By Cashmere Morley
Barbra White, co-founder of Mother Bear Sanctuary and Retreat Center, believes that all living beings are deeply interconnected. “It’s kismet,” she explained, that just as she was longing to spread the word about her retreat center, which opened in 2018, The Crazy Wisdom Journal came calling for an interview. “I feel like I’ve been in a cooking pot for 30 years in this work, but here, specifically with Mother Bear Sanctuary for the last eight years, I feel like I’m saying to the universe, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready.’ So when [the Journal] called, I thought, ‘kismet.’”
Mother Bear Sanctuary, similar to a mother bear found in the wild, protects and honors each person and animal that finds their way to the sprawling ten-acre compound. Founded as both a working animal sanctuary and a retreat center, White and her partner, Dave Tuscany, host a variety of programs designed to heal trauma, build community, and inspire reconnection with the natural world. At Mother Bear, it’s believed that everyone carries a “Mother Bear” within—an inner guardian ready to awaken and protect the sacred both inside and around them. From ecological therapy and embodiment workshops to firewalking ceremonies and present-based healing with rescue animals, Mother Bear’s offerings are grounded in the belief that personal wellness and planetary wellness are inseparable.
“These [principles] are so simple, but they are so lost in today’s society. These are ideas that you used to learn from your auntie, and we used to have the inner knowledge that we were not so separated from each other and nature. And I feel like I’m bringing the basics back to people,” said White. “Like, ‘okay, this is how we come back into our bodies. This is how we feel our legs again. You’re more than just a floating head of thought.’”
Mother Bear was born out of the need for a deeper connection between humans and nature. White was no stranger to bodywork therapies and the effects it can have when paired with the greater understanding of the interconnectedness of the world we live in. After years in the bodywork field, working for other companies, she began to feel like she could offer more of herself and her work if she was able to procure a healing space of her own. The seeds were planted, but the journey to bear the fruit of her labors was long.
“I always say, ‘have a vision, but take baby steps and do whatever you can do,’” said White, who knew that starting her own practice was the next step. “Following my own advice, I rescued some chickens from one of my old self-acceptance process students. She’d gone through [bodywork] training with me, and she’d also been retired from Head Start. [Head Start delivers early learning, health, and family well-being services to children ages three through four.] I got the inner voice that said, ‘reach out to her’. So, I reached out to her, and we started doing self-love, mindfulness, nature, and awareness practices with Head Start kids. And it was a huge success. They all loved it. We got more and more requests. And then Covid hit.”
White saw the impact the sessions were having on the kids firsthand. Without a space to continue her practice during Covid shutdowns, she knew she needed to find a property to establish her healing work again when the world opened back up. When Covid came, White noticed people’s pain surfaced in a poignant and potent way.
“During that time, we had to face our families, and we had to get still. And so we went, ‘Oh, you mean all this pain that I experienced as a kid, or all that anger I have, it’s still there?’ Everything’s coming to the surface right now. It’s like everything’s getting worse. It’s a breakdown for a breakthrough. This is the vision I’m holding for people and humanity.” Watching the world unravel in real time during the pandemic opened her eyes to how much the world needed a space to truly connect, not just to ourselves again, but to Mother Nature’s lifeforce.
“Like with any dream, it takes 1000 steps,” said White. “But if we stay open and we banish all doubt in favor of faith, things will work out. And sometimes you have to do that 500 times, right? Not just once. The question became, how do I create this place where people could remember who they are and connect back to nature? And I felt stuck.”
When she found herself in times of trouble, Mother Bear came to her. She sold her house, gave away all her belongings, and started to live with friends until the next step became clear. In the meantime, she connected with her partner about the idea, and they were able to bring their resources together to buy the land where Mother Bear now rests. “It all came together,” said White. “Kismet again.”
Tuscany, co-founder of Mother Bear Sanctuary, is also a certified co-Leader of the ManKind Project, an organization dedicated to helping men cultivate emotional intelligence, integrity, and accountability. As a certified Life Coach, Tuscany specializes in Shadow Awareness and Sexual Shadow Healing for men, guiding them through deep inner work with compassion and clarity. His commitment to personal and collective healing is evident from the workshops he facilitates. Driven by a desire to create a safer, more conscious world for future generations, Tuscany brings wisdom, strength, and heartfelt presence to the sanctuary’s mission of transformation.
When someone comes to the retreat space, they can expect a one-on-one session with White, who has more than 40,000 hours in healing body work, or other expert facilitators who work on the land. White says that often her first step with a new visitor is identifying the belief separating the person from their innate worth, which is usually tied to some type of taught belief or pain. From there, she identifies how to bring them back to the body. The process is different for everyone, and sometimes that process involves animal therapy from some of the many animals that inhabit the sanctuary. Sometimes it involves meditation and play practice to get the person moving and back in their body again.
