Our Story

Dr. Anna Cabeca, professionally known as “The Girlfriend Doctor,” started the Garrett Viera Bivens Foundation after her son Garrett passed away at just 18 months old in a drowning accident. It was undeniably the most horrific experience in her life. Dr. Anna suffered from post-traumatic stress and infertility and was diagnosed at age 39 with early menopause, and told she would never be able to conceive another child again.

This heartbreaking news and additional grief led her on a healing journey around the world, traveling from country to country searching for answers. On this adventure, Dr. Anna began to restore her health–both mentally and physically– as well as her family’s. She was able to conceive her youngest child Avamarie naturally, the child she was told she could never have. The underpinnings of post-traumatic stress and unhealthy coping led her to further working extremes, such as long hours at her solo medical practice which included being on call 24/7.

On top of it all, just four years after Garrett’s passing, Dr. Anna’s marriage ended in divorce. As she tried to understand why, she realized it was the consequence of stress and trauma. These things had negatively affected her physiology and depleted her oxytocin– the hormone of connection. As Dr. Anna frequently says, her hardest job has been being a single mom. Putting God and family first was critically important for her, leading her to retire from her clinical practice in 2015 and focus on her kids.

In her desire to help others avoid the struggles she had faced, her mission in the world has become The GVB Foundation. When established in 2006, the foundation was mainly focused on establishing toddler swim programs. Since then, it has evolved to focus on ensuring healthy mommies and healthy babies– especially single mothers.

The foundation also partners with House of Hope and House of Dawn in Georgia. Dr. Anna is a founding member of House of Hope in Georgia, which provides support to young girls who were victims of sex trafficking. She is also a board member for the House of Dawn, helping single mothers to finish their college education. The foundation itself has had a major impact, creating scholarships for young women in crisis, funding YMCA programs, supporting women-led conferences, teaching local women about the benefits of equine therapy, and providing home assistance for single moms in crisis.

Bringing this type of exposure and therapy to single mothers in crisis has been a gift for Dr. Anna. She knows from experience how hard it can be to ask for help, and is committed to providing support for those who need it most, both here in DFW and beyond.