The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine
Our Mission
The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is a community-rooted maternal healthcare system and network, focused in Mid-Michigan and New York City committed to advancing perinatal health. We cultivate healthy communities, foster interdisciplinary collaboration in medicine, and advance wellness through education, advocacy, and patient-centered care.
Our Vision
Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is radically transforming the perinatal healthcare system as we know it. We shape the future of maternal health by creating cornerstones that blend evidence-based medicine with ancestral technologies.
Creating a solution for healthy families
Informing a future for healthier communities
Our Priorities
Our work centers around three urgent priorities:
We are radically transforming birth and parenthood through culturally-rooted care, lifesaving support, and empowered families from the first heartbeat.
Expanding Access to Holistic, Integrative Modalities and Interventions
We are committed to transforming maternal health by expanding access to full-spectrum, culturally-rooted care led by doulas, midwives, and community birth workers. Our vision centers on birthing people receiving not only physical support, but also emotional, spiritual, and ancestral care that honors the full arc of their reproductive journeys: from fertility to postpartum healing. We advocate for integrative and holistic models of maternal health that include access to midwifery-led birth centers, home birth options, and wellness practitioners who understand the cultural, systemic, and generational dimensions of care.
Ending Maternal Mortality and Preventable Deaths
We are committed to addressing the staggering rates of maternal mortality and morbidity among Black women by advocating for systemic change and implementing effective, community-driven solutions.
Delivering Health Equity Solutions to Institutions and Organizations
We partner with healthcare providers and organizations to develop and implement equity-centered programs that dismantle barriers and create sustainable, just maternal health systems.
Keeping Women Alive:
At Doula & Midwife Vanguard Training, we cultivate healers who honor culture, trauma, and resilience. Through Hands-On Parent Leadership / Nurtured Beginnings, we empower parents with confidence, skill, and agency. NICU & Bereavement Advocacy holds families through grief and complex births, while Sanctuary Life Essentials Kits and Community Birth Celebrations & Essential Care Equity ensure every family feels prepared, seen, and celebrated. With Bloom & Nourish Collective and Close-to-Heart Care Innovation, we nurture body, mind, and early bonds, and through Mobile Health Liberation / Healing on Wheels, we bring lifesaving care directly into communities. Every initiative is radical, culturally-rooted, and designed to transform birth, parenthood, and family resilience into acts of empowerment and profound care.
We are a dedicated collective of doulas, midwives, researchers, cultural anthropologists, mamas, fathers, and gender‑expansive champions—united in our commitment to innovative solutions for health equity and justice.
Our Initiatives
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Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine provides culturally-rooted doula and midwifery services across New York and Michigan, supporting birthing people and families with compassionate, community-based care throughout the reproductive journey. Our team of trained doulas and midwives offer emotional, physical, and informational support from prenatal to postpartum, with a deep commitment to birth justice and health equity. Whether through homebirth midwifery, hospital advocacy, or postpartum healing support, our services are designed to honor the wisdom of ancestral traditions while meeting the urgent needs of today’s birthing people—ensuring that every family is held, heard, and empowered through birth and beyond.
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Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine offers strategic consulting services in maternal and infant health care to institutions, organizations, and governments across the globe. Grounded in a reproductive justice framework and informed by culturally responsive, evidence-based practices, our consulting work supports systems transformation through equity-driven program design, policy advising, workforce development, and community engagement strategies. We partner with health care leaders to co-create sustainable solutions that center the needs and voices of birthing people, reduce disparities in outcomes, and restore dignity to the experience of care—ensuring maternal and infant well-being is prioritized in every context, everywhere.
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BirthFirst Response positions maternal and infant care as an essential frontline priority in global emergency response. We mobilize quickly to deliver life-saving resources—including birth kits, clean water, safe birthing spaces, and midwifery support—to women and families in disaster zones, refugee camps, and underserved communities. Every crisis is a birth crisis, and BirthFirst ensures that the fundamental right to safe, dignified care during childbirth is never overlooked. With your support, we act fast—because mothers and babies can’t wait.
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Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine partners with federal agencies, private institutions, and global initiatives to conduct and co-design research that advances maternal and infant health equity. With a focus on community-led inquiry, reproductive justice, and culturally grounded methodologies, our research collaborations aim to illuminate root causes of disparities, evaluate holistic models of care, and generate actionable insights that shape more just and responsive health systems. We bring deep field expertise and trusted community relationships to every partnership, ensuring that research not only informs policy but uplifts the lived experiences and leadership of those most impacted by maternal and infant health inequities worldwide.
