Maui Calm Project

08/06/2026

04/17/2026

Announcing a keynote speaker for Float Conference 2026 in Norfolk, VA!

We're thrilled to welcome Dr. Abby Morris, MD, Senior Director of Health and Clinical Strategy at Maui Calm Project — double board-certified psychiatrist, addiction medicine specialist, and leading expert in first responder mental health.

Her talk, "How Floating Helps Put Out the Fire in Firefighters' Nervous Systems," draws on a decade of work with over 4,000 firefighters at the IAFF Center of Excellence, where she developed evidence-based approaches to treating PTSD, anxiety, insomnia, and addiction in those who need to perform under pressure.

She'll explore how float therapy can modulate the central nervous system as part of a comprehensive treatment program — and how it helps first responders meet their recovery goals.

We can't wait to have her. 🌊
🎟️ Get your tickets today— link in bio!

01/28/2026

A special message from Dr. Justin Feinstein....

Sicut vis videre esto. These were the final words of my dear friend Colin Stanwell-Smith. He secretly inscribed them behind the beautiful mural painted on the wall of my former laboratory at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. This was back in 2015 and I only learned about his hidden message a few days ago when I received the photo below from the mural’s artist, Sandra Calm.

Sicut vis videre esto is a Latin phrase that translates to “Be the change you wish to see.” Perhaps it was the catalyst for Gandhi’s famous quote? However, it turns out there’s a second interpretation, which is the one I think Colin was trying to convey… “Exist in the state that you wish to perceive.”

Colin’s message was prescient. The float environment that he had engineered allowed the nervous systems of my clinically anxious patients to enter a state of equilibrium, a state they so desperately wished to perceive. The patients found solace in the silence, or as one patient put it, Zen without the Xanax! This anxiolytic effect has now been replicated in over a half dozen studies, inspiring Colin to help me establish the Float Research Collective, a nonprofit that aims to get floatation therapy approved as an accepted medical treatment.

Last week, Colin sadly passed away and no words can do justice to the enormity of this loss. I feel so honored to have known him and been his friend. He was a brilliant engineer and a true pioneer in the world of floatation therapy. In 1999 he founded Floataway with his wife Gini, where he spent his time innovating new designs for float tanks, and finding ways to make the therapy more accessible. As part of these efforts, he revolutionized the design of the open float pool, which turned out to be the key ingredient for my research since most anxious patients will avoid any float tanks with an enclosure. What most don’t realize is that Colin and Gini spent over 7 months living with me in Tulsa so that we could construct the world’s first research laboratory dedicated to studying the neurobiological and clinical effects of floatation therapy. None of this research would have been possible without Colin.

During our final conversation together last month, I promised him that our dream of establishing a clinical model for floatation therapy would continue, and big plans are already underway. Colin was the first person I called after the horrible fires on Maui, and thanks to the valiant efforts of his son Toby Stanwell-Smith, an amazing engineer just like his father, we are now on the cusp of completing the world’s first mobile float facility for the Maui Calm project.

Here’s a toast to a true Renaissance man in every way, shape, and form. May you rest in peace my friend knowing that your secret message will continue to resonate across the world and your dream will continue to live on.

Please join me in celebrating Colin’s life, either in-person or through the livestream, on the 28th of February:
https://colinssfuneral.rsvpify.com/

01/01/2026

01/01/2026

Community members are invited to celebrate the launch of a new Rotary Club in South Maui at the Maluhia Maui Rotary Club Celebration on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 5:30 p.m., held at South Maui Gardens by the Peace Pole.

11/06/2025

Thanks to the heroic leadership of Steve Scraggs and Jaylou Cabrera, along with the entire team at the Maui Family YMCA, the Westside YMCA resource center is now open in Lahaina! Getting to this point took many months of careful planning, and Char Matila played a critical role in navigating Maui’s complex construction and permitting process. This is a major milestone and Maui Calm is deeply honored to partner with the YMCA alongside a coalition of esteemed nonprofit organizations who all share a commitment to uplift and serve the people of Lahaina as they rebuild and recover from one of the worst wildfires in history.

