About Oregon Wellness Retreat

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I have been an artist, gallery owner, coach, educator, entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, innkeeper, and retreat host. Each chapter taught me something different about resilience, purpose, and the human capacity to adapt and continue to o.

Some were navigating health challenges.

Some were trying to save relationships.

Others were rebuilding after loss, transition, burnout, or crisis.

I was one of these people.

I have also spent much of my life helping others navigate their own challenges.

Over the years I have worn many hats: mother, foster parent, artist, business owner, nonprofit founder, coach, wellness educator, and retreat host. I have worked with individuals facing significant life obstacles, served as a Life Coach within California's IDD community, founded a nationally recognized nonprofit that provided thousands of people in need with shoes and socks, and spent years studying human behavior, communication, wellness, and personal transformation.

My professional education includes accreditation through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, certifications in NLP, DBT, SFBT, Group Facilitation, Natural Holistic Remedies, and extensive continuing education in wellness and human development. 

Throughout those experiences, one lesson appeared again and again:

People thrive when they are connected to the right resources at the right time.

Those same experiences eventually led me to develop the Relationship Nourishment Framework, a body of work centered on intentional growth, meaningful connection, and the belief that healthy relationships require ongoing care rather than occasional repair. Many of the principles that later shaped Oregon Wellness Retreat—including personalized experiences, collaborative support systems, self-advocacy, and intentional transformation—grew directly from this work.

By the age of fifteen, chronic pain had already become part of my life. Over the years I would face additional health challenges, major life transitions, career changes, family responsibilities, and more than one season that required me to completely rebuild.

I have reinvented myself more than once.

I have been an artist, gallery owner, coach, educator, entrepreneur, nonprofit founder, innkeeper, and retreat host. Each chapter taught me something different about resilience, purpose, and the human capacity to adapt and continue to seek growth.

Through those experiences, I learned that transformation rarely comes from a single source.

Sometimes healing comes through medicine.

Sometimes through education.

Sometimes through relationships.

Sometimes through creativity, community, nature, purpose, or simply having the right person appear at the right moment.

The challenge is that these resources often exist in separate places, and the people who need them most don't always know where to find them.

During the isolation of 2020 and 2021, while much of the world was navigating uncertainty, I spent my time studying relationships, sociology, human behavior, and the resources available to individuals and couples facing crisis. 

What I found was a gap.

There were vacations, practitioners, workshops, and wellness experiences, but very few opportunities for people to access a carefully curated network of resources designed around their specific goals and challenges.

That realization became the foundation of Oregon Wellness Retreat.

While the concept for Oregon Wellness Retreat grew from my personal and professional experiences, it would never have become reality without Billy.

With more than twenty-five years of leadership, mentoring, and organizational development experience, Billy brought the operational perspective needed to transform an idea into a sustainable business. While I focused on retreat development, wellness partnerships, and guest experiences, Billy helped build the structure, stability, and foundation that allowed Oregon Wellness Retreat to grow.

Together, we combined our different strengths to create something neither of us could have built alone.

When we purchased Bayberry Inn, we did so with the intention of creating Oregon Wellness Retreat. We weren't simply purchasing a bed and breakfast. We were creating a home for a vision that had been developing for years.

What we needed was time.

Time to learn how to be exceptional hosts.

Time to build relationships with guests and locals.

Time to earn trust within a new community.

Time to understand how a retreat model built on collaboration could best serve both guests and the community around it.

We found that opportunity in Ashland.

Ashland already possessed many of the qualities that make a wellness destination successful. It attracts people seeking art, music, outdoor recreation, exceptional food, personal growth, healthcare, and meaningful experiences. It has long been a place where creative thinkers, healers, educators, entrepreneurs, and practitioners choose to build their lives and businesses.

In many ways, Ashland was the ideal place to launch a model built around connection, collaboration, and community.

As we became part of the community, we realized something important.

The greatest strength of Ashland was not any single business.

It was the collective talent of the people who call it home.

Instead of building a traditional retreat center that kept guests isolated on one property, Oregon Wellness Retreat began building partnerships. We connected guests with local practitioners, wellness professionals, artists, guides, restaurants, healthcare providers, and experiences that reflected their individual goals.

The result was something larger than a retreat.

It became a community-supported wellness experience and the foundation of a model that can be adapted in other communities.

Since arriving in Ashland in October 2021, more than 2,600 guests have stayed with us. Thousands of those guests have gone on to support local restaurants, wellness providers, artists, guides, healthcare professionals, and small businesses throughout the community.

What began as a retreat concept has evolved into a network of partnerships that helps direct visitors, opportunities, and spending into the local economy while creating personalized experiences for guests.

Every guest becomes more than a visitor.

They become a participant in the community.

In many ways, our guests arrive seeking transformation for themselves and, in the process, help strengthen the people, businesses, and organizations that make the experience possible.

That impact has extended well beyond our property and into the broader Ashland community, helping support independent practitioners, artists, healthcare providers, restaurants, and entrepreneurs while introducing thousands of visitors to everything that makes Ashland special.

While Oregon Wellness Retreat was launched in Ashland, the vision has always been larger than a single location.

My hope is to help other communities create similar models—ones that celebrate local talent, strengthen small businesses, support wellness tourism, and provide guests with deeply personalized experiences. Communities everywhere are filled with extraordinary people, resources, and businesses. Sometimes they simply need a way to work together.

Because I believe people deserve more than a vacation.

People deserve options, support, and tools that empower them to continue transforming.

And communities deserve opportunities to thrive alongside the people they serve.

If Oregon Wellness Retreat has proven anything, it is that when guests, practitioners, artists, businesses, and communities work together, everyone benefits.

That is the heart of Oregon Wellness Retreat.

Wellness, Defined by You™.       - Jacqui Mann