Our History
About The Well
The Well is a healing-centered organization that designs and delivers culturally grounded mental health and community wellbeing initiatives. Founded in 2017 by Dr. LaDonna N. Butler, The Well was created to expand access to care, reduce isolation, and strengthen communities through connection, prevention, and collective healing.
From its inception, The Well has worked at the intersection of mental health, social justice, and community leadership—partnering with faith communities, clinical providers, and local organizations to respond to the real conditions shaping people’s lives.
A Clear, Resilient Model
Like many mission-driven organizations, The Well has evolved through growth and transition. In recent years, this evolution included organizational restructuring, the dissolution of an earlier company entity, and a re-alignment of leadership and operations. These changes were intentional and strengthening—allowing The Well to clarify its mission, streamline its structure, and build a model designed for long-term sustainability and impact.
Today, The Well’s core operations are based in Minnesota, with services delivered through virtual platforms, mobile services, and community-embedded partnerships. This approach allows The Well to maintain local depth while supporting regional and national initiatives with flexibility, accountability, and reach.
What We Do
Through The Well, PLLC, the organization provides:
Clinical and behavioral health services
Training and consultation for organizations and practitioners
Community-based healing experiences and convenings
Mental health literacy and prevention initiatives
One of the most visible expressions of this work is A Brunch of Us™, a signature initiative that brings people together around shared meals, facilitated dialogue, storytelling, and joy. Designed to reduce isolation and increase access to wellness resources, A Brunch of Us functions as both a community gathering and a scalable public-health-informed intervention. The initiative is currently being piloted across multiple locations and positioned for national expansion.
Why Partners Work With Us
Sponsors, funders, and collaborators partner with The Well because of its:
Proven leadership grounded in clinical expertise and lived experience
Flexible delivery model that meets communities where they are
Track record of partnerships with local, regional, and national organizations
Clear governance and fiscal structure designed for accountability and growth
Ability to translate connection into measurable wellbeing outcomes
The Well is led with the understanding that healing is not a side project—it is foundational to thriving individuals, organizations, and communities.
We welcome partners who share this vision and are committed to investing in care that is sustainable, culturally responsive, and impact-driven.
Dr. LaDonna Butler, LPCC, LADC
Founder & Executive Director, The Well
Dr. LaDonna N. Butler is a nationally recognized healing leader, licensed clinician, and cultural strategist whose work reframes mental health as infrastructure and community connection as prevention. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Well for Life & The Well, PLLC, the current evolution of a body of work she has been building for more than a decade across clinical practice, community organizing, and public leadership.
Dr. Butler’s work began with The Well, founded in 2017 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Originally launched as a clinical mental health practice, The Well expanded into a community-centered organization partnering with faith institutions, grassroots organizations, and national justice groups to address inequitable mental health access in Black and Brown communities. During this period, Dr. Butler was completing her Doctorate in Counselor Education and Supervision, teaching in graduate counselor education programs, and serving as Principal Investigator on initiatives such as Reckoning with Race. The Well established a track record of regional and national partnerships and helped shape community-based approaches to prevention and healing.
As Dr. Butler’s leadership and scope of work expanded, so did the organizational structure. Following personal and professional transitions—including divorce, relocation, and the dissolution of an earlier company entity—she intentionally redesigned her work for sustainability, clarity, and scale.
This restructuring led to the formation of The Well, PLLC, a Minnesota-based clinical and consulting entity that anchors Dr. Butler’s licensed services, training, and advisory work. Operating through virtual, mobile, and community-embedded models, The Well, PLLC allows for local depth while supporting regional and national clients.
From this foundation, Dr. Butler launched The Well for Life, a broader healing and consulting platform that integrates her clinical expertise, cultural strategy, and community-building work into a unified ecosystem. The Well for Life serves as the public-facing umbrella under which her nationally recognized initiatives now live.
These include A Brunch of Us™, Healing While Black®, The Blackest Table, and A Tiny Gallery Experience—offerings that use shared meals, facilitated dialogue, storytelling, music, and creative expression to reduce isolation, increase mental health literacy, and activate civic, social, and economic engagement. A Brunch of Us™, currently being piloted across multiple cities, is positioned as a scalable, community-driven model for connection, healing, and action.
Today, Dr. Butler’s work is largely Minnesota-based, with national reach supported through virtual delivery, mobile services, and community partnerships. Her leadership reflects a refined philosophy she describes as healing leadership—leadership shaped by lived experience, institutional knowledge, and the understanding that systems function best when they are designed around real human needs.
Her work and perspective have been featured in TIME Magazine, The New York Times, Tampa Bay Times, ABC, and FOX News, and cited by leaders including Tarana Burke, Deran Young, and Brené Brown. Dr. Butler is known for translating insight into infrastructure and for building models that move communities from conversation to coordinated action.