Using inclusive language

There’s a point in every conversation where the discussion starts to shift towards possible opportunities for change.

Maybe your patient mentions something they’d like to be different about their health. Maybe they drop a hint about a struggle making a change that’s happened in the past. Whatever it is, it’s a chance for you to begin guiding your patient towards some goals that can support their nutritional health.

A key part of that is being able to provide feedback without judgement and with empathy.

Inclusive language is how you’ll present your knowledge and desire to help, without sounding judgmental.

It gives you the voice of a professional who is not only interested in what your patient has to say, but also respects their opinion and sees them as the expert of their own lives and experiences.

When your patient is allowed to be the person who best understands of their own lives and experiences, you’re able to move from being their lecturer to their collaborator. Instead of telling them what they need to do, you can now support them in what they want to do.

To do this, try using this elicit-provide-elicit process when you hear your patient mention a subject that can open the doors to a change they’d like to make:

ELICIT: Experiment with paying our patient a complement
PROVIDE: Have them dig a little deeper into their with some open-ended questions
ELICIT: Asking their permission to collaborate on some new ideas

Play around with some phrases like:

You’re really good at…
I’m impressed you’ve already…
If you think it might be helpful we could…
What ideas do you have about…
What worries you most about…
Have you thought about what you’d like to do?

Always remember that there’s only 1 expert in the room – and it’s your patient.

Avoid Imperatives

Think about how many times you’ve heard a client who was struggling to get their blood sugar under control say “the doctor told me never to eat rice or potatoes again”. Or a client who’s been told that their BMI is too high and need to start eating less, exercise every day and lose weight.

Imperatives can come off as bossy, arrogant, and set up a dynamic that subconsciously tells your patient you know more then they do.

It sounds like this:

Why don’t you just…
You should …
What you need to do is…
What I do is…
If you don’t…

Instead of imperatives, practice using neutral statements of facts that are inherently judgement free.

I think it actually works a little differently. Can I tell you what I know?
That’s not exactly how it happens in the body. Our bodies are really good at…/It really works by…
Wow, I can see why that would scare you! But I think I remember XYZ being true.