It Started With a Screen.
Between struggling alone and finding professional care, there was nothing. AWE was built to fill that space.
Where it all began
The Moment That Started Everything
As a young adult, Marc Ritter was diagnosed with ADHD. He eventually stopped his medication and found mindfulness and other non-medical tools to thrive. A few years later he found himself drawn into social media in ways he hadn't expected. He studied neuroscience and psychology to understand why, and discovered it wasn't just him. It was one of the biggest growing global mental wellness concerns.
He became a specialist in technology use and helped hundreds of people for years. He met many bright, capable young people whose lives had quietly narrowed to the size of a phone screen. Sleep was gone. Friendships had thinned to group chats. School, work, and relationships felt impossible. He met parents scared for their children and for themselves. Schools and professionals didn't know what to offer. And even when they did, the waiting list for help was months long.
Marc met fellow psychology researcher and globetrotter Christian Dominique at an international behavioral conference where Christian was presenting his research. Christian confirmed it wasn't an unusual case. Across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, he was seeing the same pattern: people of all ages losing themselves to technology, not because they were broken, but because no one had shown them another way. There was no coach in their corner. No practical program their school or workplace could point them to. Just a growing gap between daily life and clinical care, with millions of people quietly struggling in between.
That gap is where AWE was born.
The Problem No One Was Solving
Marc and Christian's background in psychology, neuroscience, technology, and business gave them a clear view of what was missing. Clinics were overwhelmed. Schools were underprepared. Families were left guessing. And the wellness industry was offering surface-level solutions: screen time trackers, awareness posters, one-off workshops forgotten by Friday.
What people needed was deeper. They needed someone to help them see their habits clearly, without judgment, and build real skills to change them. Not therapy. Not just an app. Something complete, accessible, structured, and human.
So they set out to build it. Digital balance became AWE's first mission: helping individuals, families, schools, and organizations develop a healthier relationship with technology. With their growing team, they helped many individuals, couples, and communities through targeted coaching, workshops, and human-centric tools. They launched LUMI™, AWE's AI wellness coach, and brought their work to scientific conferences, schools, and organizations worldwide.
But it didn't take long to realize that the screen was rarely the whole story.
Beyond the Screen
The teenager who couldn't put the phone down was also anxious. The employee doom-scrolling until 2am was lonely. The student gaming through every class had never learned how to regulate his emotions when things got hard. The sports fan gambling had no sense of purpose.
Digital dependency, it turned out, was almost never just about technology. It was tangled up with focus, anxiety, substance use, emotional regulation, productivity, and above all, a deep and growing loneliness, a lack of human connection, and a mounting meaning crisis.
This realization changed everything.
Christian Dominique, a digital health strategist with over a decade of global experience, saw the same truth from the commercial side. Having spent years bringing health technologies to market, he understood that narrow, single-issue solutions rarely scaled or lasted. But Christian wasn't just a strategist. He was also a neuroscientist, a coach, a happiness expert, and a systemic thinker who had spent years equipping both adults and young people with practical tools that work.
Christopher Regier brought the third piece to the puzzle. An educator and wellness leader grounded in neuroscience and psychology, Christopher had spent his career designing mindfulness-based programs for schools and organizations. He knew that emotional regulation, focus, social connection, and self-awareness weren't luxuries. They were foundational skills that young people and adults alike were never taught. And he knew how to teach them.
Together, Marc, Christian, and Christopher asked a bigger question: What if we stopped treating digital balance as the problem, and started treating it as one part of a much larger picture?
From One Problem to Six.
Anxiety and ADHD
Rising anxiety and attention challenges are reshaping how people learn, work, and relate to each other. Practical, non-clinical support is desperately needed.
Substance Awareness
Substance-related habits don't begin in crisis. They begin quietly, and early awareness can change the trajectory of a life.
Behavior and Emotional Regulation
The ability to recognize your patterns, manage impulses, and respond rather than react is the foundation everything else is built on.
Digital Balance
Our relationship with technology shapes our sleep, our focus, our relationships, and our sense of self. This is where AWE began, and it remains central to everything we do.
Belonging and Connection
Loneliness and shallow connection may be the defining challenge of our time. Real community is something we have to build with intention.
Performance and Productivity
Thriving isn't just about feeling okay. It's about doing meaningful work, finding purpose, and optimizing how you spend your energy.
A Mission That Keeps Growing.
What started as a mission to help people find balance with technology has grown into something much larger: a comprehensive, evidence-informed wellness designed to meet people where they are, in the settings where they already live, learn, and work.
Beyond that, we aspire to coach and guide millions to not just survive but thrive. To go from wellness and wellbeing to happiness and deep joy.
Our team of leaders, coaches, and scientists continues to grow. Our programs are reaching more schools, clinics, and organizations every year. And our vision remains the same: to increase world happiness, one person, one community, one pillar at a time.
We hope you'll be part of this journey too.
Join the AWE Community.
Whether you're an individual, an organization, or someone who wants to bring AWE to your school or workplace, we'd love to hear from you.