Updated June 2023
Rebel Therapist is committed to building an equitable, anti-racist, pro-liberation company. We are taking steps to become an anti-racist company BECAUSE we aspire to be a weapon against racism and white supremacy. We want to be a part of a community of micro-businesses that prioritize justice, equity and inclusion. We have work to do in order get there. This document names some of that work.
In this document, "I" means Annie Schuessler, the owner of the company. When I say "we" it's about the entire team.
- A personal note from Annie:
Here are some of the steps we have taken and will take:
- Signed The Anti-Racism Small Business Pledge (pdf below) 6/10/20
Small-Business-Anti-Racist-Pledge.pdf
- *Create public document listing our company values including a link to this action plan (done)
- We pay for and engage actively in education on anti-racism and JEDI work. In addition to weekly listening and reading, I commit to investing money, time and spirit on education and consultation on at least a quarterly basis and listing my educators/programs here.
- GREAT free podcast series (I usually don’t list books or podcasts here because there would be WAY too many and we’ve all got a lot to share) Truth Be Told, Season 5 by Tonya Mosley about psychedelics as a promising treatment for racial trauma (May 2023)
- Pause On The Play led by Erica Courdae and India Jackson (membership ongoing)
- Inclusive Strategies For Your Coaching Business Workbook by V.P. Wright (January 2023)
- Course: Radical Permission led by Sonya Renee Taylor and adrienne marie brown (July through September 2022)
- Consultation with V.P. Wright on increasing safety for BIPOC members of CYP (March 2022)
- The Free Joy Experience Train The Trainers led by Ebony Janice Moore and Thea Monyeé, an 8-month program (July 2021 through April 2022)
- "The Free Joy Experience" led by Ebony Janice and Thea Monyeé, a 6-month program of anti-racism work (July 2020 through December 2020)
- Equity Centered Coaching collective led by Trudi LeBron (past membership)
- I commit to open-conflict and to allowing discomfort. When conflict arises on my team and within my programs, I let it arise. I don’t try to hide it, delete it, or ignore it and I do not protect hate speech. I acknowledge the conflict, allow space for community members to be heard and deal with the underlying issue rather than demonizing the community member who raised the issue. These conversations are happening regardless, and I allow them to happen in these spaces and participate in the conversations. I am willing to sit in the discomfort of being called out or in, and take action to implement the needs expressed by community members. I state these community guidelines that acknowledge these things. (Most of the language in this bullet point comes directly from the Anti-Racism Pledge listed above).
- The language above is in all onboarding for participants.
- I commit to paying for the resources I benefit from and receive from BIPOC educators. When I am regularly absorbing information from experts on JEDI and I am not enrolled in their programs, I seek ways to pay for the help I'm receiving. I buy books, contribute to Patreon, or find other ways to invest.
- We invest at least 20% of the Rebel Therapist company budget to BIPOC communities. This may include hiring BIPoC employees, vendors and contractors, using BIPOC-owned software and services, purchasing BIPoC-authored books, donating to organizations and more.
- At least 30% of our podcast guests, collaborators and guest teachers identify as BIPoC.