Inclusivity through Accessibility: Why Pricing Structures in Wellness matter

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.How shifting from individual to community based approaches ensure minority groups are welcomed into the space.

Healing and wellness should be for everyone, but unfortunately and thanks to the joys of capitalism — they’re not.

Contemporary spirituality has evolved from being a community focused industry to one of ‘elitism’, creating barriers to accessibility for the portions of society that need wellness the most — minority communities. This is due to a range of factors, but highly influenced by the lack of representation that exists within the industry, as well as the financial models and ticketing structures which often make engaging in healing and wellness practices a privilege.

With inclusivity being one the core values of the SEED SPACE community, we did a lot of research in the lead up to our first 2023 offerings. How could we ensure we are not perpetuating a cycle of inaccessibility? How could we ensure minority groups for whom this space exists are actually welcomed into the community. How do we set the foundations of a sustainable business model while doing our best to consciously resist commodifying healing?

Short answer is — it’s still an area of exploration. Balancing financial viability while ensuring accessibility is a delicate line to walk as a very newly established conscious business.

Hopefully sharing openly and transparently on SEED SPACE’s process to reach an equilibrium between the two, inspires and sparks curiosity in other healers, practitioners, teachers within the space to reflect on their own approach in committing toward ensuring their spaces are inclusive.

Here are some tangible solutions we will be playing with in our first offerings below:

• Sliding scale options which include; reduced, regular, and generous price points to ensure people can attend our events and workshops regardless of their personal situation.

Where sliding scales are not possible — we will offer discounted reduced ticketing for those who have financial barriers but feel called to engage.

• Scholarship options for minority biwoc community members. We will fund these through the buffer financial pool created through our ‘generous’ ticketing options.

• Payment plan options on big ticket offerings with NO inflated price. If the risk of absorbing the cost of an incomplete payment plan is low, we will ensure our payment plan options for big ticket offerings does not have an inflated rate.

• Charity and donation based offerings where possible.

We don’t expect to get it perfect from the start but SEED SPACE, commits to deconstructing this inaccessibility barrier wherever possible and based on financial viability. We promise to practice what we preach by prioritising inclusivity in the financial touchpoints of our offerings and ensure an ongoing commitment toward exploring new ways to invite inclusivity.

Decommodifying wellness through making changes in how spiritual and wellness practitioners structure our businesses in the conscious space is a collective effort. Together, in re-establishing and inviting innovation to enhance inclusivity ensure the community is at the heart and soul.

If inclusivity through accessibility has been a topic you’ve explored in your conscious business model, or you have any other suggestions, thoughts or feedback — we’d love to hear from you!

Follow us for more practical ways to decolonise wellness