Our Story
“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” — Psalm 34:8
The story of The Well began with a dream in 2009, but the seeds of that dream had been planted years before.
As a young nurse practitioner in primary care practice, founder Dr. Katherine Forbes-Smith cared for children and adolescents experiencing anxiety, attention difficulties, self-harm, depression, and other forms of emotional and spiritual distress. Her work revealed a gap in the way people were often cared for: physical, emotional, and spiritual needs were deeply interconnected, yet rarely addressed together. Her experiences with patients and curiosity for best ways to help them, lead to a growing conviction that meaningful healing requires care for the whole person, with mind, body, and spirit understood as interconnected dimensions of health and well-being.
Not long afterward, Katherine had an experience that was both unexpected and deeply significant. She had never been someone who regularly remembered her dreams, yet for three consecutive nights she had the same vivid dream. In it, she saw a place called The Well, A Center for Hope and Healing. A brilliant light poured from the building, and a long line of people waited to enter-children and adults, people who were physically ill, people experiencing profound emotional suffering, people she knew and people she didn't. Sitting on the steps was Jesus, simply talking with her. Katherine understood the dream as an invitation from God: a vision for a place where people could bring the fullness of their stories and their suffering, receive compassionate and integrated care, and encounter the transforming love of God in the midst of their healing.
Katherine began sharing the dream with trusted friends, mentors, clinicians, and her church community, and the response was extraordinary. People came forward to help turn the vision into something tangible-some literally building The Well from the studs up, others donating money, resources, time, and expertise. Like-minded clinicians came forward to join a unifying vision: to see people experience greater freedom and wholeness through an integrated approach to healing the mind, body, and spirit and through encounters with a loving God. What began as one person's dream became the work of a community, and in 2011, The Well, A Center for Hope and Healing opened its doors.
That vision continues to shape who we are today. The Well is rooted in the Judeo-Christian belief in the inherent dignity and worth of every person and in Christ's call to love our neighbors and serve others with compassion, humility, and grace. We welcome and serve people of all backgrounds and beliefs, offering high-quality, evidence-based care that honors the whole person. For those who desire it, we also create space for faith and spirituality to be integrated into care and for people to encounter the loving presence of Christ along their healing journey. More than fifteen years later, the hope at the heart of The Well remains the same: that people would experience healing and freedom in mind, body, and spirit; discover hope in the midst of suffering; and know more deeply the goodness and love of God.