is the registered holder of ONE COMMON SHARE par value of $1.00 in the Tau Wellness Cooperative, subject to the memorandum of association and bylaws of the company
This certificate was authorised by DATE EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
ChrŸs Tei
TAU, THE 19TH LETTER OF THE GREEK ALPHABET hasbeenusedforthousandsofyearsinmanyways. Here are some of them.
We share a common mother
She sits in the field of Lost daughters and stolen sisters
We have members across the West, and we acknowledge the multiple First Nations traditional territories where we live, work and play. Our organization is centered in the islands of the mid-Salish Sea. As such we specifically acknowledge our hosts of several nations, collectively the SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples, also referred to as the Malchosen, the Lekwungen, the Semiahmoo, and the T’Sou-ke.
We commit to a decade of decolonization to address the generations of harm caused as a first step toward reconciliation. We look to share a way forward based on mutual respect and marked by stories of our communities learning together in this time of Truth and Reconciliation.
The O_CHI logo is five rings that overlap surrounded by a circle of dots. The five rings represent five marginalized communities, Indigenous/Two-Spirit, trans/nonbinary, Sex Workers, People With Disabilities, and Newcomers.
The overlap represents the intersectionality of our communities.
The colours represent the uniqueness of each,
The white our common struggles
The O_CHI dash states that equity is never dependent on identity
The Silver center represents our common goal of improving wellness
This document is not licensed for distribution and is RESERVED, but available for your use per these terms:
We respectfully request that normal business standards of confidentiality are maintained and that:
• all information in this document is treated as confidential
• it is not shared for any other purpose without permission
• requests for information to any organization regarding this content is solely through Rainbow Health
If you have any questions regarding this document – do not hesitate to contact us.
Phone – (888) 241-9992
Fax – (888) 623-3481
Email – info@tauwellness.com
Our Co-op members, who work together to get better together, the work and effort of all O_CHI participants / community members who are generous in sharing their experiences, and the O_CHI Project Leads, Coordinators and Researchers who go above and beyond in our common effort to grow wellness in our communities. Thank You.
Learning wand Black
1
What is a workers coop?
Be bold, creative, and ambitious in the approach to systems change 4
Sustain Capacity
Our_Community Health Initiative
Our Co-op been in service to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community since 2013 when Rainbow Health Cooperative arose out of a community initiative, and we began training facilitators and hosting peer support groups.
Rainbow Health Co-op was retired from service at the end of 2023 and replaced with two cooperatives that together model a new kind of community services organization. Our intention is to directly address the loss of personnel across the entire caring and healthcare sector.
Tau Wellness Cooperative (TAU) is our community wellness workers cooperative. Tau is a cross-generational nonprofit workers co-op that welcomes all genders and generations.
AND
Our_Community Health Initiative Cooperative (O_CHI) is our (pending) charity for funding that requires charitable status.
We provide fair livelihood for today’s healers and training for tomorrow’s.
We create living wage livelihood across multiple communities for marginalized and equity deserving community members through development and delivery of trauma-mitigation community wellness services.
TAU Worker
Co-operative
Spring 2023
A co-operative is the provincial registration of an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. A Community Services Cooperative is a special kind of co-op that is equal to a nonprofit society for funding purposes. A charity is a federal registration of (typically) nonprofit societies and Community Services Cooperatives.
Co-op Values
Based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. And the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
THE SEVEN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES:
1. Voluntary and Open Membership: voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without …discrimination.
2. Democratic Member Control democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote)
3. Member Economic Participation: Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation.
4. Autonomy and Independence: autonomous, self-help organisations. If they enter into agreements with other organisations, ensure democratic control by their members, maintain autonomy.
5. Education, Training and Information: Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively & inform the public about benefits of co-operation.
6. Co-operation among Co-operatives: Co-ops serve members most effectively and strengthen the co-op movement by working together through local, national, and international structures.
7. Concern for Community: Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.
What is a Worker Co-operative?
