THE SIX STAGES FRAMEWORK & BRIDGES OF EMPATHY

TestimonialsMarietjie StrydomMarietjie Strydom-Head of Service at Coram IACHead of Service at Coram IACWe have been incredibly fortunate at Coram IAC to have Dr Shungu Hilda M'gadzah deliver our #Equality Diversity & Inclusion programme and would highly recommend this opportunity for schoolsSpecialist Educational Psychologist"I’m put in mind of the time Shungu delivered some work for us on the Six Stages Framework. She challenged all of us to own the views and biases that we held that were in some way racist - she explained that this is an early and integral step towards growth. It was incredibly hard and I’m not proud to say that when she asked for volunteers I believe she was met with the proverbial tumble weed. Accepting that we may hold -phobic or -ist views is deeply uncomfortable. As a rule we’re all good, ethically minded people. But we’re not impervious. Exploring our own biases also requires criticality, curiosity, and, bravery."Assistant Educational Psychologist"I took up Shungu’s invitation to attend one of her free seminars onanti-racism and I have to say it was excellent. The 6 stages diversityframework she presented is such a useful tool of self reflection to examinethe extent of our own privilege but also a great way for organisations tomonitor and evaluate their anti-racist practice. One of the concepts shespoke so eloquently about was that of “caves of privilege” whereby peopleare surrounded by others of similar backgrounds and perspectives tothemselves on social media which then acts as an echo chamber to furtherreinforce our own views and prejudices. I remember at the time thinkingthat this could be a really useful starting point as a way in to attempt tobetter understand issues the trans and non binary community are currentlyfacing (the terminology of “building bridges of empathy”)."