Celebrating International Day of Families

Throughout the year, we join together across Ardonagh to mark awareness dates that connect to aspects of equity, diversity and inclusion (ED&I).

Today, we're marking International Day of Families to celebrate and explore the many meanings of ‘family’. This is another first for the Group, following on from Neurodiversity Week in March, so we're delighted to be delving into another opportunity to explore diversity of experiences.

What family means to our people

There is no single lived definition of 'family'. Each of us have our own unique and personal understanding of it. To reflect this, we asked our Ardonagh people what the word family means to them.

We had a huge number of responses from around the Group and we've turned these contributions into a wonderful illustration, which demonstrates just how varied our collective interpretation of this simple word is. 

Thank you to all our colleagues who contributed to this exploration. As a thank you, our Group charity, ACT (Ardonagh Community Trust), made a donation to a charity of choice of one of our colleagues chosen at random with their reflection on 'family'.

"A beautifully blended, intertwined and non-traditional - I wouldn't change a thing."

Sharing stories and experiences from colleagues

Today, we have also been privileged to share stories from colleagues across the Group who have shared their own personal accounts to provide an insight into their understanding and experiences of family from a range of perspectives. 

Stories reflected on navigating loss and grief, fertility journeys, the changing attitudes to LGBTQ+ families, and the impact of illness.

To pay thanks, ACT made a donation of £500 to a charity special to each of the seven colleagues who shared their accounts. 

ED&I at Ardonagh

ED&I is an ongoing journey at Ardonagh. In collaboration with our platforms around, we seek to champion the diversity of our community of people and businesses around the world. 

Reflective of our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, we mark key awareness dates throughout the year, alongside resources and materials available on our dedicated internal hub and upcoming podcast series 'Ardonagh Allies'.