Training Your Brain for Equity

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

🌱 Part One: From Calm to Equity🧠 Part Two: Rewiring for Equity Literacy🪞 Part Three: Becoming Conscious of Equity Threats🔄 Part Four: From Reaction to Response🧘🏽‍♀️ Part Five: Visualising Equity Practice🌿 Closing Reflection

📘 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. Informed by key lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic, this book invites readers to reflect on how racism spreads, infects, and can be healed — personally and collectively.

📖 ⁠⁠https://amzn.eu/d/95OnuU3⁠⁠

💬 Whether you're a parent, educator, student, ally, or leader, there’s something in these books for you. Let’s keep the conversations going and the learning growing.

Book a discovery call:

⁠⁠https://calendly.com/shungu/introduction-to-the-six-stages-inclusive-framework⁠⁠

#SixStagesFramework #InclusionPsychologists #DrShunguLive #Bias #EDI #Leadership #AntiRacism #Inclusion #Equity #DEIChat #LinkedInLive #PsychologyOfInclusion #SSFQuestioning #SixStagesInclusiveFramework #SSFAssociates #SSFTrainTheTrainer

 #Education #Diversity #Belonging #Equity #DEI #StudentVoice #SchoolLeadership #RacismAwareness #InclusiveEducation #BookLaunch #SocialJustice

#diversityandinclusion #EquityAndInclusion #InclusiveLeadership #BelongingAtWork #CulturalInclusion

 #EmpathyInLeadership #WorkplaceWellbeing #PsychologicalSafety #CultureTransformation #InclusiveWorkplaces #ChangeManagement

#emotionalintelligence #BuildingResilience #TraumaInformedCare #SelfAwareness #InclusiveEducation #BridgesOfEmpathy #sixstagesframework #EmpathyInAction #FrameworkForChange #inclusionmatters #Racism #meditation #guidedmeditation

✨ Reflective Step 2 – From Awareness to Action ✨

 7 day guided reflective journal
Awareness is powerful — but it’s only the beginning. In this step, we move from simply noticing bias, inequity, and exclusion to making conscious, values-led decisions about what we will do next.

This is about turning lightbulb moments into purposeful action.
It’s about asking yourself:

• What do I stand for?
• What change am I willing to create — in my space, my team, my community?

You don’t need to have all the answers yet. What matters is that you start aligning your choices and behaviours with your values for equity, inclusion, and belonging.

📓 This week in your journal:
➡ Reflect on where you’ve seen inequity or bias.
➡ Identify one specific action you can take in response.
➡ Commit to following through.

💡 Remember: Intention is the bridge between knowing and doing.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

📚 Six Stages Framework Book

📖 https://amzn.eu/d/0DQGxg9

🎙️ 🎙️The podcast: It’s not safe here:

 https://open.spotify.com/episode/32obmfLZWSRheMNBxjmKPV?si=741ef11e37c643ea

🎓 Join the Six Stages Framework and Bridges of Empathy Eventbrite Workshop Series

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-six-stages-framework-bridges-of-empathy-467339?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=odclsxcollection&utm-source=cp&aff=odclsxcollection

Hashtags

#FromAwarenessToAction #ReflectiveSteps #SixStagesFramework #DEIB #EquityInAction #BiasAwareness #InclusionMatters #Belonging #InclusiveLeadership #Antiracism #DiversityAndInclusion #MindfulLeadership #PersonalGrowth #EverydayEquity #SocialJustice #DrShungu #GuidedReflection

All three caves—fear, privilege, and delusion—lead to disconnection. And all must be disrupted if we are to build bridges of empathy.

We all move through different spaces—some of us welcomed, others excluded. In this new reflective piece, I explore the caves of fear, privilege, and delusion that separate us—and the small acts of empathy that can help reconnect us.

💬 “It’s not safe here.”
A sentence spoken by children facing racism in school…
By adults retreating from toxic workplaces…
By people ignored or unseen because of difference.

This article is a call to action.
To see. To listen. To build bridges.

✨ Featuring:
✔️ Personal reflections
✔️ Lessons from real events
✔️ A practical tool for change: the Six Stages Framework
✔️ Reflection prompts to support your DEI journey.

📄 Read the full article + download the branded PDF here: 

building-bridges-of-empathy-how-we-heal-through-connection-with-the-six-stages-framework

👇🏾 Let me know in the comments:
What space are you avoiding—and what would it take to step in?

Extract:

"From Difference to Disconnection

As I sat there, I thought of the young people I work with—particularly autistic children and those with anxiety-based school refusal. The school environment overwhelms them, and some can no longer face it.

They too retreat into caves—not always by choice, but as a protective response to systems that fail to understand or accommodate their needs.

