From our founder, Jonathan:
“It’s been sometime since our last update and over the last 9 months or so, we have continued working with Dr Stacie Graham, as our Equity & Inclusion Consultant. Stacie’s brief is to lead us through and help us achieve positive change. I thought I would let you know what’s been going on in the background, and what actions have been implemented as a result.
Last July, we had our first workshop, led by Stacie, on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion themes, including anti-racism and (unconscious) bias for board, senior management and studio managers. This helped us discover/uncover or delve deeper into each of our own understanding of bias, how it can show up, and how we can make changes to support greater diversity. As I wrote at the time there were areas where I realised that however ‘good’ a person I want to be, I have a lot, not just to ‘learn’ but action.
We held a similar workshop training for all the Centre Staff and from that and further dialogue with staff, some subtle, yet meaningful changes have and are being made. It’s not always perfect or as quickly as we would like. You may notice in centre changes, areas have now been assigned and signed, to provide safer changing room spaces for trans and non-binary individuals, and staff name badges which include pronouns, are now the standard across all triyoga centres.
Stacie led strategy sessions with Head Office personnel, who worked with all department heads and addressed and made recommendations around recruitment processes, which now are included in our hiring procedures.
We also commissioned a video series for teachers, so that they too can receive a similar training to all the triyoga personnel. This will be rolled out to Teachers and Therapists who will receive emails containing links and instructions, before the end of July.
More than one year on from the murder of George Floyd, many of the issues that we saw and experienced in the world sadly still exist and there is still a long way to go. But with my optimistic hat on, there has been a shift: the discussion is more open, and realities for different groups are being better understood. Collectively, we cannot allow the blinkers that were removed to be put back on.
In short, we cannot make any claims about leading the charge to changing the world, yet things are progressing. We recognise there is still much work to do, and we remain committed to doing what we can, to help the world we impact head towards greater diversity, equity and inclusion.
Further updates will follow, and we will post more updates on our website here.”