Worker co-operatives are businesses that are owned and democratically controlled by the members. The main purpose of a worker co-operative is to provide employment for its members through operating an enterprise that follows the Cooperative Principles and Values. In TAU’s case, our “business” is largely to provide a needed service to your community for which you will receive training opportunities and compensation as an independent contractor. TAU has some features of a worker co-op and some of a Non-profit Community Service co-op.
The worker co-op is, in principle, designed to provide benefits not just to the founding members but also to all future employee/members. When new people join the co-op business, often after a probationary period, they are encouraged to apply for membership.
To create a worker co-op business, members combine their skills, interests and experiences to achieve mutual goals such as providing a product or service while being able to generate income for themselves and perhaps others and increasing democracy in the workplace. The variety of enterprises operating as worker co-ops is very broad. Virtually any enterprise can be organized as a worker co-operative. Each member purchases a membership share and has one vote no matter how many shares they own. Through the democratic governance principles embedded in the co-op model, all members have equal opportunity to affect the way the business is run and to offer input on the decisions affecting their everyday work lives. Because they develop the policies that determine the co-operative’s daily and longterm operations, trust, communication and co-operation are vital for the co-op’s success.
The co-op’s assets are collectively owned and income opportunities are allocated according to the bylaws and policies established by the co-op, often in proportion to hours worked by members.
Worker co-ops differ substantially from conventional businesses. Conventional businesses primarily aim to make profit for the shareholder-owners, who may be - but in many cases are not - employed by the business. In a conventional business, voting control and share of the profits is based on the amount of money invested (shares owned) and not for services (such as labour) they provide the business. This is a fundamental difference. In conventional businesses the ultimate authority may rest with a single individual or a small group, and the business decisions are based upon maximizing benefits (profits) for shareholder-owners. Any profit sharing with the workers, or with the broader community, is at the owners’ discretion. In summary, worker co-operatives are a radical break from conventional businesses. The worker co-op’s primary goal in operating an enterprise is for “service” to its member-employees and the community rather than service to the owners of capital. The goal is to provide the best possible employment conditions for the members and provide the customers/clients with a service or product at a fair price that meets their needs and contributes to sustainable communities.
Source: International Co-operative Alliance
The Tau Co-op Annual Share Program
Our annual share program is intended to create a range of benefits for our members and benefit to our community by providing community wellness services. This is the tradition of all co-ops.
There are five types of shares and while the dollar value of every share always remains $1.00, each type has a different number of ‘Co-op Hours’. Shares are purchased at the start of the year but vested at the end once co-op hours have been registered.
Many people know of the concept of a co-op grocery store where members do things like stock shelves or cashier as part of their membership package where they get access to food at cost.
When we work at co-op events such as the 3 Mothers Medicine Camps, or in preparing for them (more typically) we are either being paid or we are contributing co-op hours, either to fulfill our share purchase or build a reserve of co-op hours. So, typically, if you are being paid $300 for helping at the camp, you attend the check-in meeting held in the week before the event as a contributed hour.
co-op services and services the co-op can arrange through other providers.
Our mentor program is the other half of our youth program and mentors are expected to be working with youth during the wellness camps.
Elders Elders are members typically over 60, who take on roles in the wider community representing the co-op and our various programs.
Interns Interns power the wellness camps by managing and hosting them. Interns have priority ranking for any youth job creation funding that becomes available. Guides Guides function as the co-op executive and have
Shares Issued to Date
The co-op went through a few changes in the past decade and this share allocation is meant to reflect a fair assessment of everyone’s participation as of 2024.
Who Total Shares
ChrYs 10
Nate 7 Corey 6
5
4
3
3
2
2
2
Tanis 1
Maddy 1
Co-op Internal Values
The co-op has several “Internal Values” we have established.
The first is our Internal Unit Value which represents a comparative for one hour of work whether paid or contributed. We set this annually and the Internal Unit Value for 2025 remains at $40.00
The second is the Internal Share Value which is expressed as dollars but used as a ratio.
