Episode 234: H.E. Dr. Toni Curtis – Healing is Legacy

H.E. Dr. Toni Curtis is a maternal health advocate, educator, author, traditional healer, and Founder and Director of BirthWise Doula Services. With nearly 30 years of experience in maternal and women’s health and more than 1,000 births attended, her work is also deeply informed by her personal journey as an overcomer of an infertility diagnosis and a thriver after birth trauma.

Her experiences with infertility, pregnancy loss, birth trauma, and postpartum recovery helped shape her whole-person approach to women’s health—bridging physiology, nutrition, nervous-system support, bodywork, movement, lactation, education, and traditional healing.

Dr. Curtis serves as Director of Advocacy for DONA International and as a United Nations Representative with the Africana Women Working Group. She is the author of Beyond Depletion: A 42-Day Postpartum Recovery Guide and creator of the Lifespan Birth Method™.

Her work centers women across fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, and beyond, grounded in the belief that when women thrive, families, communities, and future generations thrive.

Listen as H.E. Dr. Toni Curtis shares with Ellen and Jenn:

• What the “H.E.” in H.E. Dr. Toni Curtis means.
• How the loss of her infant brother shaped her advocacy.
• Her 17-year infertility journey and decision to pause treatment.
• PCOS, hypothyroidism, stress, nutrition, and nervous-system regulation.
• Why health indicators are not the same as personal wellness.
• Birth trauma, postpartum hemorrhage, anemia, and recovery.
• The breastfeeding advice that sent her back to the classroom.
• Why unresolved birth experiences can remain with women for a lifetime.
• The Lifespan Birth Method™ and Dr. Curtis’s approach to care.
• The three family dynamics that often appear after a baby arrives
• Supporting gestational carriers and intended parents during surrogacy births.
• Induced lactation and the medications that may interfere with milk production.
• Why healing is not merely personal—it is generational.

Want to share your story or ask a question? Call and leave us a message on our hotline: 303-997-1903.

Learn more about BirthWise Doula Services: http://www.birthwisedoulas.com

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Learn more about our surrogacy agency: https://www.brightfuturesfamilies.com/

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