The fire took away so many vital community spaces and essential services. Lahaina’s preschools were all lost in the fire, so the YMCA will house a new preschool, intentionally designed to be trauma-informed so that the keiki can learn and heal in a safe, supportive environment. The Y also provides a much-needed community space where neighbors can reconnect, so beautifully illustrated at last week’s grand opening celebration where the keiki came out in droves to trick or treat, and hundreds of local Lahaina kūpuna gathered together to play bingo, reviving a beloved tradition and reminding everyone what it feels like to be together again.

Sending a giant mahalo to the Maui Strong Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation and the Rotary Club, whose donations helped bring this vital resource center to life. Over the coming months, the outdoor space just mauka to the main building will be transformed into a beautiful healing garden, where we will be setting up our Maui Calm float facility. We hope to be up and running by early next year, so stay tuned for more details….

The new Westside YMCA at 226 Kupuohi Street in Lahaina is now open to serve the community. You can learn more and sign up for updates at mauiymca.org/Lahaina

10/14/2025

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, Dr. Justin Feinstein will be the speaker at the Rotary Club of Lahaina Sunset meeting.

09/15/2025

We are excited to share the first pictures of our Maui Calm float facility! Ever since the fires, our nonprofit has been closely collaborating with the engineers at Floataway (floataway.com) to build the world’s first deployable float facility. Even though everything is being constructed inside of a shipping container we wanted the float rooms to be state-of-the-art, with open spacious pools built inside beautiful rooms engineered to be waterproof, saltproof, soundproof, lightproof, and temperature- and humidity-controlled so that both the air and water match the temperature of your skin. This was no small engineering feat and we can’t thank Floataway enough for the countless hours of work they have put into constructing this facility!

08/15/2025

Two weeks after the fires on Maui, our nonprofit met Tariq and his amazing family who run the Los Angeles Salt Company at the Float Conference in Louisville. Dr. Feinstein had just finished presenting his idea of deploying free float therapy to Maui in order to help in the aftermath of the devastating fires. Immediately after his talk, Tariq approached Dr. Feinstein and told him that if he could bring Maui Calm to life, the LA Salt Co would donate all the Epsom salt, the single most critical ingredient for floatation therapy. Fast forward two float conferences later, and a giant shipment of Epsom salt has arrived on Maui in preparation for the arrival of our float facility later this year. Sending a giant mahalo to the LA Salt Co for helping us float all the fire survivors and first responders on Maui... we could not have done this without you!

08/08/2025

Today marks two years since the devastating wildfires on Maui. While the physical destruction was immediate, the emotional toll is still unfolding, and the latest research reveals that the mental health crisis on Maui is even more severe than anticipated.

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐉𝐀𝐌𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝.
▶️ 25% of fire survivors are experiencing moderate-to-severe anxiety, a rate more than ten times higher than before the fires
▶️ 50% of fire survivors are experiencing depressive symptoms such as insomnia, fatigue, and hopelessness, more than double pre-fire levels
▶️ Children have been hit hardest: nearly 50% show signs of PTSD, half meet the clinical threshold for depression, and 30% report significant anxiety symptoms including excessive worry, restlessness, and difficulty relaxing
🚩 Suicidal thoughts are four times higher than before the fires
🚩 In August 2023, the month of the fires, Maui recorded its highest combined su***de and overdose death rate in over a decade
❌ No data for the number of su***des or overdoses has been released for 2024 or 2025, hiding the true scale of Maui's mental health crisis

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐨𝐧!

Later this month, the 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐘𝐌𝐂𝐀 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 will have its grand opening in Lahaina and our nonprofit has partnered with the to help create a beautiful space for healing that uses nature and water to naturally calm the nervous system. If all goes well with the permitting process, we should be able to start providing 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐅𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐘 to all the fire survivors, first responders, and frontline workers on Maui later this year!

Our goal is to reduce the high level of stress and anxiety that the people of Maui are currently experiencing, and we are especially committed to helping all the older keiki and teens who are really struggling right now.

𝐖𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐮𝐢.

Learn more and sign up for updates at MauiCalm.org

References:
Purtle et al., 2025: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2837350
Juarez et al., 2025: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2837319
Maui Wildfire Exposure study: https://uhero.hawaii.edu/from-crisis-to-recovery-health-and-resilience-two-years-after-the-maui-wildfires/
Mental Health data from the first year after the fire: https://www.mauicalm.org/post/maui-s-mental-health-crisis
Recent Guardian article on Maui’s mental health crisis: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/18/maui-wildfires-mental-health