The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine

Our Mission

The Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is a global maternal healthcare system and network, committed to advancing holistic, culturally responsive, and equitable healthcare by integrating traditional and modern healing practices. 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 reimagining reproductive care for all races and genders by centering healing, equity, and justice. We’re building a new approach to scale global maternal and reproductive well-being—one that’s culturally rooted, community-powered, and designed to end preventable harm. From expanding access to doulas and birth workers, to partnering with institutions on equity solutions, to confronting maternal mortality head-on, we’re laying the foundation for a future where every body is held, heard, and whole.

Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is reimagining reproductive care for all races and genders by centering healing, equity, and justice.

Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine is reimagining reproductive care for all races and genders by centering healing, equity, and justice.

Creating a solution for healthy families

Informing a future for healthier communities

What We Do

Our work centers around three urgent priorities:

Expanding Access to Doula and Birth Worker Support
We prioritize increasing access to culturally competent doulas, midwives, and birth centers, ensuring Black women receive holistic, respectful care throughout their birthing journeys.

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.

Sanctuary Serves (3) Geographic Intersections

  • NEW YORK : Sanctuary for Integrative Medicine was born from the soil and struggle of New York, where Black and Brown birthing people continue to face some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. Our work here is grounded in direct service—offering culturally rooted doula care, homebirth midwifery, and community wellness programming. From Brooklyn to the Bronx, and extending into upstate regions, we advocate for system accountability, train birth workers of color, and partner with institutions to shift care toward equity, respect, and ancestral restoration.

  • MICHIGAN : In Michigan, Sanctuary’s founder’s birthplace, our presence reflects a growing and urgent demand for reproductive justice infrastructure in both urban and rural settings. We are actively collaborating with public health agencies, universities, and local communities to expand access to birth support, eliminate maternal health disparities, and embed holistic care into existing systems. Michigan serves as a critical site for testing scalable models of care, cross-sector partnerships, and intergenerational healing that uplift the legacy of Black midwives and birthworkers in the Midwest.

  • GLOBAL : Our global initiatives connect Sanctuary’s work to birth and maternal health struggles around the world—particularly in regions impacted by climate crisis, conflict, and systemic underinvestment in women and girls. Through partnerships with international agencies, grassroots organizers, and research institutions, we consult, co-create, and mobilize resources to support birthing people in humanitarian settings. We are also helping to design culturally responsive maternal crisis response models, and provide consulting on international retreats, trainings, and gatherings rooted in reproductive and birth justice.

Meet the Team

  • Sevonna Brown

    FOUNDER & CEO

  • MarkTavius Nichols

    CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER

  • Emilie Rodriguez

    FOUNDING BOARD AND ADVISOR

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

Support Sanctuary Medicine — donate today and uplift every family’s right to safe, dignified, and equitable care.

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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.

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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.