Background

Breaking down barriers is a diversity training resource providing guest speakers who share personal, impactive and irrefutable accounts of life as experienced by someone in a minority or who is seen by the majority as different.

Using guest speakers adds another dimension to Diversity training. It allows those voiceless yet important individuals a forum to share how prejudice, discrimination and barriers have affected their life journey. Nevertheless the speakers demonstrate that despite the barriers and endemic prejudice that society can breed, it is possible to overcome theses barriers and succeed.

Their stories are personal, powerful and uniquely individual and that’s what makes our guest speakers reflective of the rich diversity of our society. This is a wonderful opportunity to walk in the shoes and engage with someone whose path you may never have crossed.

Their willingness to share helps others to grow. Breaking down Barriers compliments builds and empowers existing training within organisations adding depth and value.

Barbara Rowe (Founder and Director of Breaking Down Barriers)

Barbara has been facilitating Diversity Training courses for Five years.

In 1999 she relocated from London to Sussex to escape the rat race and have what she thought would be a quieter life. Barbara has lived in many rural areas, but she has not always been given the welcome she had hoped for and in some cases she has encountered racism, discrimination and challenging behavior from certain sectors of the community based on their perception of her. It is that perception that she wanted to change.

In order to facilitate her personal development and achieve her goal of challenging and changing discriminatory attitudes and behaviors she realised she would have to step out of her comfort zone and confront her fear of public speaking.

In 2007 Barbara set up her company, ‘Breaking Down Barriers’ initially offering speaking intervention on her own. Since then the company has developed and she now works with a number of different speakers from diverse sections of the community.

Barbara and her colleagues are committed to providing a high standard of speaker intervention to inspire others to give an honest assessment of their own biases and stereotypes.

Her desire is that breaking down barriers becomes a force for change in the promotion of Equality, Diversity and Community cohesion.