Positive Language
Avoiding simply saying ‘No’. For example, one support worker said,
“We’ve been told not to say ‘No’….But if you kept on giving [coffee] to Jimmy, he’ll have one hundred coffees a day… So you say, ‘Yes, you can have coffee, but at 10 o’clock’. So, you’re not saying, ‘You can’t have it’, but he’s going to have it at morning tea….This way, it’s reassuring. He’s going to get it, but not right now”.
Also means that support workers affirm a person’s self-worth in their social interaction with the people they support.
Avoiding simply saying ‘No’. For example, one support worker said,
“We’ve been told not to say ‘No’….But if you kept on giving [coffee] to Jimmy, he’ll have one hundred coffees a day… So you say, ‘Yes, you can have coffee, but at 10 o’clock’. So, you’re not saying, ‘You can’t have it’, but he’s going to have it at morning tea….This way, it’s reassuring. He’s going to get it, but not right now”.
Also means that support workers affirm a person’s self-worth in their social interaction with the people they support.
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