The third is the Member Skill Level which is the total of the number of co-op courses the member has completed or external certification that is equal. Our longer term goal is to have as many trained coop members as possible, that is, the majority of members are interns.
The three are multiplied to determine your ‘Coop Rank’ or seniority for co-op work opportunities or seating in training programs.
I offer my own formula as a guide to your own total.
Shares = 10
Share Type = Guide
Member Skill = 15 ( I have external certs in hypno and Reiki)
Coop Rank = 450 (10x3x15)
Why does any of this matter?
Our goal as a co-op is to improve the lives of marginalized people regardless of what community or identity they are part of. In dollars these people represents the bottom third of household incomes. (Median BC Family income is $100,000).
We create improvements by access to training, living wage work, AND the Pay It Forward Fund (PIFF) While the first two have been explained, the PIFF fund has yet to accumulate any money.
So exactly how this will work is something to decide in the future. However, the vision is that a co-op member at the Guide level would be able to ’cash out’ at five years at $20,000. It is sort of like the co-op pension plan, but unfunded at this time.
For any of these benefits, your Co-op Rank determines your benefit level.
If you have any questions about any of this ChrŸs would be happy to book time to review with you.
We are an association of independent contractors—each an owner
It is very important that you as a member understand that while you might be completing services to the co -op as a co-op member, you are not an employee of the co-op, you are an owner.
There are many laws and regulations that cover the many different ways people work and it can be confusing as to which apply to you as a co-op member. The short guide to this is that when you read something that includes information for both employers and employees, while as a co-op member we are neither completely, we are closer to the employer side than the employee side.
If you complete paid work for the co-op, you will be sent our Independent Contractor Annual Agreement. The co-op typically has these kinds of agreements with both members and non-members and the same contract is used for both. The difference is that non-members do not receive any benefits.
For many people, while they say yes to quite complex agreements everytime they use a new phone or a new app, agreements related to work are something new. Understanding this is true for many people, our goal is to keep the paperwork as simple as possible but cover all the essentials. And these are the two main points.
First, the agreements purpose is to make clear to everyone including yourself is that you are an independent contractor and as such responsible for everything like taxes and CPP contributions.
Second, as a co-op, we provide services and products that are made from people’s skills and at times, materials. The term for this is Work Product and the agreement clarifies that anything you produce with the coop on behalf of the co-op, remains the co-op’s property. This is also often a requirement in our funding agreements as we are in turn then obliged to make Work Product completed as a result of the funding needs to be licensed for wider use through Creative Commons licensing.
The Independent Contractor Annual Agreement covers all work completed in that year but does not specify what any of that work includes.
To define specific tasks we use Purchase Orders. These contain the information on what, when, where and how much. Purchase Orders can be issued at any time, but we do try to issue them before the start of each term in April and October.
We process our documents electronically, so at the start of each year, or if you have joined the co-op later, you will see the Members Resource Guide (with your annual share) and the Independent Contractors Agreement. These are followed up with Purchase Orders at different times of the year as you accept new assignments.
All paperwork must be in place for the co-op to process any payment due to you. Be sure to sign on receipt.
If you have any questions just send ChrŸs a note and book a time to review!
Foundations of Wellness
Executive Summary
Group Agreements are the starting point for our work together. This group agreement includes:
Our Community License
Our Program Standards
Our Unceasing Decolonization
Our Group Guidelines
Create lasting change for communities across british columbia.
Here is the current set
THE BASIS OF OUR WORK IS OUR COMMUNITY LICENSE
We acknowledge that as service providers we rely on an intangible Social License rooted in the perceptions and opinions held by our community about services and providers of services. A Social License is an inalienable attribute of any community. As service providers we are called to stewardship of this privilege.
This intangible social license is made tangible through our Community License.
AND MOST OF ALL PROACTIVE, UNCEASING DECOLONIZATION
UNDOCK THE CLOCK
Whatever the ultimate reality of time may be, what matters most is our perception of it. It is amongst our primary, learned sense making tools we use in all that we think about, do, and ultimately become. We ask “How long will this take?” Impatient when fast food takes 10 minutes to prepare. Are we there yet? Is a common metaphor of a child’s perception of time. What is ours?
