about the giving well
The Giving Well is a wellness education company and online community focused on helping people actively engage with their own wellness through ten wellness dimensions. It is a response to the infinite distractions that inundate our everyday lives and disconnect us from the most important aspects of ourselves. Through workshops, community membership, social media, and a dedicated website, The Giving Well asks us to take time to reflect and make intentional lifestyle choices. Aside from discovering new ways of nurturing and caring for yourself, the ten wellness dimensions we talk about also provide a way of looking at your own identity.
The concept was developed from a desire to create wellness resources anyone can use within a community space that is filled with Filipino customs and multi-cultural values. Much like a water well within a community, The Giving Well is a gathering space for connection and for partaking in the group through sharing of personal stories as a means to enhance each others’ wellness. The Giving Well is not intended to be a substitute for psychotherapy. However, the activities and content are reviewed by professionals and developed in a thoughtful way, making its programs an excellent complement to therapy or as a standalone resource for anyone.
The company prioritizes accessibility and inclusion with an emphasis on women of color, the disability community, and socio-economically disadvantaged communities. For this reason, the company pursues a varied range of content offerings. It operates social and individual activities and workshops, creates content for various media, and develops paid and free resources. The Giving Well provides anyone the chance to develop their own wellness practice.
Our Story
Angel and Laura circa 2014
The Giving Well was inspired by our enduring 20+ year friendship - one filled with mutual understanding, compassion, deep conversations, and often silliness.
With an assist from the University of California, Irvine campus housing department, we became roommates and besties in the year 2000. From young adults making diner runs at midnight to grown women managing responsibilities and pursuing their individual dreams on separate continents, our friendship has been a mainstay.
One of the greatest gifts that a genuine friendship can provide is creating a safe space to completely be yourself. Our hope with The Giving Well is that you find that space to be and explore the most authentic version of yourself.
We bring you into the fold of the kind of conversations we’ve had and encourage you to take moments to reconnect during your busy days. Consider us your biggest wellness cheerleaders!
Angel
My identity as a Filipina immigrant was always strengthened by my family. I was told in childhood to never be ashamed of being Filipino, of speaking Ilocano or Tagalog, and of being born in the Philippines.
Filipinos take part in activities and storytelling that allow for bonding, and we know how to take loving care of each other. Throughout my life I’ve experienced how my family and our gatherings respected the nurturance, guidance and trust of matriarchal spirit.
My trade as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist roused my imagination to integrate culture and community into a wellness space that is accessible to any who identify as women and those who support women. I envisioned a warm space that honors one’s culture, relationships, and the fostering of women’s intelligence, strength, creativity, and sensibility. I wanted women to have a connection to a group that nurtured their aspirations and celebrated them.
It was natural to ask Laura to co-create a space that cultivates wellness and relationship ties. She and our sisterhood reinforce my own wellness and what my family taught me long ago, never be ashamed of being who I am and of my heritage.
You can visit my psychotherapy practice website, www.changetalkbayarea.com, to learn more about my work as a therapist.
Laura
When Angel brought up the idea of starting a wellness company together I immediately agreed. My background is in copywriting and marketing so I was more than eager to help create a platform for my best friend’s brilliant skills to be shared with even more people. Given how much our friendship has helped shape and inform my life, it seemed wrong not to share.
For more about me, you can visit my personal blog, www.themodernworkweek.com.
Please note: The use of “woman” and “women” on our website and materials is meant to describe individuals who were socialized as and currently identify as women.