A mother’s work is never done. The new book by Scarlett Lewis, From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives, proves that she is a true example of that adage.

After her 6-year-old son Jesse Lewis was killed trying to save his classmates in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on December 14, 2012 (12/14), the trajectory of Lewis’s life shifted in a new direction.

She focused her energy on making sure no other parent suffered the devastating loss she went through.

“I literally quit my job and started researching what the solution was and came upon Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), which was already something that was out there. There was programming that was available,” Lewis told The Newtown Bee.

She felt strongly that having SEL in the school system could have saved the lives taken on 12/14, so she went to the then-curriculum director at Sandy Hook Elementary School to share what she had discovered. Lewis learned that the school had previously tried to include SEL in its curriculum but did not have enough funds to bring it to fruition, however.

After hearing that, Lewis decided to create The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement. She did so to honor her youngest son’s legacy, show her surviving son J.T. the path of perseverance, as well as to offer a no-cost SEL curriculum option for schools.

Her nonprofit’s message revolves around the concept of “nurturing healing love” — a message that Jesse had written on a chalkboard in his home before his death. The idea also became a call to action in self-awareness when Lewis asked everyone at Jesse’s funeral to choose a loving thought over an angry one.

Lewis’s first book, Nurturing Healing Love: A Mother’s Journey Of Hope & Forgiveness, published in 2014, shared her life during the six-month period from 12/14 through June 2013.

It included the humble beginnings of The Choose Love Movement and left readers desiring to know more.

“I know that people had questions of how I started the Choose Love Movement and what was involved, what it is exactly, what we’ve accomplished, the outcomes, and testimonies,” Lewis said. “I thought it would be a good idea as a follow-up to my healing journey to release a book that is based on the movement.”

Her new book, From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives, picked up where Nurturing Healing Love ended, chronicling the impact of her life’s work thus far. The book was released in October and was edited by Pamela Brown.

The book first describes how the Choose Love Movement developed the Choose Love Formula (Courage + Gratitude + Forgiveness + Compassion-in-Action = Choosing Love).

What started as using the formula for teachable lessons in schools, under the Choose Love For Schools initiative, expanded to the Choose Love For Home and Choose Love For Communities programs.

“I originally created it for schools, then this amazing thing happened — it started spreading. We realized there was a tremendous need from parents, because, like me, if you are a parent that didn’t learn these skills and tools at home or school, then you don’t have them to give or teach. So we created programs for parents and then communities,” Lewis said.

She added, “Then I started having CEOs and employees contact me saying, ‘My children came home and started talking about Choose Love. We went home and downloaded the home program — we need this at work.’”

As a result, The Choose Love Movement launched Choose Love For The Workplace.

Through all these programs, Lewis wants to remind people that they have the choice to choose love in every place, situation, and stage of life.

“There is hope that we can choose love. Love is connection. It’s belonging … We may not always choose what happens to us — I would have never chosen to have my son murdered and collectively we would have never chosen to have a global pandemic. However, we can take our personal power back in how we choose to respond. And when we respond with love, we are literally creating a safer, more peaceful, and loving place. We’re creating the world that we want to live in,” Lewis said.

Heartfelt Testimonials

From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives features people’s personal stories about how the Choose Love Movement impacted their lives.

“What stands out to me is the myriad of incredible testimonies from so many different people — from principals to prisoners, from children to parents — just the dichotomy and how these essential life skills are used in every situation,” Lewis said.

The stories begin with individuals who live in New Hampshire, where leaders there are trailblazing the spread of the movement throughout the entire state.

One is Shannon Desilets, the program director for the Choose Love Movement in the Office of Governor Christopher T. Sununu of New Hampshire. She writes in part, “Choose Love provides a powerful, proactive, and preventative approach to addressing issues that our schools, homes, and communities are facing.”

The book also showcases heartwarming messages from people in other states, as well as internationally, including the United Kingdom, Japan, and Uganda.

From the latter, a former child soldier writes in part, “Jesse reminds me of my own age when I was abducted and went through so much torture. Choose Love has helped me to forgive the LRA rebels who abducted me and killed my father and tortured me so much. My heart feels light and free since I chose to forgive the LRA rebel leader.’

Other riveting testimonies about the Choose Love Movement come from a student who got a second chance at life, two strangers who fell in love, incarcerated men, and a young boy facing major health challenges.

From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives is a culmination of love and support from all walks of life.

Lewis summarized it in the book, on page 189, saying, “People’s lives have changed in positive ways, states are being revolutionized, domestic and international schools are practicing the formula with great success, children are being saved, and people’s lives are being transformed by Jesse’s message.”

New Programs

Today, the Choose Love Movement includes the ChooSELove Movement Podcast, ChooSELove Experiential Educator Wellness Workshop, Choose Love Bus Tour, Choose Love Book Club, and Choose Love In A Brave New World, to name just a few.

Lewis explained, “We ended up redoing all the programming during [the COVID-19 pandemic], as well as creating additional programming specifically for kids for the anxiety they are feeling and for the educators who help the kids get back to baseline and get ready to learn called Choosing Love in Our Brave New World.”

Lewis already has plans for more endeavors, too, that will help expand the Choose Love Movement’s impact.

“What we are going to start doing is an educator call every month … an open invite to any Choose Love educator or anyone who is interested to come on and learn about it, listen to it, talk about it, exchange ideas, and ask questions,” she said.

Lewis also hopes to see Connecticut make more strides in the future to incorporate the Choose Love Movement lessons.

“Connecticut has done a great job, specifically individual schools that have embraced the program, downloaded the materials, and taught it. I love that,” Lewis said.

“I would like to see a more organized effort out of our Department of Education. I would like to see our education leaders understand that Choose Love can be incorporated with other programming that they have. It’s love. There’s always a place for love in schools.”

She would like to see its influence in how Connecticut handles school safety.

“We have focused a lot on the attack end, as have everyone else, but I think that what the school safety experts are realizing now, and schools should be realizing now is there needs to be a greater focus on the culture of our schools … We wait for the problem to happen and then we focus on the actual problem. What Choose Love does is gets to the root cause of all of those issues and therefore it can reduce and prevent those issues from happening in the first place by giving kids skills and tools that they need to manage the difficulty that we know they are going to face in life,” Lewis detailed.

She added that she encourages all parents to make sure their school has a comprehensive SEL program.

“I wish that I had known what I know now, but I do know the extreme importance of providing these essential life skills to children at an early age, though we can learn them at any time. I’m talking about learning how to have healthy relationships, learning how to manage our emotions, how to face challenges and difficulties in our lives, and learn from them, grow through them, overcome them, and make responsible decisions,” Lewis said.

This December will mark a decade since 12/14, and the Choose Love Movement continues to grow thanks to those who believe in its message.

Lewis said, “It has spread that way all over the world and is now being taught in over 10,500 schools in every state and 150 countries — and that’s by word of mouth. I ask that people talk about this and share it with other family members who live in other areas and follow through and make sure that their school has a comprehensive program that is taught every day.”

Upcoming Book Club

The next Choose Love Book Club meeting will feature From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives on Wednesday, January 26, at 7 pm. The virtual monthly book discussion is free to attend, and all are welcome to take part in the discussion.

Registration can be done at chooselovemovement.org/choose-love-book-club.

From Sandy Hook To The World: How The Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives is available for purchase through Amazon and The Choose Love Movement website. For more information about the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement and to access its many free resources, visit chooselovemovement.org.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.