As an educational psychologist and equity consultant, I see how intersectionality—the overlap of race, disability, gender, neurodivergence—can compound exclusion in these spaces. Whether visible or invisible, our differences shape how we are received, included, or overlooked.

We learn to assess environments. Some of us learn to navigate them. And some, when unsupported, stop entering them altogether.

Caves of Fear. Caves of Privilege. Caves of Delusion.

When people don’t feel safe, understood, or welcome, they retreat.
When others feel entitled, comfortable, and unchallenged, they stay where they are.
And some remain in denial, refusing to see what’s right in front of them.

Avoidance becomes survival.
Privilege becomes a bubble.
Delusion becomes a blinder. And somewhere in between, connection is lost."

#SharedHumanity #DiversityMatters

#SixStagesFramework #Empathy #Inclusion #Neurodiversity #DisabilityAwareness #AntiRacism #Equity #SharedHumanity #Psychology #PsychologicalSafety #SocialJustice #Humanity #DEI #Equity#LeadershipDevelopment #ReflectivePractice #Unconsciousbias #DrShunguLive #Bias #EDI #Leadership#Inclusion #Equity #DEIChat #LinkedInLive #PsychologyOfInclusion #SSFQuestioning #SSFAssociates #SSFTrainTheTrainer #Biased

#Education #Diversity #Belonging #Equity  #StudentVoice #SchoolLeadership #RacismAwareness#InclusiveEducation 

#biases #selfunderstanding #framework #discrimination #inequity

 📚 References

•           M’gadzah, S. H. (2022). Understanding and Dealing with Everyday Racism: The Six Stages Framework. Inclusion Psychologists Ltd.

•           The Irish Times. (2025, July 26). “He kept saying, what wrong have I done? Why me?”: An Indian man is left stripped and bloodied on an Irish street. Link

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2025/07/26/he-kept-saying-what-wrong-have-i-done-why-me-an-indian-man-is-left-stripped-and-bloodied-on-an-irish-street/

🔗 Want to Learn More?

📚 Six Stages Framework Book


📖 https://amzn.eu/d/0DQGxg9

🎙️ Building Bridges of Empathy Podcast


https://open.spotify.com/episode/3SNofxnhQfUgFpvA5crm8j?si=5uC0ycDvQUWiINU36TWggg

🎓 Join the Six Stages Framework and Bridges of Empathy Eventbrite Workshop Series

https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/the-six-stages-framework-bridges-of-empathy-467339?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=odclsxcollection&utm-source=cp&aff=odclsxcollection

Training Your Brain for Equity

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

🌱 Part One: From Calm to Equity🧠 Part Two: Rewiring for Equity Literacy🪞 Part Three: Becoming Conscious of Equity Threats🔄 Part Four: From Reaction to Response🧘🏽‍♀️ Part Five: Visualising Equity Practice🌿 Closing Reflection

📘 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. Informed by key lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic, this book invites readers to reflect on how racism spreads, infects, and can be healed — personally and collectively.

📖 ⁠https://amzn.eu/d/95OnuU3⁠

💬 Whether you're a parent, educator, student, ally, or leader, there’s something in these books for you. Let’s keep the conversations going and the learning growing.

Book a discovery call:

⁠https://calendly.com/shungu/introduction-to-the-six-stages-inclusive-framework⁠

#SixStagesFramework #InclusionPsychologists #DrShunguLive #Bias #EDI #Leadership #AntiRacism #Inclusion #Equity #DEIChat #LinkedInLive #PsychologyOfInclusion #SSFQuestioning #SixStagesInclusiveFramework #SSFAssociates #SSFTrainTheTrainer

 #Education #Diversity #Belonging #Equity #DEI #StudentVoice #SchoolLeadership #RacismAwareness #InclusiveEducation #BookLaunch #SocialJustice

#diversityandinclusion #EquityAndInclusion #InclusiveLeadership #BelongingAtWork #CulturalInclusion

 #EmpathyInLeadership #WorkplaceWellbeing #PsychologicalSafety #CultureTransformation #InclusiveWorkplaces #ChangeManagement

#emotionalintelligence #BuildingResilience #TraumaInformedCare #SelfAwareness #InclusiveEducation #BridgesOfEmpathy #sixstagesframework #EmpathyInAction #FrameworkForChange #inclusionmatters #Racism #meditation #guidedmeditation

🎬 Video Title 

Episode 2: Reflective Step 1: Noticing the Unseen | Six Stages Framework Journal Series

Welcome to Episode 2 of the Six Stages Framework Reflective Journal Series with Dr. Shungu M’gadzah!

https://youtu.be/Yn-sI3krxuA

📄 Video Description 

In this episode, we explore Reflective Step 1: Noticing the Unseen — the powerful practice of slowing down, observing our environments, and recognising the voices, experiences, and stories that are missing from our daily lives.

