About
Who We Are
Video Description: Promo voiced by Dr. Courtney. Courtney turns off light switches in a studio. EquiWell Partners logo enters as the background blurs. A Black woman shakes a person's hand in a meeting. Courtney closes her laptop and smiles. A woman walks through a crowded work team space. Someone working from home pets their dog. Scene fades to white with the EquiWell Partners logo.
We have inherited a way of working that is designed to exhaust us and limit our ability to dream, slow down, and rest.
We need strategies to reimagine work so we may sustain ourselves and liberate everyone from broken, unhealthy, and destructive forms of working.
We are reimagining work through equity, which we define as an intentional practice to dismantle barriers that inhibit holistic thriving, and wellness which we consider as a system that allows everyone to experience optimal health as their whole, unapologetic, and authentic selves.
Meet Dr. Courtney
Dr. Courtney L. McCluney (she/her) is the Founder and CEO of EquiWell Partners. After more than a decade in academia where she taught and studied (and experienced) how work-related stress impacts our health, Dr. Courtney channels her expertise into reimagining work from a place of rest.
Dr. Courtney has completed courses in embodied writing, equitable design, somatic healing in social justice, and critical appreciative inquiry. Together with her doctoral training in organizational psychology and behavioral science, Dr. Courtney offers relatable and rigorous insight into the science of human sustainability practices and how to embed it into our everyday lives.
A lifelong learner and bibliophile, you may find Dr. Courtney reading a combination of books at any given time. Her favorites historical fiction, romance novels, and Afro- and techno-futuristic novels.
Our Values
Work from rest.
We refuse to believe that rest is earned or only possible after putting in long hours of paid work. Rest is part of the process and our divine right as living beings.
Our philosophy is grounded in Tricia Hersey’s radical teachings around rest as resistance from White supremacy, capitalism, and grind culture. We practice working from a place of rest by shortening our work weeks, taking sabbaticals, and embracing slow work.
Work when we can.
We operate under a ‘work when you can’ model. Specifically, we participate in work activities when they are well rested and mentally healthy. To bring our best selves to any situation, we have to allow adequate time for rest and recovery.
The consequences of working when we can include more productive and focused work times, endurance to complete larger tasks, and freedom to reimagine other ways of working.
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Work with change.
We acknowledge that who we are and what we do will change over time. We strive to work with change by embracing Emergent Strategy principles developed by adrienne maree brown and inspired by writings from Octavia Butler.
This process includes building adaptability and flexibility, listening to our bodies to know when to pivot, and letting go of things that are no longer working for us.