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Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine offers full-spectrum consulting and production services for maternal health and birth justice conferences, retreats, and convenings—designed with intention, cultural integrity, and deep field expertise. From visioning to execution, we support partners in crafting transformative gatherings that center healing, racial and reproductive justice, and community-rooted leadership. Our team provides comprehensive services including agenda development, speaker curation, values-aligned facilitation, event branding and design, and holistic attendee experience planning. Whether a policy summit, doula retreat, or cross-sector convening, we ensure your gathering reflects the heart of your mission while honoring the voices of those most impacted. We specialize in producing sacred and strategic spaces that are as nourishing as they are effective—bridging movement work, wellness, and systems change from start to finish.
Our Strategies
Doula & Midwife Vanguard Training
Catalyze a generation of culturally-embedded doulas and midwives, equipping them with trauma-informed, empathetic expertise to revolutionize prenatal, birth, and postnatal care.
Neonatal Resilience & Bereavement Advocacy
Redefine support for families navigating NICU journeys and neonatal loss—offering guided, compassionate frameworks that honor grief and foster emotional resilience.
Community Birth Celebrations & Essential Care Equity
Transform the birth experience into a communal celebration through curated baby showers and essential care distributions, ensuring every family receives dignified, high-quality birth essentials.
Prenatal Knowledge Powerhouse
Lead workshops that merge evidence-based prenatal education with culturally-informed wisdom—covering high-risk pregnancies, preeclampsia, stillbirth prevention, and empowering parents as proactive health advocates.
Maternal Health Alert Campaigns
Deploy targeted maternal warning initiatives that educate, mobilize, and protect—turning awareness into preventive action for maternal health equity.
Mobile Health Liberation / Healing on Wheels
Deliver life-affirming prenatal check-ins and care resources directly into communities via mobile healthcare units, dismantling barriers to access and reimagining maternal health outreach.
Hands-On Parent Leadership / Nurtured Beginnings
Empower parents with immersive mentorship programs that build confidence, practical skills, and agency—creating families who thrive, not just survive.
Sanctuary Life Essentials
Curate and deliver transformative birth and wellness kits that embody preparedness, dignity, and cultural resonance from day one.
Close-to-Heart Care Innovation
Advance parent-infant bonding through culturally-sensitive, evidence-driven practices that foster resilience, attachment, and early developmental flourishing.
Bloom & Nourish Collective
Activate nutrition and food storytelling workshops that honor ancestral wisdom, strengthen family health, and cultivate intergenerational wellness.
Volunteer & Community Catalyst Program
Ignite local capacity by mobilizing volunteers as co-creators of change—embedding sustainability, empowerment, and community-led innovation at the heart of every initiative.
Read our Impact Statement here.
Every contribution directly expands access to doulas, education, healing spaces, and community-held programs that protect maternal and infant wellbeing.
Together, we are building sacred, sustainable spaces where families can thrive before, during, and after birth.
Support Sanctuary Medicine — donate today and uplift every family’s right to safe, dignified, and equitable care.
Make a tax-deductible donation today!
Donate to The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine
Make a Gift Today
You can be part of the movement to transform reproductive care. Your support helps us serve families across Michigan and New York—expanding access to doulas, protecting birthing rights, and building a future where every body is held, heard, and healed.
Through Doula & Midwife Vanguard Training, Hands-On Parent Leadership / Nurtured Beginnings, NICU & Bereavement Advocacy, Sanctuary Life Essentials Kits, Community Birth Celebrations & Essential Care Equity, Bloom & Nourish Collective, Close-to-Heart Care Innovation, and Mobile Health Liberation / Healing on Wheels, we radically transform birth and parenthood by honoring culture, delivering lifesaving care, nurturing resilience, and empowering every family to thrive from the very first heartbeat.
Give. Support our mission. Nurture community.
Fiscal Partners
The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is formally organized as an LLC and is currently on track to secure our 501(c)(3) status by January 2026. In the meantime, we have established partnerships with three trusted fiscal sponsors: The Bridge Community Foundation, The Reconciliation Center and The Birthing Place, through which all grants and awards may be channeled tax‑deductibly to support our work. If you’d like to make a tax‑deductible gift to Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine, we would deeply appreciate your generosity and commitment to advancing maternal health, birth justice, and community healing.
Sevonna Brown, Founder and CEO
“At Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine, we are not just transforming maternal care, we are igniting a movement that honors ancestral wisdom, centers the needs of birthing people, and cultivates lasting equity across every birth, every community, and every corner of the globe. For us, maternal justice knows no bounds.”
Join us to scale equity-driven maternal health nationwide
Serving Over 1,000 Families Annually with Culturally Competent Doula & Midwifery Care in NY, MI, and Beyond.