UNHINGE THE MIND
CONTINUE the shift— from hierarchy to network
Modern psychology sits upon a widely accepted hierarchical model of the mind continuously reinforced through the usage of the prefixes to the terms we use for consciousness. We use ‘sub’ to create subconscious, ‘un’ to create unconscious. This is due to history rather than what is directly observable, a concurrent admixture of brainwaves influenced primarily at the cellular level.
UNCLUTCH THE TOO MUCH
CONTINUE the shift— from land ownership to responsibility for the land
UNROBE THE GLOBE
Tackle the root causes of complex issues by disrupting the ways that systems work
Identify Stakeholders
Directoriesthatwork
SPECTRUM QUARTERLY
The directory of community services for marginalized people has been published since 2015 to provide answers to “Ten things Everyone Should Know about Where They Live.” It helps people in the bottom third of household incomes cope when significant life changes such as losing a partner, job, or gender transition happen.
The directory, produced by our co-op, faced challenges during the pandemic but made a comeback in 2023, expanding its coverage to include every constituency in BC. It provides information on accessing food, finding housing in emergencies, reporting assaults, joining support groups, accessing Indigenous resources, obtaining nonemergency medical help, seeking assistance in recovery from drugs, trauma, or abuse, locating public computers in libraries, finding community events, and connecting with government representatives.
The directory is intended to be published four times a year in both digital and print formats, ensuring up-to-date and reliable information. It focuses on curated navigation rather than an exhaustive list, making it easier for users to find relevant information without being overwhelmed. The program primarily benefits people undergoing significant life changes and aims to expand to Western Canada, Yukon, and NWT.
Break down the silos between health and social services, education, employment, environment, arts and culture
3MothersMedicineCamps Engage People
The 3 Mothers Medicine Camps (3MMC) are the home of innovative community wellness programs developed through the O_CHI Communitybased participatory research project. Completed between 2018 2022 by Rainbow Health Coop, University of Victoria, and the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, the project is now funded by the Federal Government and the Victoria and Vancouver Foundations
3MMC provides trauma-mitigating services through four cross-linked programs tailored to different age groups: All Gender Gentle Birthing, Betwix'd Youth Troupe, All Gender Vocal Practice, a Living Eldership Arts & Crafts1. T
Camps occur once a month from May to September aiming to serve gender/ neuro diverse community members1.
The long-term sustainability of the camps relies on a combination of social enterprise revenue and grant funding, allowing core camp costs to remain low while supporting a living wage for facilitators.
Programs like hypnobirthing, trauma mitigation strategies, and palliative care therapies are offered to enhance community wellness.
3MMC focuses on trauma mitigation and age-specific programs to support the well-being of diverse community members.
Do something new or use existing resources in a new way
Collect & Share all Data
Six Jungian Thinking Hats
Our mission is the promotion of gender wellness through research and education. Gender wellness is the set of personal strategies and public policies that makes our genders a beneficial part of our lives, families and communities.
Our focus are people and their families who are: exploring, considering, living through, or wanting to share their lived experience of physical, social and personal transition related to gender.
Our strategy is to establish ongoing community resources to accomplish our mission, while maintaining equitable access by the Indigenous community.
Our vision is a day when the T2NB community members are seen as a respected, vital, and important members of society. The dawn of that day is to see ourselves as vital, important and worthy of respect.
As an evidence-based community services developer, we use quantitative and qualitative data to design our programs. From 2018-2023, with our partners the University of Victoria and the Victoria Native Friendship Centre, we completed the O_CHI research project investigating systemic change for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. A milestone of the project was anchoring BC’s participation in the 2019 TransPulse Canada survey.
We transform our theories of systemic change into community improvements through reciprocal, reiterative, pilot programs that strive to be present more than perfect.
These pilot programs create living wage livelihood for equity deserving community members through development and delivery of:
Trauma-mitigation community wellness services
Community knowledge exchanges and information resources
Training in trauma-mitigation for community wellness workers
OUR WORK IS SYSTEMS CHANGE INITIATION
What is not Systems Change Investigation?
