Deborah Caplan Groening

Well Family Marian Place
President & Founder

In 2007, Deborah Groening-Rother, MFT, PsyD, founded Well Baby Center – now Well Family Marian Place – to provide affordable, community-based mental health services for families. Rather than enter private practice, she launched the nonprofit during the 2008 recession to destigmatize preventive care and support parents transitioning into family life. Her model, rooted in psychodynamic theory and mindfulness, began with her own Mindful Parenting Groups, later expanding into full family therapy services. Groening-Rother created a sought-after clinical training program for pre-licensed and licensed therapists, initially volunteer-based, later evolving into paid opportunities post-pandemic. In 2021, she donated a cluster of 1920s bungalows to Venice Community Housing with the stipulation that Well Family continue offering free mental health services to residents, alongside its public sliding-scale offerings. With 25 years in the field and 17 at Well Family, she is now semi-retired and focused on her philanthropic foundation supporting housing, social equity and sustainability.