Our Story

Why (iE)?

At one point Dr. Casey Jones was considering making an App. Her son happens to be a little entrepreneur at heart (thank you Ty Allen Jackson for your kids books that helped nourish this!) so they were walking on the beach talking it through one sunny afternoon recognizing that it needed a symbol that would mean the same thing as the name.

Her son said, “Mom, you are always saying that you want to inspire and empower people, so what if it was ii?”

Dr. Casey Jones said, “Well, actually, one of those starts with an ‘e,’ but what if?…”

They started drawing in the sand and came up with the cursive “e” with a dot that could also be an “i”. Even when the idea evolved into “Sleep Wellness Wilmington,” it was still important to her that the inspiration behind the idea remained… even if her and her son were the only people ones that knew what it meant.

So… iE means Inspire and Empower. Inspire in this case means “in spirit” AND breathe in! The goal at Sleep Wellness Wilmington is to inspire hope and empower change leading to wellness, and since it is all connected, that often involves more than just sleep!

Why “don’t forget to smile & dance”?

Years ago Dr. Casey Jones started ending calls and e-mails with “Have a great day, and don’t forget to smile!” She did it so often that her daughter… a toddler at the time… would say, “you forgot to tell them to smile” if she didn’t. On a road trip once, her son said, “raise your hand if you have a motto…”. Then when no one did he said, “Mommy, you do!… ‘Don’t forget to smile!’

It wasn’t until the pandemic hit and dentistry was temporarily taken away from her as she was furloughed that she realized how much she missed dance and how much it needed to continue to be a part of her life… her professional dance career may have ended as she took on the role of dentist, but once a dancer, always a dancer! She started taking virtual classes (a blessing of the pandemic to have that option!) and soon changed her motto to “Don’t Forget to Smile & Dance!” embracing that you do not have to be one thing!!!

Why “Look for the blessings and I promise you will see them!”?

Dr. Casey Jones decided to move to Wilmington 2 weeks before the pandemic hit. She had been working with an amazing dentist that was a wonderful mentor in every way but work life balance. Dr. Jones was working long hours even without being the owner (not necessarily that unusual for dentists as there is so much work that happens behind the scenes). When she was considering buying the practice or relocating (her husband did not love the long winters and always wanted to live by the water) she had a friend tell her, “I believe God put those feelings in our stomach for a reason, so get rid of the pros and cons lists I know you have, close your eyes and just do what feels right.”

She followed that advice and when she opened her eyes, she told her husband, “we’re moving.” A big part of that decision was that she did not want to miss her kids growing up. Little did she know that the world would shut down due to a global pandemic, or that the job that allowed her make the jump would let her go 6 months in on Christmas Eve due to a lack of work related to the pandemic. That was not the only redirection that she had and she ended up becoming a “fill in dentist” working in close to 30 different practices. At one point she was not sure she wanted to be a dentist anymore! And at another point she considered moving her family back to Massachusetts. Thankfully in the midst of all the uncertainty, she picked up “Close Your Mouth” by Patrick McKeown… a book she had often recommended to patients when she was working in the Berkshires. That started her an a journey of becoming an Oxygen Advantage and Buteyko Clinic Instructor because she wanted a way to empower her patients to make a change when she noticed dysfunctional breathing including mouthbreathing that was contributing to more decay, gum disease, and more. In fact, she wrote in her journal that she wanted to teach the world to breathe because it was THAT IMPORTANT!

The journey has certainly not always been easy and is far from over… it has been filled with blessings, joy, and tears. A good friend of her once told her, “God is giving you lots of opportunities to let go of that control that you love so much.” She was not wrong… just when Dr. Jones thought she had learned that lesson, another twist would come and she would have yet another opportunity to let go. Realizing that in spite of her best efforts to plan, she was not the one in control, she started to say a prayer to show her the blessings and how she could be a blessing. She started writing down things she was grateful for every morning and she started to see “Godincidences” all around her. That is where the saying, “Look for the blessings, and I promise you will see them” came from.

Faith and fear are not that different. Faith is believing something good will happen, while fear is believing something bad will happen. Since most of the stuff we worry about never actually happens, we might as well choose faith that good things are coming. Each day she tries to choose faith over fear and to be anxious for nothing… she does not always get it right, but that is part of being human.

God is in the details and no detail is too small. Dr. Casey Jones believes that each of us was wonderfully and uniquely made. No one can be you, and the work desperately needs YOU so do not waste your life trying to be someone else. Dream big, and remember… “we do not have to have the answers of tomorrow today” (thank you Dr. Lauren Ballinger for that one). Go out there and live your life, be kind, spread love, lift people up, and don’t forget to smile and dance along the way!!!