🌱 This step is all about awareness.

Who’s not in the room? Whose perspective are you not hearing? What assumptions are you unconsciously making?

Using the Six Stages Framework (SSF), we shift from passive awareness to active noticing — a foundational practice for any personal or professional journey in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

🧠 Journal Prompt:

“What identities or perspectives do I rarely hear from — and why?”

📘 Download the Reflective Journal and follow along:

👉 www.sixstagesframework.com

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/a-7-week-guided-reflection-for-daily-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-deib-practice/

🙋🏽‍♀️ Join the 7-week guided reflection series and start using the SSF as a daily tool for personal growth, inclusive leadership, and anti-bias practice.

🔔 Don’t forget to follow and subscribe for weekly reflections! It's free to take part just sign up on

www.sixstagesframework.com

📥 Download the Reflection Journal here:

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/a-7-week-guided-reflection-for-daily-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-belonging-deib-practice/

📚✨ Dr Shungu Hilda M'gadzah

📘 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

👩🏾‍🎓 ✨ 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

🦠  If Racism Was a Virus (2025)

A powerful and poetic exploration of racism through metaphor and lived experience. Informed by key lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic, this book invites readers to reflect on how racism spreads, infects, and can be healed — personally and collectively.

📖 https://amzn.eu/d/95OnuU3

💬 Whether you're a parent, educator, student, ally, or leader, there’s something in these books for you. Let’s keep the conversations going and the learning growing.

🔗 We’d love your support — check out the links, share with your networks, and let us know if you'd like to explore training, the SSF Associate Programme, a school session, or a discovery call.

https://calendly.com/shungu/introduction-to-the-six-stages-inclusive-framework

🏷️ Hashtags: #SixStagesFramework #ReflectivePractice #DEIB #InclusionMatters #AntiBias #DailyReflection #EquityAndInclusion #NoticingTheUnseen #SelfAwareness #UnconsciousBias #SocialJustice #LeadershipDevelopment #DrShungu #ReflectiveSteps #InclusionJourney #TransformativeReflection #BiasAwareness #Belonging #TikTokEducation #YouTubeSeries #GuidedJournaling #Psychologist #DEIpersonaldeveloment #personaldevelopment #professionaldevelopment

Everyday Equity: A Reflection Guide for Everyday People.

We are starting tomorrow! Download your Reflection Guide on Bias, Equity and Inclusion for Everyday People.

📥 Download the Reflective Journal here:

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/dhfx

https://youtu.be/9MCxI3Idcns?si=HJnFE-WzNLzqk0X5     

Tomorrow we are starting the SSF Daily Reflections by familiarising ourselves with the SSF Stages and Model . We will be moving from what the SSF is to how it can become a daily companion for intentional growth and systemic change. These videos centre on personal and professional application of the SSF — practical, reflective, and empowering:

That’s where the Six Stages Framework (SSF) becomes more than a model — it becomes a daily tool for transformation.

🌀 Each reflective station invites us to notice:

• What am I aware of today that I wasn’t yesterday?

• Where do I still feel discomfort or resistance?

• How am I using my privilege, power, or position?

• What actions align with my values and commitments?

•

💡 And with each stage, we can ask:

• What strategy will move me forward today — listening? Reading? Speaking up?

• What might I journal about to deepen my self-awareness?

• Who am I learning from — and who am I centring?

Whether you're a leader, educator, parent, or simply someone who wants to show up differently — the SSF can guide your journey.

Not perfectly. Not all at once.
But intentionally. And sustainably.

The full reflection journal is available for free to download from our website. It is designed in fillable PDF format so that you can track your journey.

Why not download this and start using it with your teams and those you support and work with.

Where do you think you are in your journey? Drop a comment or DM me if you’re not sure.

📚✨ Dr Shungu Hilda M'gadzah

 ✨Proud Author Moment — 3 Books, 1 Mission: Inclusion, Equity & Empowerment

We are so excited to share Dr Shungu's  growing collection of books — each one a tool to inspire dialogue, reflection, and meaningful action in the journey toward anti-racism and inclusion.

Here’s what we have been working on:

📘 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

👩🏾‍🎓 ✨ 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

🦠  If Racism Was a Virus (2025)

A powerful and poetic exploration of racism through metaphor and lived experience. Informed by key lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic, this book invites readers to reflect on how racism spreads, infects, and can be healed — personally and collectively.

