Words that make me go hmmm: Respite The dictionary definition of ‘respite’ is “a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant”. [1] If I was into banning words, that first sentence would be the blog post. Eno…

The dictionary definition of ‘respite’ is “a short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant”.

New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Respite

#RewritingSocialCare

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2026/02/07/r...

Words that make me go hmmm: Carer Last Monday me and Tricia Nicoll chatted for an hour with a group of people who had signed up to our online ‘Gloriously Ordinary Language: Keeping our language human, inclusive and real’ session ab…

*New blog post* Words that make me go hmmm: Carer

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2026/01/24/c...

#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare
#UsNotThemAndUs

Words that make me go hmmm: Person-centred “A person-centred approach puts people at the heart of care.” “The person-centred approach treats each person as an individual human being” “A person-centred approach considers the w…

New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Person-centred

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2026/01/17/p...

#RewritingSocialCare
#LanguageMatters
#UsNotThemAndUs

Today’s the day! Join our #BookClub with Bryony Shannon on #RewritingSocialCare

Today, 4pm (online)
Register: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
All welcome, no need to have read the book.
More info: rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/26/b...

#RewritingSocialCare #HumanityAtTheHeart

Join our Humanity at the Heart #BookClub with Bryony Shannon on #RewritingSocialCare

A powerful book on how language shapes culture & why care should start with people, not systems.

Tues 21 Oct 2025, 4pm (online)
Register: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Book: uk.jkp.com/products/rew...

Book launch Rewriting Social Care London 23 October 6:30pm Tickets £12 - includes a glass of fizz and 15% off the book if you buy it at the launch

Bryony and Beverley wearing long colourful dresses. Bryony is holding a glass of wine and Beverley is holding a copy of Bryony’s book.

Come and join me and Beverley Ward chatting about #RewritingSocialCare in London on Thursday 23 October #BookLaunch www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...

What does it mean to rewrite social care?

Join our #BookClub with Bryony Shannon on #RewritingSocialCare - a book challenging jargon & bureaucracy, calling for humanity & trust.

Tues 21 Oct 2025, 4pm (online)
Register: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Buy: uk.jkp.com/products/rew...

Book launch Rewriting Social Care Sheffield 2 October 6:30pm - last few tickets remaining. Sales end soon.

Book launch!
#RewritingSocialCare
Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...

Our last #BookClub was a hit!

Next up: Rewriting Social Care with Bryony Shannon - a book calling for less jargon, more humanity.

Tues 21 Oct 2025, 4pm (online)
Register: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Buy: uk.jkp.com/products/rew...

#RewritingSocialCare #HumanityAtTheHeart

‘The elderly’ and ‘the wellderly’: why the language of ageing makes us go hmmm… Today is United Nations International Day of Older Persons, observed under the theme “Older Persons Driving Local and Global Action: Our Aspirations, Our Well-Being and Our Rights”. It’s a day…

It’s UN International Day of Older Persons so I’ve teamed up with Gerry Nosowska to share some thoughts about the language of ageing.

*New*: ‘The elderly’ and ‘the wellderly’: why the language of ageing makes us go hmmm…

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/10/01/t...

#RewritingSocialCare

Letter to Bryony S Yesterday I received a direct message on Instagram from Maria. She said she hoped I didn’t mind her writing to me out of the blue, but that she was reading my book, and she wondered if she co…

*New blog post:* Letter to Bryony S

#RewritingSocialCare
#LanguageMatters
#UsNotThemAndUs

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/09/21/l...

An image of Rewriting Social Care by Bryony Shannon. It’s a very pink book, on a background with images of daisies

Publication day!! 🌸

Info about the book and book launches at rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/26/b...

#RewritingSocialCare
#LanguageMatters
#UsNotThemAndUs

Words that make me go hmmm: Professional ‘Professional’ is yet another of the ‘us and them’ words that dominate our narrative. It’s a blanket term used to distinguish the people who work in organisations (regardless of any professional qu…

New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Professional
#RewritingSocialCare

rewritingsocialcare.blog/professional/

Book launch for Rewriting Social Care: Challenging and Changing Language and Practice for a Better, Brighter Future Sheffield 2 October Sheffield Plate 6.30pm London 23 October Mary Ward House 6.30pm Tickets on sale now. In association with The Writers Workshop - Sheffield

Tickets are now available for the Sheffield and London launches of my book, Rewriting Social Care: Challenging and Changing Language and Practice for a Better, Brighter Future 🌸

Find out more and book tickets here:
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/26/b...
Hope to see you there!
#RewritingSocialCare

In image of a pink book by Bryony Shannon. Behind the book there’s a green background covered in daisies. The title of the book is Rewriting Social Care - Challenging and Changing Language and Practice for a Better, Brighter Future. There’s a quote from Elly Chapple, Founder, #FlipTheNarrative on the cover saying “What everyone in the social care space needs right now.”

One month until publication! 🌸

#RewritingSocialCare #LanguageMatters #UsNotThemAndUs
#PreOrder

People with lived experience In my previous ‘What do we call them?’ post, I wrote about ‘people we support’ and ‘people who draw on care and support’ – two phrases that are increasingly replacing references to ‘service u…

We are all ‘people with lived experience’. But this phrase is fast becoming yet another a label to mean ‘them’.

