Six Stages Diversity Framework

16/01/2026

Bias: The Tree of Organizational Health and Decline

🌳 Bias is not just a personal flaw - it's an organisational root system.
Whether bias is left to fester or consciously addressed determines the entire cultural trajectory of your workplace.

This isn’t just a metaphor. It’s a real fork in the road:

➡️ When biases are ignored, they infect team dynamics, decision-making, and wellbeing. You might not see the roots, but the symptoms show up:
• Turnover
• Bullying
• Disengagement
• Reputational risk
• Emotional exhaustion

🌿 But when organisations actively cultivate equity — not just in policy but in mindset and leadership - growth becomes sustainable.
You create a workplace where:
• Emotional intelligence is modelled
• People feel safe to speak
• Ideas thrive
• Belonging is more than a buzzword

🔍 Where is your organisation right now — spiralling downward or growing with intention? Bias is inevitable. But so is transformation when we choose to tend the roots.

05/09/2025

Who Is Shaking The Jar: When division is engineered. How can we hold the lid open for others?

https://youtu.be/F6IS7VILSrg

This post is such a striking reminder of how division is often engineered-and how easily we can become complicit in conflict without questioning its source.

🧠 In the Six Stages Framework, we call this Stage -1: "Distancing and Deflecting"—when individuals focus on difference and blame, without acknowledging the systems shaking the jar.
🫂 But transformation begins when we locate ourselves (Step 0) and move towards Stage +1: "Noticing and Naming". This means courageously asking:
* Who is shaking the jar?
* What systems benefit from our division?
* How can we step back and see the bigger picture?

🤝 When we develop equity literacy, we stop fighting each other and start dismantling the conditions that keep us trapped in the jar.
💭 What jar are you in? And how can we hold the lid open for others?

“This powerful metaphor was originally shared by [Fred Suadwa] — thank you for such a thought-provoking post. It prompted me to reflect using the lens of my Six Stages Framework…”

“A powerful reflection by Fred Suadwa: ‘If you put 100 black ants and 100 red ants in a jar... the real enemy is the one shaking the jar.’
This striking metaphor aligns deeply with my Six Stages Framework—specifically, Stage –1 (Distancing & Deflecting), where we blame each other rather than questioning what's shaking the jar.�From there, transformation begins with Stage 0 (Locating Ourselves), shifting to Stage +1 (Noticing & Naming). We must ask: Who’s orchestrating our division? and Which systems benefit from it?�Cultivating equity literacy lets us move beyond conflict, address underlying systemic conditions, and reflect on how we can hold the lid open for others.

Thanks again, Fred, for sparking this important conversation.


”

This post is such a striking reminder of how division is often engineered-and how easily we can become complicit in conflict without questioning its source.?...

02/09/2025

🎙️ BUILDING BRIDGES OF EMPATHY: How We Heal Through Connection
Podcast by Dr. Shungu M'gadzah assisted by AI Notebook LM.

I have just discovered Notebook LM and AI podcasts. I love the output from some of may material on Building Bridges of Empathy. Let me know what you think?

🔗 Listen to the first 5 minutes below — then head to YouTube or Spotify to experience the full episode.

In this episode, I explore a theme that runs deep across our schools, workplaces, homes, and systems: the unspoken feeling that “It’s not safe here.”

This sense of unsafety—rooted in racism, neurodivergence, gender bias, ableism, or systemic gaslighting—leads many of us to retreat into what I call "caves."

🔹 Caves of Fear
🔹 Caves of Privilege
🔹 Caves of Delusion

These caves offer temporary protection but, if left unaddressed, become barriers that cut us off from each other and perpetuate injustice.
✨ Yet healing begins with connection.
It doesn’t require a grand gesture. Sometimes, it simply takes someone willing to:
- Linger a little longer
- Ask a different question
- Share space with curiosity rather than assumption

In this episode, I also share my Six Stages Framework—a practical tool for individuals and organisations seeking to:
-Recognise bias
-Disrupt exclusion
- Move from silence to advocacy

Reimagine shared spaces of dignity and belonging
💬 I close with a question I'd love you to reflect on:

If empathy could build a bridge… what would your tool of change be?
👇🏽 Watch the first 5 minutes below
🎧 Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/40k9BG6ssQ03KFoU02oE7A?si=2f1118f96dd843e4
📺 Watch full episode on YouTube: youtu.be/oBPEax1emqw?si=HZ5eAxl1CwrdbXBa

Visit our website:
https://www.sixstagesframework.com/✨-episode-3-step-2-training-your-brain-for-equity/

03/08/2025

TRAINING YOUR BRAIN FOR EQUITY:

A Reflective Episode from the Six Stages Framework
By Dr. Shungu H. M’gadzah

Listen to the podcast recording: below.