Asking people how they feel about things that are easily discernable
Information without an usable action plan
A process replicating 70% of other processes
WE PRACTICE RESEARCH AS SERVICE, NOT AS AN INTERVENTION
THROUGH COMMUNITY - BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH
SYSTEMIC CHANGE
• Requires a paradigm shift
• Requires a pressing need
• Requires synchronicity to occur
• Requires critical thinking skills
• Requires adaptive learning processes
• Requires decades to accomplish
• Requires reallocation of resources
• Requires revision of existing roles
• Requires trust and commitment
• Requires a self-sustaining framework
PERSPECTIVE
SYSTEMIC CHANGE FOR THE TRANS, TWO-SPIRIT, NONBINARY COMMUNITY IS WHEN CIS PEOPLE SEE ME AS SOME KIND OF AUTISTIC PERSON RATHER THAN SOME KIND OF LESBIAN.
THE QUESTION REMAINS IS THIS A SHIFT WE WANT?
CHRŸS TEI, WINTER 2021
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”
SHIFT OF
Break down the silos between health and social services, education, employment, environment, arts and culture
CommunityWellnessWorkerTraining
The co-op offers a comprehensive threeyear Community Wellness Worker The program equips participants with evidencebased, cutting-edge skills that combine various palliative techniques and skills into a common toolkit to comfort and manage those we care for.
The first year focuses on the fundamentals of therapeutic touch, hypnosis, and counseling, providing a solid foundation for students.
The second year delves deeper into specialized areas such as rapport in Reiki, psychological Reiki, trauma mitigation counseling, and self and group hypnosis.
The third year emphasizes advanced techniques like trance in Reiki, optimizing Reiki, personal growth counseling, and professionalism in counseling.
The program also includes practical components such as initiation, study, practice, attunement, and community service.
The Co-op is a certified hypnotherapy school by the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapist Association and certification as a hypnotherapist is available to successful students of the program.
Monthly training and practice sessions are held at the Tau Wellness Centre in Sooke integrated with an online, self-paced, personalized, hybrid learning program that caters to multiple learning styles.
YEAR ONE
FundamentalsofTherapeuticTouch
Distance Reiki (Sora 空 )
YEAR TWO
Rapport in Reiki (Tsuchi 地)
Psychological Reiki (Mizu 水)
YEAR THREE
Trance in Reiki (Kaze 風)
Optimizing Reiki (Kasai 火)
YEAR ONE
Fundamentals of Counseling
Therapy Processes in Counseling
YEAR TWO
Communications in Counseling
Trauma Mitigation Counseling
YEAR THREE
Personal Growth Counseling
Professionalism in Counseling
YEAR ONE
Fundamentals of Hypnosis
Hypnotherapy
YEAR TWO
Group and Birthing Hypnosis
Trauma, Phobias, Fears Hypnosis
YEAR THREE
Wisdom and Ancestors Hypnosis
Surgical, Dental, Birthing Hypnosis
There are five parts to Community Wellness Worker Training
Initiation Study Practice
Attunement Community Service
And five levels in Community Wellness Worker Training
Yellow Intern Crimson Practitioner
Blue Healer
Green Counsellor
Black Teacher
Do something new or use existing resources in a new way
Create Meaning
Vernacular Pattern Languages
The Illustrated Book of Illuminating Runes
The history of runes dates back to the very roots of all symbol languages of the Bronze Age. It is hard to imagine now the impact of our collective ability to capture the concept of something like the Sun into a symbol. Fast forward a few thousand years to the early Germanic tribes, where these ancient writing symbols were used for various purposes including communication, divination, and crafting inscriptions on monuments. Sometime in the First or 2nd century CE, these Bronze Age symbols were collected into the runic alphabets, most notably the Elder Futhark.
Each rune symbolizes not only a letter but also the 24 primal energies that all existence springs from.
