Retreats Community Mental Health Education Mission Contact Us Donate

Healing happens in relationship.

To ourselves. To community. To the Earth, her medicines, and our ancestors. We are a nonprofit dedicated to creating equitable access to holistic mental health support, education, and pathways to liberation.

BIPOC Women-Led
Community-Rooted
Trauma-Informed
Access-Focused
Reciprocity in Practice
What We're Building

Putting our vision into practice.

Plant medicine programs in Mexico and Jamaica

Sliding-scale and scholarship-supported retreats by our community, for our community.

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Community spaces foster authentic connection

We offer free support groups—come as you are, no need to explain why you belong.

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Gathering a more accessible care network

Connecting people with affirming clinicians and coaches who offer reduced-cost options.

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Education and resources for personal growth

Classes, workshops, and teachings to help develop meaningful and sustainable change.

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Recentering the sacred margins

Your lived experience is your wisdom.

Your uniqueness is your power.

Our work intentionally centers people whose identities, bodies, and experiences have historically been underserved, pathologized, excluded, or overlooked within healthcare and healing spaces.

This community welcomes all bodies, while intentionally centering people whose identities, bodies, and lived experiences have too often been pushed to the margins of plant medicine and healing spaces.
Ancestra
Happening Now
Free Community Support

The Survivors Circle

Free trauma-informed peer support for survivors.

Join the Waitlist →
Education · Sharon Whitefawn

Medicine Wheel Teachings

Physical, mental, emotional & spiritual balance.

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Mental Health

Find an affirming provider

Affirming clinicians and coaches with reduced-cost options.

Find Care →
Community Voices

Stories from the circle.

“Working with Maria was truly one of the most magical and deeply impactful experiences of my life. From the moment I met her I felt safe, seen, and gently held in a way that allowed me to fully surrender to the journey. I experienced a level of healing and release that I hadn't been able to reach through other modalities.”
— Hillary
“The ceremonies were powerful & I felt safe the whole time. Somehow Maria & Sharon always knew what we each needed, how to hold us & help us release when needed. I walked away with insights that I could actually implement into my life, so much joy in my life again, & a sisterhood I can truly feel at home with.”
— Suyun Wu
“I am forever thankful for everything Maria has done for me. She was able to meet me where I was at mentally and spiritually and was able to open doors for me I didn't think were possible. She helped me find the adventurer in me that had been lost for so long.”
— Christian
“When my life was upended by a chronic illness, I at first felt really lost navigating new themes like ableism and exclusion, accessibility, deep grief. Working with Maria helped me to metabolize a lot of these experiences and find my way through it.”
— Nicole
“I learned how to love myself first… Sharon helped me emotionally & spiritually… I learned to become more aware of triggers, and working with her helped me learn to reach out.”
— Sheree T.
“Sharon takes you under her wing and teaches you things to make you more balanced, centered and grounded. She makes you see things in a different way & be more present.”
— Dawn C.

At Ancestra, we approach this work with conscious intention, humility, and respect for the people, cultures, lands, and lineages that have stewarded knowledge across generations.

These values are especially emphasized when working with plant medicines. To us, plant medicine is not a consumable experience. Relationship means remembering that we are in community with the plants, the land, and one another.

We are committed to practicing anti-oppressive and decolonial approaches within the realities and limitations of the systems we work within. We understand this not as a destination, but a lifelong practice of learning, unlearning, listening, accountability, and change.

Our mission is to hold all relationships as sacred.
Who We Are

Built by our community, for our community.

We created Ancestra from a place of deep care for people, community, and the ways healing can unfold when we are truly seen and supported. We are a BIPOC women-led nonprofit bringing together plant medicine, mental health, community care, education, lived experience, and cultural humility. We believe wisdom lives in many places: in professional training, yes, but also in the body, in our cultures and families, in the land, in our ancestors, and in the relationships that remind us who we are. At the heart of Ancestra is our hope to create spaces where people can feel welcomed, respected, connected, and held in the fullness of who they are.

Mária Osero

Mária Osero, LNMF

Founder · Facilitator

Mária's work sits at the intersection of clinical psychology, somatic practice, psychedelic care, and liberation. Shaped by diasporic lineage and years in medical and mental healthcare, she is especially drawn to creating spaces where people who have felt unseen by traditional systems can feel fully human, deeply respected, and capable of trusting their own inner knowing.

Sharon Whitefawn

Sharon Whitefawn, MA

Facilitator · Holistic Counselor

Sharon brings more than three decades of transformational healing work together with counseling psychology, meditation, trauma-informed movement, spirituality, and expanded states of consciousness. A grandmother, elder, and teacher, she brings a grounded warmth to the work and a deep commitment to balance, presence, community, and reciprocity with the living Earth.

Upcoming Retreats

Cohorts are kept small by design. Seats are limited.

Mexico retreat
Mexico

February 2–7, 2027

Ancestra Signature Group Psilocybin Retreat · 5 nights · Full program arc · Pre and post integration support included

Jamaica retreat at Coral Cove
Jamaica

April 2027 — Earlybird booking available

Ancestra Signature Group Psilocybin Retreat · 5 nights · Full program arc · Pre and post integration support included

Be Part of the Work

Help us make care easier to reach.

Ancestra is building a model in which people with greater access help create access for others. Donations support scholarships, free community programming, educational offerings, and the infrastructure required to connect historically underserved communities with affirming care.

There are many ways to be part of this work. Please reach out to us if you feel inspired to be in collaboration.