Welcome to Building Bridges of Empathy. This is your space for reflection, transformation, and grounding in truth.

Today’s episode is titled: Training Your Brain for Equity.

🌱 Part One: From Calm to Equity
You may have heard people talk about training the body for calm—building mental resilience, rewiring the brain to respond to life’s stressors without spiraling.

This got me thinking: Can we train the brain—not just for calm—but for equity?

What would it mean to approach equity like a daily practice, the same way we train our breath, our focus, or our bodies?

🧠 Part Two: Rewiring for Equity Literacy
We are all carrying beliefs, values, and assumptions that we didn’t choose. Some are rooted in bias. Others in trauma or fear.

In the Six Stages Framework, we begin with Stage 0—Locate Yourself. Before we challenge the world around us, we must observe the world within us.
These are not fixed. They are habits. And like all habits, they can be rewired.

🪞 Part Three: Becoming Conscious of Equity Threats
Training your brain for equity means becoming more conscious of in-equity threats—not just in society but within our own thoughts.
These responses are signs of Stage 1 or 2 in the Six Stages: denial or minimisation.

Just as we observe our breath when meditating, we can learn to observe our thoughts—with curiosity, not judgment.

🔄 Part Four: From Reaction to Response
Equity work is not about perfection. It’s about practice.
Pause. Breathe. Create space between stimulus and response. This is where equity lives.

Over time, these new choices form new pathways.

🧘🏽‍♀️ Part Five: Visualising Equity Practice
Visualise yourself in a moment of challenge. Notice your breath. Ground yourself.
You don’t shut down. You don’t explode. You stay present.
This is training your brain for equity.

🌿 Closing Reflection
Equity is not a destination—it’s a practice.
The Six Stages Framework offers a map. This work offers you the tools. Your life offers you the moments.
Take a breath. Recall your values. You are not just reacting to the world. You are helping to reshape it.

To find out more about the Six Stage
Check out my book:
📘 Understanding and Dealing with Everyday Racism – The Six Stages Framework (2022).

A must-read for individuals and organisations committed to personal and systemic change. This book introduces the Six Stages Framework, a structured path to greater self-awareness and action.
📖 https://amzn.eu/d/0DQGxg9

The Six Stages Framework: Understanding and Dealing with Everyday Biases Discrimination and Racism · Episode

18/06/2025

Why do some schools fail in their duty to safeguard all pupils?

“From Awareness to Action: A Six Stages Framework for Inclusive Schools”

Visit our website and read the article:
https://www.sixstagesframework.com/introduction-to-the-six-stages-framework-in-schools/

Check our products for schools

Here’s what we have been working on:

👩🏾‍🎓 ✨ NEW! The Six Stages Framework for Secondary School Pupils Workbook
Your Voice, Your Impact – Inclusion in Action.

This practical and engaging workbook empowers secondary school students to explore their identity, speak their truth, and take action. Rooted in my Six Stages Framework, it supports schools in embedding inclusion across PSHE, RSHE and beyond.
🛒 Now available on Amazon:
👉 https://amzn.eu/d/clE9M3h

📘 Understanding and Dealing with Everyday Racism – The Six Stages Framework (2022).

A must-read for individuals and organisations committed to personal and systemic change. This book introduces the Six Stages Framework, a structured path to greater self-awareness and action.
📖 https://amzn.eu/d/0DQGxg9

🦠 If Racism Was a Virus (2025)
A powerful and poetic exploration of racism through metaphor and lived experience. This book invites readers to reflect on how racism spreads, infects, and can be healed — personally and collectively.
📖 https://amzn.eu/d/95OnuU3

28/12/2024

What happens when empathy and compassion leave the room? When the ropes of the Bridges of Empathy are thin, worn and neglected.

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/when-empathy-and-compassion-leave-the-room-when-you-are-the-wrong-kind-of-person/

When empathy and compassion disappear? When the threads of our Bridges of Empathy grow thin, frayed, and neglected, the consequences ripple through our communities, our workplaces, and our lives.

“Sometimes a person dies, and nobody cares. Maybe they’re just the wrong kind of person, like my sister Naomi—someone like that. The cops just stand by and watch. She’s just some white trash, a m**h head. Let her die! But one of your own? That’s a whole different story, isn’t it? I’ve seen cops trade their lives for kids they’ve never even met. Ain’t that som**hing? Of course, why trade when you can just look away?”

These bitter words, spoken by a grieving brother seeking revenge in the movie [ ....], cut deeply...

Which movie was this?

Find out and read the rest of my blog....

