Using language that puts people first
Sometimes the most important things are the hardest to talk about. That’s one of the impetuses behind AHA’s “People Matter, Words Matter” series of posters, an AHA initiative launched in 2021 to reduce stigma and emphasize the need for “person first” language in health care settings and beyond. Now, three years later, the series has covered such topics as suicide, youth mental health, and substance use disorder with free, downloadable files that can be shared electronically or printed out, each of them available to anyone.
One system, CHI Health, has begun incorporating the posters into their facilities and to their workforce, with plans to showcase more in various ways, said Robin Conyers, CHI Health’s vice president of behavioral health services. Conyers told AHA how CHI Health encourages team leaders to bring up pertinent person first language during meetings and direct their reports to the posters; they also include them in their employee newsletter and on their intranet.
Some exposures to the posters, though, happen more organically.
“Just [having] posters in the break room could open a door for conversation [about mental health],” Conyers said, noting the value of posting in areas of health care that don’t explicitly deal with behavioral health. “Sometimes people think ‘if I say something to someone the wrong way, I’m going to push them further into their depression, or into feeling suicidal,’” she said, when that isn’t the case. Having the posters around encourages health care workers to reach out to their patients, no matter what physical department they may be in, and begin a conversation about mental health.
The reach of the posters can also go beyond the workforce.
“When people are waiting for their practitioner to come in the room, they sit around and read everything that’s on the bulletin board,” Conyers said. “And then it’s ‘oh, here’s this poster I haven’t seen before – I’m intrigued.’ Maybe you hadn’t thought you’d learn something new while you’re waiting, but there it is.”
Conyers also plans on matching posters with various awareness days and months, with How Do You Perceive Mental Health Conditions? kicking off Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Are You Using Destigmatizing Language about Suicide? used each September for Suicide Awareness Month, and Caring and Compassionate Language Around Eating Disorders in November, when the stress around holiday food surges for many.
By rolling out the posters in a variety of ways, Conyers hopes to open the conversation around difficult topics for providers and patients alike.