Sliding Scale Options
Sliding scale frameworks allow for a product or service to be accessed at multiple price points - including trade - based on the circumstances of the person accessing the service. This tool represents the idea that financial resources, including income, are not and should not be the only determining factor in whether or not someone can access services/care/etc.
The Green Bottle is an economic justice tool and helpful graphic created by Alexis J. Cunningfolk to guide decision making surrounding sliding scale options, and which one suits you best. For termination, pregnancy loss/release and stillbirth support offerings, use the graphic and the points below to gage where you might sit on the scale. These points below have been adapted from Alexis’s work.
The highest dollar cost reflects the true cost of the service. If you can comfortably meet all of your basic* needs (as we can see in the full green bottle), if you are able to pay for your ‘wants’ and spend little time worried about securing necessities in your life - this may suggest that you have economic priviledge and that the full price is for you.
The middle range cost is for those who may fall somewhere on the spectrum between the bottom cost and full fee. If you are struggling to overcome debt, build savings or move away from paycheck to paycheck living but have access to steady income and are not spending most of your time thinking about meeting basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care, child care, etc., you belong here.
The bottom cost represents an honest acknowledgment by the practitioner that there are folks whose economic circumstances would prevent them from accessing this service if there was not be a deliberate opportunity made for them to access at a cost that is reflective of their economic realities. The green bottle on the left provides some indicators on whether this might be where you fall on the scale.
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When applying this framework to my offerings please consider what is suitable for you and also honours the energy and work that I bring to this space. The top end of the scale ensures that I am being paid for the work that I do, while also sustaining those who may only be able to access the services at the lower end of the scale. In this way, those with more economic priviledge are directly supporting other folk within their community to have access essential care.