—grounded in science, guided by empathy, and scaled through story.

Metrics That Guide Our Work

While formal studies are underway, we are already tracking core indicators of impact, including:

  • Family engagement and co-viewing rates

  • Emotional and behavioral feedback from pilot users

  • Adoption and retention across diverse populations

  • Early signals of stress reduction, improved connection, and digital literacy

As our pilot programs scale, we’ll publish transparent metrics and share learnings with the broader public health and creative technology ecosystems.

Our Long-Term Impact Vision

    • Reach 10M+ families across early childhood, postpartum, and trauma-focused tracks

    • Partner with 100+ institutions globally to validate therapeutic media use

    • Establish media-as-medicine as a publicly recognized, clinically validated approach

    • Train and empower content creators to embed therapeutic frameworks in storytelling