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/when-empathy-and-compassion-leave-the-room-when-you-are-the-wrong-kind-of-person/

ChatGPT Image inspired by the blog. It depicts the theme of empathy and connection through a bridge of glowing ropes being reinforced by diverse figures, with a hopeful sunrise for the bridge and sun in the background along with worn and frayed ropes. It conveys resilience and human connection.

22/12/2024

The Six Stages Framework: A Path to Inclusive Growth and Empathy

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/the-six-stages-framework-a-path-to-inclusive-growth-and-empathy/

Many people ask me What is the Six Stages Framework?

Is it just about racism? The answer is no, it's an inclusive framework and can be used to explore how we navigate differences and any areas of disadvantage. It can also be used to help us better deal with maladaptive behaviours, such as bullying, harassment and violence.

The Six Stages Framework consists of six interconnected stages on the positive axis, representing a progressive journey toward racial equity and social justice. There is also a negative axis of the SSF representing what happens when we fail to deal with biases and to do this work. The negative axis starts at -1 and spirals down to -6.

Check out the article below for how the SSF can benefit you, your organisation and communities.

Join the journey today and contribute to a better, more empathetic future for all.

Also visit our website for more blogs and resources.
https://www.sixstagesframework.com

18/12/2024

OVERCOMING CAVES OF FEAR AND EMERGING FROM CAVES OF PRIVILEGE: By Dr Shungu Hilda M’gadzah

Check out my latest blog which can be accessed free on our website.

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/overcoming-caves-of-fear/

Intersectionality and coping with the anxiety and challenges of navigating different spaces and interacting with those who are different. From anxieties and anxiety based school refusal to navigating discrimination and racism.

As we approach 2025 let's think about our shared humanity and how we navigate differences.

How are you moving through different spaces, navigating differences and celebrating our shared humanity. How do we all move from silos of separation to Building Bridges of Empathy.

Do you allow yourself to interact with those who are different or do you keep yourself cooped up in caves of privilege and only interact with those who are the same as you.

What spaces are you avoiding and why?

As you go about your day, think about the actions you can take to make someone who is different feel included in the hustle and bustle of every day life and activities .

What does sharing spaces mean to you? How do you use your privilege for good?

How can you move from caves of privilege to help someone who is stuck in a cave of fear?

What can you do to help them get the support they need?

Be brave and step into new spaces!

A million little cuts do not define me. But each cut leaves a scar. Takes its toll on your mental health And tries to diminish who you are Chipping away and eroding your identity and self esteem (like the sea splashing and eroding rocks) We have to protect our mental health.

06/11/2024

Professional Standards in Equality Diversity and Inclusion

This week we are asking ChatGPT a series of eight questions based on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Standards. The Health Care Professionals Council (HCPC) states that registrants are expected to abide by these standards.

The first question we are asking relating to the standards is:

How do you as a professional or practitioner recognise the impact of culture, equality and diversity on your practice and how do you practise in a non-discriminatory and inclusive manner?

You will find the answer to this question by following the link and visiting our website.

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/quality-standards-and-edi-performance-management-and-personal-development-plans-2/

The principles below ensure that individuals are treated equitably and that practices are inclusive, fostering a respectful and welcoming environment.

How many of these are you able to evidence in your practice and within your organisation?

How are these standards measured and monitored within your practice and by your professional organisation?

Is the same attention and emphasis placed on EDI standards as with other professional standards or are they simply performative measures and languish in files and never seen again.

Recently a colleague informed us that the HCPC had contacted him because he had allegedly used outdated terminology describing a child as having Asperger’s rather than Autistic. This was flagged up as cause for a possible investigation.

Has the HCPC ever contacted you about your adherence to EDI professional standards?

Are these EDI standards taken seriously and policed in the same way as other professional standards? If not why not?

We would be interested to hear of any cases where the HCPC or other professional bodies have flagged up the failure of a registrant to adhere to EDI standards.

Also, next time you are in a team meeting reflect on how you are doing in relation to EDI standards. How many of these can you confidently tick as achieving?

More questions (question 2-8) to follow this week:

Join us at the Psychology Direct Conference on 22nd November where we will be focusing on:

“Equal Voices, Vibrant Minds: The Importance of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in Private Practice.”

Tickets amazing value at £25 or £37.50 when you bring a colleague.

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/edi2024/

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/psychology-direct-annual-conference-2024-tickets-884053145757?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

HCPC Equality and Diversity Standards

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-proficiency/revisions-to-the-standards-of-proficiency/equality-diversity-and-inclusion/

18/10/2024

Hope you will be able to join us at our forthcoming Schools Conference!

For more information on the Six Stages Framework check out our website. https://lnkd.in/eenbJ89X

hashtag