“That saying [from Carl Jung], ‘What we accept transforms, and felt feelings flow,’ is one that comes to mind often, but how do we let the vagus nerve in the body to support that? It’s kind of like setting the outline for the rest of the time we share together. I am a transpersonal therapist or eco psychologist, so I use mindfulness, body-based work with the people who come to Mother Bear. And then from there, we might go and do a process with the animals where folks begin to learn ways back to the body.”
White notes that one of the most vulnerable things someone can do is play. White noticed that sometimes the body is so locked down when people come to visit Mother Bear, that starting sessions with a simple movement such as goat yoga or leading a horse around the land can get people to subtly begin to connect with themselves again. And through that connection, healing begins to take place. “I love that moment when that light turns on for someone, and they realize that they’re enough,” said White.
For those struggling with grief, burnout, or disconnection, the space provides a safe, nurturing environment to pause, breathe, and realign. Guests often find clarity and peace by engaging with animals, walking the land, or participating in sessions that honor both vulnerability and resilience. Programs are especially helpful for caregivers, therapists, and activists—those who are always giving and rarely receiving—but are open to everyone who needs some deeper inner reconnection work.
In addition to paid work, Mother Bear offers several free retreats to human trafficking survivors and veterans with PTSD. (Contact White or Tuscany for more specifics, because those retreats are not always listed online.)
However, Mother Bear’s healing impact isn’t limited to humans. By rescuing and caring for animals, the animals, in turn, play a vital role in healing others. It’s a powerful cycle of mutual restoration that White notes is by design.
“I wanted to always have a balance between human and animal care,” said White, when asked what sets Mother Bear apart from other centers who share similar offerings. “For that reason, we don’t have 300 animals like some of the other sanctuaries. We just have around 25 or 30 animals.”
The goats, horses, cows, chickens, and ducks that dot the idyllic sanctuary found their way to White. She said, “You know, kind of like the people I work with, the animals just show up. People call or we just trust who comes to us. And so far, that’s how all the animals have been gathered over the last few years.” The presence of animals on the land underscores Mother Bear’s core belief: all beings, human and non-human alike, are worthy of care and connection. At the end of the day, we are all one.
While many retreat centers focus primarily on quiet rest or spiritual study, Mother Bear takes a deeply integrative approach. Visitors aren’t just passive participants—they’re invited to engage with the land and themselves through movement, sensation, and presence. Workshops might begin with something simple—like barefoot walking on the grass, breathwork in the woods, or slowly feeding the goats—but each activity is intentionally designed to help visitors reconnect with their own inner rhythm and truth. “A lot of the time, people come here because they’ve lost touch with their body, or they’ve internalized some shame or belief that they aren’t good enough,” White said. “But through practice and presence, they start to remember who they are.”
The land itself is a co-facilitator in the healing process. Nestled near the Waterloo-Pinckney Recreation Area in southern Michigan, the property offers fields, woods, and water that reflect the stillness and wisdom of nature. For those who feel called to serve animals, the Earth, and community healing, volunteers play an essential role in the retreat’s daily operations, helping to sustain a space where transformation and care are possible. Whether you can donate your time or your resources, Mother Bear is always looking for caring hearts to help share expertise or aid in project needs around the land.
Beyond the personal healing that takes place, Mother Bear Sanctuary is also a growing community of like-minded individuals: earth stewards, wellness practitioners, and volunteers who believe in reciprocal care. White dreams of expanding this community through more partnerships, pop-up events, and collaborations with schools, therapists, and nonprofit organizations across Michigan. Looking toward the future, White said that the growth process of Mother Bear has “seemed to happen already.” She said she’s gotten a lot of requests from traditional therapists in Ann Arbor and has implemented programs with them and feels doing more programs like that would help Mother Bear grow organically.
“I would love to do more talks about why nature and self-acceptance is needed in the world, and how to come back to the body and nature,” said White.
For those seeking a meaningful retreat or simply a reconnection with the world around them, Mother Bear Sanctuary provides a path back home—to the self, to the earth, and to one another. “Don’t give up,” said White. “Life is for you. I hope that’s what people take away from Mother Bear.”
Visit Mother Bear Sanctuary and Retreat Center at 20470 Barton Road in Pinckney. Keep up with them online at motherbearsanctuary.com or give them a call at (734)796-6690 for Barbra White or (586) 907-6125 for Dave Tuscany, who can share more details about retreats and offerings not listed online. You can also follow them on Facebook @motherbearsanctuary.
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Barbra White, co-founder of Mother Bear Sanctuary and Retreat Center, believes that all living beings are deeply interconnected. “It’s kismet,” she explained, that just as she was longing to spread the word about her retreat center, which opened in 2018, The Crazy Wisdom Journal came calling for an interview. “I feel like I’ve been in a cooking pot for 30 years in this work, but here, specifically with Mother Bear Sanctuary for the last eight years, I feel like I’m saying to the universe, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready.’ So when [the Journal] called, I thought, ‘kismet.’”