📖 https://amzn.eu/d/95OnuU3

💬 Whether you're a parent, educator, student, ally, or leader, there’s something in these books for you. Let’s keep the conversations going and the learning growing.

🔗 We’d love your support — check out the links, share with your networks, and let us know if you'd like to explore training, the SSF Associate Programme, a school session, or a discovery call.

https://calendly.com/shungu/introduction-to-the-six-stages-inclusive-framework

#SixStagesFramework #Inclusion #AntiRacism #Education #Diversity #Belonging #Equity #DEI #StudentVoice #SchoolLeadership #RacismAwareness #InclusiveEducation #BookLaunch #parent #InclusionInAction #ReflectivePractice #discrimination #biases #EquityInEducation #Schools #ConsciousChange #equity #workplace #ally #equality #personaldevelopment #professionaldevelopment

🏋🏽‍♀️ Ready to build your Equity Fitness?

Inclusion is like fitness — you don’t build strength by thinking about it. You build it through practice.
💡 If you’re serious about equity, inclusion, and disrupting systemic bias, it’s time to put in the work.

🧭 Join Dr Shungu H. M’gadzah — Educational Psychologist, Inclusion Expert, and Creator of the Six Stages Framework — for guided workshops that strengthen your inclusion mindset and build your equity fitness.

🎯 Guided Reflection: Bias, Equity and The Six Stages Framework

Championing inclusion and disrupting systemic bias with the Six Stages

🧠 In these reflective online sessions, you will:
✅ Uncover personal and systemic bias
✅ Develop your equity practice through structured reflection
✅ Apply the Six Stages Framework to real-world challenges
✅ Grow in confidence and clarity as an inclusive leader

✨ “I’m your personal trainer for equity — here to guide, stretch and challenge you on your journey.” – Dr Shungu

🎟️ Book your place:
📍 

Championing inclusion and disrupting systemic bias with the Six Stages

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/championing-inclusion-and-disrupting-systemic-bias-with-the-six-stages-tickets-1486891696089?aff=oddtdtcreator

🗓️ Multiple dates available
💻 Live online sessions

🎧 Curious to learn more?
▶️ 

Guided Reflection: Bias, Equity and The Six Stages Framework

https://youtu.be/u2ALovpCz94

🌐 Full details: 

Events

https://www.sixstagesframework.com/ssfevents/

Stuck in caves of privilege,Lobbing anti-DEI grenades.Waving the white privilege cardWhile tarnishing POC with the brush of radicalism.Reading the post below, I paused—Reflected.This is what happensWhen entitlement meets a system built to uphold it.When whiteness feels threatened by equityAnd lashes out through litigation.Has this happened to you?It’s happened to me.White folks who claim allyship—Until you shine a light on their bias.Until your voice becomes too loud,Your work too visible.Then suddenly,The white privilege card appears.Accusations fly.They say you're divisive.Radical.Unreasonable.They call your advocacy “anti-white.”Some will even steal your words,Your frameworks,Your ideas—And claim them as their own.Why?Because the system backs them.It recognises and rewards whiteness.It emboldens the hand that throws the grenadeAnd punishes the one that dares to speak truth.They don’t want racial equity.They want the spotlight back.They want comfort.They want silence.These caves of privilege—Built over generations—Shelter entitlement,Fuelled by histories of supremacy,Ignorance, and fear of difference.And so they emerge—Card in hand,Grenades wrapped in twisted rhetoric,Screaming:“I am white and I can.”“I am entitled to everything.”“I am the system.”This is how they attempt to erase us—Erase DEI.Erase Black history.Erase resistance.Erase truth.But we see it.We name it.And we will not be silent.Inclusion Psychologists Limited#AntiRacism #Entitlement #RacialEquity #SixStagesInclusiveFramework #SixStagesFramework #SixStagesInclusiveFramework #mentalhealthawarenessmonth #Identities #Culture #Societalpressure

#mentalhealth

#GeorgeFloyd#Biashttps://www.sixstagesframework.com

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

https://www.inclusionpsychologists.com/post/overcoming-caves-of-fear-and-emerging-from-caves-of-privilege-by-dr-shungu-hilda-m-gadzah

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!

#SelfAwareness #InclusiveEducation

#BridgesOfEmpathy #CommunityLeadership #SocialImpact

#SixStagesFramework #EmpathyInAction #FrameworkForChange

#InclusionMatters #TransformWithEmpathy #mentalhealth #anxiety #phobia #school #emotionalwellbeing #comingoutofcaves #cavesofprivilege #cavesoffear #schoolrefusal #mentalhealth #therapy #fear #domesticviolence #psychology #control #trauma #ptsd 

Check out my website for full transcript