Welcome to the SSF Knowledge Hub.
Explore articles, reflections, podcasts, videos and resources examining inclusion, leadership, human behaviour and social change through the Six Stages Framework.
Browse the latest content below or search by topic to discover practical insights, case reflections and tools for building more inclusive communities, schools and organisations.
Browse by Topic
- Start here at the SSF
- What’s new to the SSF
- Through the SSF Lens
- My dear white friend
- SSF in Action
- Case Reflections
- Case Studies
- Weekly Reflections
- Building Bridges of Empathy
- Coming Out of Caves
- The Psychology of Hate
- News and Current Affairs
If you are new to the Six Stages Framework, Start Here
Website Update: Enhancing the SSF Knowledge Hub
We are currently reorganising and expanding the SSF Knowledge Hub to make it easier for you to find articles, podcasts, videos, reflections and practical tools linked to the Six Stages Framework.
During this transition, content is being organised into new topic areas including:
• Through the SSF Lens
• Building Bridges of Empathy
• Coming Out of Caves
• The Virology of Hate
• Case Reflections
• Weekly Reflections
Thank you for your patience while we continue to develop and expand the Knowledge Hub. New content and resources will be added regularly.
THE SSF KNOWLEDGE HUB
Now Published: Understanding Human Behaviour in a Complex World
A new book from Dr Shungu H. M’gadzah exploring human behaviour through the Six Stages Framework — from identity, belonging and psychological safety to power, leadership and systems.
WR018 | The Spring of Activation: What Moves Us from Awareness to Action?
What moves us from emotional awareness to meaningful action? Drawing on the Six Stages Framework, this reflection explores how empathy, belonging, loyalty, fear and psychological safety influence whether we challenge injustice, remain silent or move towards exclusion. Through the metaphor of a trampoline, we examine the forces that hold us still and those that release the energy for activated inclusion.
My Dear White Friend: Why Did I Feel Grateful When a White Man Spoke About Racism?
What happens when a White man speaks publicly about racism and the experiences of Black women? In this deeply personal My Dear White Friend letter, Dr Shungu Hilda M’gadzah explores the unexpected mixture of gratitude, relief, irritation and historical awareness she experienced while listening to a White lawyer challenge the Strong Black Woman stereotype. Drawing on the Six Stages Framework, she examines the difference between listening, believing and taking responsibility for meaningful change.
Breaking the Inertia: What Moves Us from Awareness to Action?
What moves us from awareness to action when we encounter prejudice, discrimination or injustice? This SSF Weekly Reflection explores psychological inertia, uncertainty, latent readiness and the energy of our States. Dr Shungu Hilda M’gadzah considers how small acts of courage can initiate the gears of change and help inclusive action become part of everyday life.
Are We Aware of the [Human] Environments We Create?
We do not simply inhabit environments. We create them. In Weekly Reflection #016, Dr Shungu M’gadzah explores the human climates we create, encounter and carry, from childhood experiences and discrimination to emotional memory, dreams and the emerging concept of Human Climate Intelligence.
My Dear White Teacher: Was I The Child You Didn’t See?
A Black boy who once loved answering questions learns to become invisible in the classroom. Letter Eight of My Dear White Friend explores racial bias, teacher expectations, psychological safety and the lasting effects on children’s confidence and sense of belonging.
Building Inclusive Futures: What Are We Becoming Accustomed to Hearing?
What are we becoming accustomed to hearing one human being say about another? SSF Weekly Reflection #015 explores how harmful language becomes normalised, why inclusion does not require agreement, and how our environments shape what becomes psychologically and socially permissible.
My Dear White Friend: What Happens When the Racist Is Someone You Love?
What happens when racism comes from someone you love? Letter Seven explores the difficult space where love, loyalty, belonging and accountability collide.
Algorithmic Acceleration: How Digital Platforms Are Changing the Way We Think
How quickly can a viewpoint become a certainty? This week’s SSF reflection explores algorithmic acceleration — how digital environments can shape the speed and direction of our thinking — and asks whether psychological friction may create the pause needed for curiosity, reflection and more thoughtful movement through the Six Stages Framework.
My Dear White Friend — Letter Six: The States We Believe We Would Never Inhabit
In this extended Letter Six, Dr Shungu explores the “cave of unconscious bias”, why good people may resist uncomfortable evidence, how friends and caring professionals can unintentionally shield others from accountability, and the environments that shape the states we come to inhabit.
They Walk Amongst Us: Two Years On, What Have We Learnt — and What Have We Changed?
In August 2024, I called upon people to stand in the light as Britain witnessed racist violence and hostility. Two years later, I revisit that article through the Six Stages Framework, examining what we have learnt about escalation, psychological states, social environments and the conditions needed for meaningful change.
My Dear Black Friend: A Response to the Letters
After four My Dear White Friend letters, the conversation changes direction. An imagined white friend reflects on what it means to listen, confront defensiveness and allow learning about racism to change behaviour.
What State Are You Occupying? And What State Are You Been Drawn Into?
What state are you occupying right now? Weekly Reflection #012 explores how stages, states, emotions and environments interact, why earlier states can be reactivated, and how repeated states may influence who we are becoming.
My Dear White Friend: Please Don’t Make Me Your Textbook
When you ask a Black friend to explain racism, who carries the cost of the lesson? Letter Four explores self-education, emotional labour, defensiveness and a harder question: does your allyship extend to Black people you do not already know?
Gender Bias, Misogyny and Backlash: What Did the Six Stages Framework See?
In 2022, the Six Stages Framework was already exploring gender bias as a dynamic and fluid process involving silence, dismissal, blame, entrenchment and extreme advocacy. Four years later, Dr Shungu M’gadzah revisits that work to ask what stood up, what became more complex and what the SSF has learned.
What’s New at the SSF: Research, Evidence and New Ways to Explore the Framework
This week at the Six Stages Framework: a new invitation to researchers, an expanded Research, Publications & Academic Impact page, developments in Media & Expert Commentary, and new thinking on belonging across difference, evidence and the future development of the SSF.
Research with the Six Stages Framework
Explore opportunities to research the Six Stages Framework. This page invites doctoral researchers, academics, Educational Psychologists and EPs in training to apply, test, question and develop the SSF through independent research.
What Dolly Parton Taught Us About Belonging Across Difference
Why did Dolly Parton seem to connect with people across race, class, faith, sexuality and politics? This SSF Weekly Reflection explores childhood memory, music, poverty, Whitney Houston, allyship and what it means to create belonging without requiring sameness.
My Dear White Friend – Letter Three: When Bias Arrives Before You Do
What happens when a story about you reaches the workplace before you do? In Letter Three of My Dear White Friend, Dr Shungu M’gadzah reflects on how labels such as “difficult” and “intimidating” can travel through professional networks, how repetition can be mistaken for objectivity, and what White colleagues and leaders can do to interrupt racial bias rather than becoming the next domino.
Accountability and Certainty: When the Evidence Is Never Enough
How much certainty do we require before taking action — and is that threshold the same for every issue? This week’s SSF reflection explores the accountability spotlight, unequal roads to certainty and whether accountability should begin before certainty ends.