Over time, the use of runes began to diminish, replaced by other alphabets. However, their mystical and cultural significance persisted, keeping them alive in folklore and legend. Inscriptions on stones, like the famous Jelling stones in Denmark, remain as testaments to the runic tradition and its influence.
In modern times, runes have experienced a revival, particularly in the realms of esoteric studies. They are often used in divination practices, similar to tarot cards, where individuals seek guidance by interpreting the runes' meanings.
One of our theories of deep trance work is that Runes provide gateways into the deepest layers of self by accessing the Collective Unconscious (Carl Jung) we all inherit along with the colour of our eyes.
Our People,
Some known in this time as trans or Two-Spirit in this time, Have lived amongst all peoples, in all places, in all times.
We are a people without a land, yet we come from all lands
We are a people without a family, yet we are part of all families
We come before time to be in time
We are guests everywhere, forever
And thank our many hosts
As a Nation amongst Nations, our ceremonies are shared with all who honour them
Our work is the treaty lore of every nation
And in that circle of Nations, It is our Nation that closes the circle
True Sovereignty will flow To all the Nations
When we sit again
As we have always Since the first circle
We are Pathfinders, peacekeepers, and healers
We sit where others don’t so all might have a seat
We walk where others can’t so there are new paths for all
As travelers between the worlds we have care for the living and the dead
Our work amongst the living
Our care for the dead is to keep their voices alive amongst us
We are one people, amongst many Nations
Our commonality is our diversity, and The ancestors we share May their voices lead us in our work and
Our touch always heal
Design Improvements
Projects of Innovation
Sustainable-systemic change is measured in decades, prioritizing long-term change to the intersectoral forces fueling our cross-community need for daily triage. Growth, the underlying force of sustainable systemic change, is limited to the resource in least supply.
Just as sunshine doesn’t help a thirsty plant, our organization, as an evidence-based community services developer, nurtures growth by addressing the most critical needs first. From 2018-2023, with UVIC and VNFC, funded by VF, we completed the O_CHI project, investigating systemic change for the 2SLGBTQ+ community. This work convinced us that trauma mitigation is among the most effective initiators of sustainable-systemic change as trauma is a primary force of marginalization.
Our “Skipping Stone Strategy” nurtures as many trauma mitigation resources as possible. We transform theories of systemic change into community improvements through reciprocal, reiterative pilot programs that strive to be present more than perfect.
Our current projects include:
1. Community Wellness: 3 Mothers Medicine Camps
2. Community Information: Spectrum Quarterly Our BC wide community services Directory
3. Community Training: Community Wellness Worker Program
We believe our programs will result in statistically evident improvements in social outcomes within a decade.
Be socially innovative such as by grounding a project in cultural knowledge and practices 5
Tackle the root causes of complex issues by disrupting the ways that systems work 1
RingsofReflection
Improve Services
Relationships of Mutual Respect
The Tau Treaty Process" outlines a comprehensive framework for systemic change within the transgender community. It begins by discussing the importance of anchoring the Knowledge Translation and Exchange process in precolonial structures, such as the gild system, which emphasizes the relationship between a master and an apprentice. The document introduces a taxonomy that includes Pattern Languages, Gwersi (essays), and References, inspired by Edward Tufte's concept of "Escaping Flatland"1.
The Tau Treaty Making Process is presented as a toolkit to address intersectionality, defined broadly to include the negative impact of identity markers on all marginalized populations. The process is rooted in the Truth for Reconciliation Committee’s Ten Principles, particularly Principle Six, which emphasizes the shared responsibility of all Canadians in establishing respectful relationships. The document distinguishes between nations and nation-states, highlighting the importance of treaties as agreements between sovereign peoples.
The Tau Treaty Making Process involves several key components: understanding the context and vernacular of agreements, recognizing the unique aspects of each treaty, and shifting from land ownership to land responsibility.
It also emphasizes the importance of ceremony, particularly the ritual of "Casting a Circle," to mark significant moments and create persistent behavioral change. The process is designed to be inclusive, encouraging participation from all individuals.
