When Dr. Tanya Destang-Beaubrun sat down to write Held and Healed: A Physician's Guide to Healing the Body, Calming the Mind and Living in Joy, she wasn't simply writing another wellness book.
She was writing the book she wished Caribbean women had always had.
After decades of practicing medicine and caring for women from across the Caribbean and its diaspora, the Saint Lucian physician came to a simple but profound realization: while countless books addressed women's health, very few reflected the realities, cultures and lived experiences of Caribbean women.
"I realized there was nobody in the Caribbean addressing our health," she says. "So I wrote this book for us as a people, but also for women in general."
The result is Held and Healed, a guide that blends medical expertise with a compassionate, whole-person approach to healing, encouraging women to think differently about stress, hormones, nutrition, emotional wellbeing and the role joy plays in overall health.
For Dr. Tanya, the book represents the culmination of more than two decades in medicine, but it is also deeply personal.
At one point in her own life, she unexpectedly found herself experiencing healthcare from the other side of the examination room.
Becoming the patient changed everything.
Lying in a hospital bed, she remembers wanting someone to see more than her diagnosis. That experience reinforced her belief that healthcare should never focus solely on disease. It should begin by understanding the individual behind the symptoms.
It became a defining moment in her career.
Today, that philosophy shapes every chapter of Held and Healed.
Rather than encouraging women to simply manage illness, Dr. Tanya invites readers to better understand the many factors that influence health—from chronic stress and inflammation to sleep, nutrition, movement, relationships and emotional wellbeing.
She believes healing happens when women care for the whole person, not just isolated symptoms.
It is a message that has resonated with women across the Caribbean and the diaspora, many of whom have spent years placing everyone else's needs ahead of their own.
"Too many women believe exhaustion is normal," Dr. Tanya says. "They've become so accustomed to carrying the weight of work, family and community that they often stop listening to what their own bodies are trying to tell them."
That observation became one of the driving forces behind the book.
Throughout Held and Healed, she challenges the belief that self-sacrifice is a measure of strength and instead encourages women to see caring for themselves as an essential part of caring for those they love.
One of the book's most distinctive ideas is that joy itself is part of good health.
While many medical resources focus almost exclusively on disease prevention and treatment, Dr. Tanya argues that meaningful relationships, gratitude, rest, purpose and happiness deserve equal attention.
Those principles form the foundation of her MOre Joy Method®, an approach that integrates physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing into everyday life.
Although based in Saint Lucia, Dr. Tanya's message has reached audiences far beyond the Caribbean.
She has appeared on Oprah Winfrey's The Life You Want platform and has become an advocate for ensuring Caribbean voices are represented in global conversations about health and wellness. During her appearance with Oprah, she proudly wore a Saint Lucian flag pin and made sure an image of the Pitons appeared behind her—a quiet but powerful reminder that expertise from small island nations belongs on the world stage.
For Dr. Tanya, representing Saint Lucia has always been about more than national pride. It is about demonstrating that the Caribbean has knowledge, perspectives and lived experiences that deserve to shape international conversations on health.
With Held and Healed, she hopes Caribbean women will finally see themselves reflected in a resource created with them in mind.
"My hope is that every woman who reads this book understands that she deserves to heal," she says. "She deserves to feel well. She deserves joy."
As conversations around women's health continue to evolve, Held and Healed stands as both a practical guide and a powerful reminder that Caribbean women deserve health advice rooted not only in science, but also in their own experiences, cultures and lives.
For Dr. Tanya Destang-Beaubrun, that conversation is only just beginning.
