Words Mean Things: A California County Trains Child Welfare Workers to Use More Strength-Based Language

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Have you ever referred to someone you are working with as a "client," "patient," or as a "case number"? Have you ever thought of the people you work with in terms of their diagnosis, medical needs, or crimes? Although this may be easier for us to say or a quick way to refer to the people we work with, have you ever thought about how this impacts how you work with or view people? In looking at the impact of our words on ourselves, our practice in child welfare, and the families we serve, we created a training program called Words Mean Things.

The conception of Words Mean Things began two years ago after we read Drs. Lori Ashcraft and William A. Anthony's "Tools for transforming language" article in the April 2006 issue of Behavioral Healthcare (behavioral.net/ashcraft0406). Drs. Ashcraft and Anthony point out the impact that our language has on the people we work with and support, as well as on our service outcomes. They suggest that how we write about the families we work with impacts how we think about them, which ultimately directly affects our ability to fully support them and see them as people just like us.

Our child welfare, and we were given …