*New blog post* - People with lived experience

#UsNotThemAndUs
#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/08/02/p...

Save the date. Rewriting Social Care. Book launch. Sheffield 2 October 2025 6:30pm London 23 October 6:30pm. In association with the Writers Workshop - Sheffield

Save the date(s)!
#BookLauch
#RewritingSocialCare

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/26/b...

What do we call them? As part of the Gloriously Ordinary Language programme I run with Tricia Nicoll, we spend a full day focusing on the language we use to communicate with and about people. We begin these se…

Service users. Customers. Clients. Cases. People we Support (PwS). People who draw on social care.

Why is it so hard for us just to talk about people? We? Us?

*New blog post* - What do we call them?
#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare
#UsNotThemAndUs
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/06/t...

Words that make me go hmmm: Signposting “Signposting: “the act of telling someone which organization they need to go to to find the help they need.” Cambridge Dictionary [1] “‘Signposting’ indicates that the client will not be supported …

‘Signposting’ is about process and efficiency, not people and efficacy. If we really want to ‘transform’ social care, we need to focus connection, not redirection.
*New blog post* Words that make me go hmmm: signposting
#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/06/07/s...

Words that make me go hmmm: Demand While many words make me go hmmm, there are some that make me squirm the most, either due to what they reflect about the way we think about people (like ‘case’ and ‘non-compliant’) or about the way…

Instead of all the conversations about ‘demand’, it’s time to demand a different conversation.

New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Demand

#RewritingSocialCare
#UsNotThemAndUs
#LanguageMatters
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/05/17/d...

Words that make me go hmmm: Pathway “Pathways: Not sure. But modelled on Hampton Court Maze.”  Mark Neary [1] In everyday life, pathways meander through parks or fields or forests, offering direction. A route towards a destinati…

Pathways belong in a world which says ‘this is what we do to people like you’. Where the labels we apply determine the course of our ‘interventions’, and the decisions we make are about you without you…

Words that make me go hmmm: pathway
#RewritingSocialCare
rewritingsocialcare.blog/pathway

Dreams “Living an unfilled life carries a greater risk of harm than what may befall someone in pursuit of their dreams. The latter can be folded into a story; the former is the absence of story. The latte…

While we may talk too much about beds in relation to social care, I don’t think we talk anything like enough about dreams.

New blog: Dreams
#RewritingSocialCare

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/04/05/d...

Beds While the word ‘bed’ might not have the same depth of meaning as ‘home’, if you think about your own bed, it may well evoke similar associations and emotions. Familiarity. Safety. Privacy. Comfort.…

New blog: Beds

rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/02/15/b...

#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare

Love “It’s a brave professional who talks about love and social care in the same sentence…”Alex Fox [1] We don’t talk much about love in social care. We focus instead on the shadows. Safeguarding. Abuse…

From the #RewritingSocialCare archive🩷

Love rewritingsocialcare.blog/love

Joining the dots… letting love (back) in to social care rewritingsocialcare.blog/joining-the-...

And equally for healthcare 💟 rewritingsocialcare.blog/equally-for-...

Love shows up rewritingsocialcare.blog/love-shows-up

We’ve already got a couple of councils pencilled in for round two of the programme, starting in May 2025.

Watch this space for more info, and let us know if you’re interested in #RewritingSocialCare in your council.

Doing and being I feel fortunate and grateful to have had plenty of time for ‘just’ being over the last couple of weeks. Getting up when I’m ready rather than when the alarm wakes me. Enjoying time with family and…

‘Doing personal care.’
‘Doing an assessment.’
‘Doing co-production.’

A new blog post for a new year, reflecting on ‘doing’ and ‘being’ – and getting the balance right.

#RewritingSocialCare
#LanguageMatters

rewritingsocialcare.blog/doing-and-be...

Changing the Story - Social Care Future

#SocialCareFuture
#GloriouslyOrdinaryLives #RewritingSocialCare
#UsNotThemAndUs socialcarefuture.org.uk/changing-the...

Words that make me go hmmm: Special Often our language implies some people are different from the rest of ‘us’. Words like ‘disorder’, ‘deficit’ and ‘divergence’ suggest deviance from what, and who, is ordinary. One such term is ‘spe…

Often our language implies some people are different from the rest of ‘us’. One such term is ‘special’.

*New blog post*: Words that make me go hmmm: special

#RewritingSocialCare
#LanguageMatters
#UsNotThemAndUs
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2024/11/02/s...

Why language matters even more “Language is the most powerful tool we have. Let’s use it well.” Surviving Safeguarding [1] When I published my first blog back in the summer of 2019, I knew language was important, but so many thi…

When I published my first blog in 2019 I knew language was important, but so many things I’ve written, spoken about, read & heard since then have convinced me that language matters even more than I thought 5 years ago…
#LanguageMatters
#RewritingSocialCare
rewritingsocialcare.blog/2024/10/12/w...

The civic building in Doncaster behind a large tree, with very blue sky in the background.

A large bunch of pink flowers

Last day in Donny today… end of an era. I’ve worked in info, comms and practice development in adult social care in local councils since 2006… looking forward to the next chapter and continuing to challenge and change adult social care language and practice. #RewritingSocialCare