Jargon

Following on from my last blog I wanted to continue the conversation about language but explore another aspect of it. It can be easy to speak in jargon and have to correct yourself to explain what you are talking about. I have noticed this more recently because I am a workplace supervisor for a student and I find myself talking about something then realise that the acronyms and terminology are such second nature that I do not realise that I am not explaining things correctly and end up starting again.

It reminded me of when I first started my placement and I did not know what most of these terms meant. I created a document of acronyms so that I could refer to it when I did not understand what had been documented in notes or told to me in an email. I had got to the point where I thought I knew most of the terms but then recently I have had emails containing terms that I still don't know. I think sometimes when people work in different fields such as medical based they can forget that not everyone knows what a term means.

The conversations that happen in the office are such second nature that we forget that when people are new to Social Work they don't know what we are talking about. We talk often about how important it is not to speak in jargon when we are visiting people but can forget about it when we are having conversations with other professionals. It makes it important to remind ourselves when in meetings that involve a mix of professionals and family or the people we support.

I find that when I am in meetings such as Decision Support Tool meetings for funding from the NHS I explain to families what is happening, what the potential outcomes are and why we need to discuss things in such detail because it can be a difficult conversation to have about someone's loved one or even themselves. We have to talk in depth about difficult topics regarding someone and how they manage. Even some of the terms that are used to describe the different topics aren't as simple as they could be so I find myself explaining those further too.

It can be easy to forget that the person we are supporting can ask for a copy of the records we keep and they should be written in a way that they would understand but this very rarely happens because we use language that we can understand that is not common knowledge. Even down to the simple things such as us calling what we do an assessment or a review. These are terms that are so natural for us to use, we forget that people who are not in Social Work circles would not necessarily understand what these mean. The word assessment can make the process sound like a test when actually it is just a conversation for us to gain information and knowledge about the person and their situation to see what support we could offer or to let them know what is available out there for them.

Even when you use the actual words it still isn't always clear as the terms we use only mean something to us as Social Workers. I had a discussion with a friend who is a child protection Social Worker and she was mentioning some of the terms that she uses and I didn't know what the acronyms stand for let alone what they actually mean. We are both Social Workers but some terms are so specific that if you aren't in that area you wouldn't know what they mean let alone the people we support, even more so in a Child Protection sense because some of the terms such as PLO which stands for Public Law Outline mean nothing to anyone outside of the process. It is a very complex and serious situation for families and they should be able to fully understand the process. The terms used are not fit for purpose if the people who need to know about them most have no understanding of what they are.

Just be mindful when you are speaking to colleagues, people in other disciplines and the people we support that we are explaining things in full detail to allow choices that are being made to be informed choices instead of assuming they know what something is.