Pathways to Thriving
A Flagship Maternal & Family Wellbeing Initiative
Pathways to Thriving is Majestic Community Wellness’s flagship maternal and family wellbeing initiative, delivering free, culturally rooted, trauma-informed mental health and wellness care to women, birthing people, caregivers, and families across Greater Boston — from fertility through postpartum, menopause, and healthy aging.
Grounded in the Majestic Healing Pathways™ model, Pathways to Thriving supports healing through consistent practice, nervous-system regulation, and community connection. This initiative was created to close gaps in care by bringing healing directly into spaces where women feel safe, seen, and supported.
This initiative was co-founded by Lindsay Gibson, Founder of Majestic Community Wellness, and Katia Powell-Laurent of HUED Mamas Co — two leaders deeply rooted in community, culture, and care. Together, they have spent decades walking alongside women through fertility, pregnancy, postpartum recovery, loss, menopause, chronic illness, osteoporosis, and aging.
Through this work, they witnessed a consistent truth: women of color are often overlooked by traditional health and wellness systems — not because the need is absent, but because the systems are misaligned.
Pathways to Thriving exists to change that.
A Community-Led Response to Persistent Gaps in Care
Pathways to Thriving was developed in response to long-standing inequities in maternal and women’s health — inequities that disproportionately impact Black and Brown women and families.
Why This Work Matters
Women of color experience disproportionate maternal health challenges — including higher rates of postpartum stress and trauma, limited access to culturally responsive care, and barriers to consistent, affordable support.
Pathways to Thriving addresses these inequities by providing consistent, no-cost mental health and wellness care, delivered through trusted community partnerships and led by culturally aligned instructors.
What Pathways to Thriving Offers
Pathways to Thriving provides trauma-informed, culturally affirming care across key stages of life. All offerings are free to participants and delivered in partnership with community organizations to reduce barriers related to cost, transportation, and stigma.
All programs are grounded in the Majestic Healing Pathways™ model and offered in spaces where women and families feel safe, respected, and supported.
Prenatal, Fertility, Postpartum & Loss Care
Gentle, restorative movement and breath practices support physical recovery, emotional processing, and nervous-system regulation through pregnancy, postpartum, fertility journeys, and experiences of loss.
Chronic Illness & Cancer Support
Accessible movement and mindfulness practices support women navigating chronic illness, fatigue, pain, and cancer recovery with compassion and dignity.
Menopause & Midlife Wellness
Culturally grounded programming supports women through menopause and midlife transitions, addressing stress, sleep, mood changes, and identity shifts while honoring wisdom and lived experience.
Healing Circles & Peer Support
Guided circles create safe, affirming spaces where women are heard, seen, and supported — reducing isolation and strengthening community care networks.
Delivered in Partnership With
Pathways to Thriving is delivered in partnership with trusted community organizations across Greater Boston:
MA MOMMAs · Nurturing Babyhood · Smart from the Start · Tufts Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice · Roxbury Neighborhood Birth Center · Cambridge Community Center · Massachusetts Postpartum Depression Fund · The Dance Complex · City of Cambridge Center for Families
Grounded in the Majestic Healing Pathways™ Model
Pathways to Thriving is a living application of the Majestic Healing Pathways™, Majestic Community Wellness’s trauma-informed model of care.
The initiative integrates:
Gentle, accessible movement
Regulated breathing and grounding practices
Mindfulness, rest, and integration
Peer connection and relational care
Together, these practices support emotional regulation, reduce trauma-related stress, and foster sustainable wellbeing for mothers, families, and caregivers.
Impact at a Glance: Reach & Outcomes
These outcomes reflect sustained, community-based care grounded in the Majestic Healing Pathways™ model.
1,500+ mothers, infants, caregivers, and family members served annually
1,300+ maternal health–focused classes offered each year
8–10 trusted community partner sites
80% of participants identify as Black, Indigenous, or women of color
Following participation in Pathways to Thriving programming:
80–90% of participants report reduced stress
75–85% report improved emotional regulation
85–90% report increased connection and support
Based on participant self-report surveys administered before and after program participation.
Research Partnership Pathways to Thriving is further strengthened through MCW's active research collaboration with Drs. Sharon Dekel and Maren Nyer of Massachusetts General Hospital — whose work on postpartum trauma and trauma-informed somatic interventions for Black women and women of color provides direct clinical grounding for the program model. Research by Dr. Dekel demonstrates that women of color are three times more likely to experience childbirth-related trauma, with unresolved postpartum PTSD adversely affecting maternal brain functioning and mother-infant bonding — the exact disparities Pathways to Thriving exists to address.
Pathways to Thriving is informed by ongoing community-based evaluation efforts to assess feasibility, participant outcomes, and opportunities for responsible replication.
“As a Black woman constantly carrying stress, anxiety, and the weight of caring for everyone else, MCW became one of the few places where I felt seen, supported, and able to truly exhale.”
— Mona S, Program Participant
More Than a Program — A Promise
Pathways to Thriving is more than a program.
It is a promise — to mothers, daughters, sisters, caregivers, and elders — that you matter, that your healing is worthy of care, and that you do not have to navigate it alone.
We are committed to sustaining this work with integrity, cultural humility, and deep respect for community wisdom.
An Invitation
Your support helps provide free prenatal, postpartum, menopause, and community mental health and wellness care, expand trusted partnerships, and train culturally aligned instructors to carry healing forward. Together, we can close the maternal health gap.
Pathways to Thriving is sustained through philanthropy, partnerships, and community investment.