Sara Brissenden-Smith, Founder and CEO, Jade Wellness Collective
Creator of The Healthy Return Framework™
Sara Brissenden-Smith is a nonprofit executive, facilitator, writer, and retreat leader with more than 25 years of experience serving communities through mission-driven work.
After witnessing—and personally experiencing—the toll that burnout, chronic stress, and sacrifice can take on those who dedicate their lives to helping others, she founded Jade Wellness Collective to support nonprofit leaders in building sustainable careers, healthier relationships with work, and lives that include both purpose and joy.
Through retreats, workshops, coaching, and thought leadership, Sara helps mission-driven professionals reconnect with themselves, redefine success, and return to their work from a place of greater clarity, wellbeing, and intention.
Having navigated the realities of direct service, organizational leadership, and system-level challenges, The Healthy Return Framework™ reflects a deep understanding of what leaders are carrying, and what is required to support them in sustainable, meaningful ways.
Why This Work Exists
Our current systems are often structured in ways that are unsustainable and inequitable.
In the nonprofit sector, many of us have inherited a culture shaped by scarcity, urgency, and sacrifice.
Generations of leaders gave deeply of themselves in service of their communities—often at great personal cost.
Their impact is undeniable. Their legacy is the foundation for the work we carry forward.
And still, many were never given the time or space to experience the very things they were working toward—rest, ease, and a sense of peace. The work was always urgent.
The need was always present. And the work is never fully done.
They deserved better. And so do we.
The work we do is essential. And how we show up to that work matters.
Rest is not a reward—it is a requirement for sustainability, clarity, and care. When leaders are supported in tending to their own well-being, they are better able to lead, to serve, and to sustain the impact they are working to create.
Jade Wellness Collective exists to support a different way forward—one that honors both the importance of the work and the humanity of the people doing it.