Racial justice is not a political issue. 

It is a human rights issue.

And as a company that cares deeply about humans, it’s clear to us that the work of anti-racism extends far beyond the events of the last weeks.

So we want to hold ourselves accountable to this work by sharing our next steps with you.

Here’s what we’re doing this month:

• Reading Me And White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad. Local bookstore link here, and Amazon link here (Amazon is obviously a problematic company, but I’m sharing this because a few Black authors have said that purchasing through Amazon does have benefits for Black authors).
• Participated in Chrissy King’s workshop, “Anti-Racism For Wellness Professionals: How To Show Up Better“. (Which we HIGHLY recommend, even if you’re not in the wellness industry. She’s doing additional trainings next week too.)
• Participated in Rachel Rodgers’ “Reimagining Small Businesses” townhall as a team. 
• Supporting and promoting Black-owned small businesses on our Instagram account. 
• Amplifying the voices of Black sex and relationship therapists and educators, also on Insta. 

And here is our long-term plan:

• Invest in ongoing anti-racism training (because this isn’t a one-and-done kind of thing).
• Make diversity, equity and inclusion more prominent in our company values, and share those values more openly with our audience. (We’re working on adding them to our website right now, and will send you the link as soon as they’re live!)
• Create more scholarships for our courses, and encourage more BIPOC to apply for those scholarships. (Interested in a scholarship? Reach out to us at info@vmtherapy.com!)
• Re-evaluate our offerings, and brainstorm ways we can make our business more accessible to people of all races, socioeconomic statuses, sexual orientations, gender identities, levels of ability, and more.
• We already donate a certain percentage of our company profits to charity, but we’ve decided to switch our disbursement from yearly to monthly, so we keep these issues more front-of-mind. 
• Re-evaluate our hiring practices so we continue hiring from diverse backgrounds. 
• Continue to share updates about our progress with you, so we can hold ourselves accountable to the work of anti-racism as we continue our mission to give you the tools you need to have an extraordinary relationship and sex life.

On a personal level, this week, Xander and I extended a challenge to my family to donate money to organizations supporting racial justice, and offered to match every single dollar donated. 

Just last night during our weekly “family dinner” (over Zoom), we announced the total amount we raised. It felt really powerful to participate in this movement together, as a family.

That got us thinking about how we could engage with YOU – our online family – even more. 

So we came up with an idea…

Are you wanting to start, continue, or deepen your own anti-racism work, but struggling to afford the resources you need? 

We strongly believe that it’s important to pay Black educators, authors, and activists for their work, especially right now. 

And it’s important to recognize that being able to learn about racism instead of experience it is a privilege. 

At the same time, we also know that finances have been especially challenging for many people these last few months due to the COVID pandemic. 

So we decided to create a $500 anti-racism scholarship fund for our community! 

Here’s how it will work: 

• If you want to buy an anti-racism book, take a workshop, or donate to an activist who has been educating you via their Instagram posts, just reach out to us at info@vmtherapy.com and tell us what you’d like to purchase. 
• We’ll confirm your scholarship request directly with you.
• If you get a scholarship, we’ll ask you to make the purchase yourself and send us proof of purchase. 
• We’ll reimburse you via PayPal.

We’re excited to share this scholarship fund with you, and look forward to seeing how we as a community can rise up during this unbelievably important time in history. 

Have any other ideas about ways we can support you? Don’t hesitate to reach out!