Strategies for helping clients feel understood and accepted
- · Use inclusive language in written and verbal discussions.
- · Ask each client for their preferred pronouns, even if we feel sure of their gender.
- · Take time to learn the proper pronunciation of each person’s name. If we’re unsure of how to pronounce a name, ask a client to pronounce it for us instead of guessing.
- · Learn cultural customs about eye contact, physical contact and hand gestures as they pertain to any community or group with whom we are working closely.
- · Spend some time getting to know the service user.
- · Be continually aware of the values we have signed up to as an Access Worker.
- · Be self-aware – remember our personal cultural values and beliefs.
- · Remember the service user is the expert of their experience, adopt a position of ‘not knowing’ and be ready to learn.
- · Reflect on the power of language. Language empowers and can also leave a person wounded.
- · Do not make assumptions about service users because we perceive that they come from a similar background to another service user or someone we know.
- · Resist tokenism or simple ‘box ticking’ as a means of evidencing our cultural competence.
- · Be flexible, not rigid, particularly when using existing frameworks and tools.