Diversity and Inclusivity Policy
BFA members welcome all Focusing clients and students whatever their ethnicity, religion, cultural background, gender, sexual orientation, ability, gender identity, age or educational achievement. BFA members will acknowledge where they may need to work on issues they have around inclusivity and ability to work with different individuals.
BFA members aim to publicise their courses and other offerings in a wide variety of contexts and to reach a broad range of people in the community. We have undertaken such activities as having a Refugee Working Group, delivering Community Wellness Focusing initiatives, putting on a Focusing Community Summer Camp and providing discounted places. We are considering what we can do in the future to improve our inclusivity and enhance the diversity of BFA, for instance, surveying members about any barriers experienced.
BFA acknowledges that, whilst our members are diverse in many ways, the ethnic makeup of its membership does not currently represent the ethnic makeup in Britain and that there may also be other underrepresented groups within the BFA. As well as recognising this is a wider societal issue, BFA is keen to do what it can to allow and encourage the organisation to be more representative of the population as a whole.
We wish to remove barriers to people from diverse backgrounds becoming involved in the Focusing Community and we wish to actively extend the opportunity to learn or make use of Focusing into a wide range of communities. BFA is a small organisation with resource limitations but we recognise that our Focusing approach has much to offer in terms of how we sense into these issues and engage in a process of improving access and inclusivity.
BFA is undertaking a process of considering how to improve access and inclusivity on an organisational level. Individual members also aim to engage with diversity issues with a Focusing attitude.
BFA members will attempt to turn towards individuals or groups who form minorities or are marginalised, endeavouring to engage with them with openness, acceptance and a view to understanding their unique experience.
BFA members acknowledge that all humans potentially hold prejudices and that ‘difference’ and ‘the unknown’ can arouse threatening feelings in us. We are committed to sitting with our uneasy feelings around people or groups different from ourselves, with trust that this process will help to take us closer to a place of openness and acceptance of those who are ‘other’ to us.
BFA members will take positive steps to recognise any issues we may face related to feeling open and accepting towards those who are different from us. We trust that such issues have arisen for a reason and that when we are open and accepting of these within ourselves we are more likely to move through them.
April 2014, Revised December 2018