Bryony Shannon
@bryonyshannon.bsky.social
Challenging and changing adult social care language and practice #RewritingSocialCare #LanguageMatters #UsNotThemAndUs https://rewritingsocialcare.blog/
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: 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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
*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: 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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Person-centred rewritingsocialcare.blog/2026/01/17/p... #RewritingSocialCare #LanguageMatters #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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
Come and join me and Beverley Ward chatting about #RewritingSocialCare in London on Thursday 23 October #BookLaunch www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...
It's past time to change the narrative about later life... #socialwork #socialcare #IDOP2025
Bryony Shannon@bryonyshannon.bsky.social · 12mo agoIt’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
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
‘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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
*New blog post:* Letter to Bryony S #RewritingSocialCare #LanguageMatters #UsNotThemAndUs rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/09/21/l...
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
Publication day!! 🌸 Info about the book and book launches at rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/07/26/b... #RewritingSocialCare #LanguageMatters #UsNotThemAndUs
New blog post: Words that make me go hmmm: Professional #RewritingSocialCare rewritingsocialcare.blog/professional/
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
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
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...
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
A not to be missed conversation with @bryonyshannon.bsky.social on the power of language in social care. @nicksinclair.bsky.social and @clentonf.bsky.social host a fascinating and fun conversation on our podcast series. Thanks for taking part Bryony! open.spotify.com/episode/4xqV...
Podcast series - Changing It Up: Rewriting Social Care
Changing it Up · Episode
open.spotify.com
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...
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
‘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: 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 …
rewritingsocialcare.blog
Rewriting Social Care THE BOOK now officially has a cover, and isn’t it fabulous!? It’s due to be published in September and is available to pre-order now.. more info including reviews at www.hachette.co.uk/titles/bryon... 🌼🩷
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: 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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
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
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
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...
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
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...
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…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
Such a powerful quote from the wonderful Mark Neary yesterday, about the fragility of your life when you or the people you love have social care needs. He said “we are always one new worker, one new decision from having our lives turned upside down”.
Happy March! 🌸🌱 Not long to go til Social Work Week. During the week I’m running two half-day workshops exploring why language matters in social work and social care. More info and bookings here ⬇️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gloriously...
Gloriously Ordinary Language
Join Bryony Shannon, author of the popular Rewriting social care blog, to explore why language matters in social work and social care.
eventbrite.co.uk
Happy March! 🌸🌱 Not long to go til Social Work Week. During the week I’m running two half-day workshops exploring why language matters in social work and social care. More info and bookings here ⬇️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gloriously...
Gloriously Ordinary Language
Join Bryony Shannon, author of the popular Rewriting social care blog, to explore why language matters in social work and social care.
eventbrite.co.uk
Have you set any measurable outcomes for your weekend? Planned any meaningful activities? Let’s stop using language that gets in the way of people living #GloriouslyOrdinaryLives #LanguageMatters #GloriouslyOrdinaryLanguage www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7T_...
Measurable daily outcomes
YouTube video by Gloriously Ordinary Lives
youtube.com
Heading home after a fab weekend in Birmingham with @tricianicoll.bsky.social, planning more of our #GloriouslyOrdinaryLanguage programme. We still have some places left on the next round of the programme starting in May. Find out more at www.gloriouslyordinarylanguage.co.uk
I’ve just seen that today is ‘random acts of kindness day’, which has prompted me to reshare this post from four years ago about the little things that aren’t really little at all… #LanguageMatters #KindnessMatters rewritingsocialcare.blog/2021/02/17/t...
The little things…
So today is apparently random acts of kindness day. Yesterday was national almond day. And on Saturday it’s national love your pet day. Who knew!? But I’m getting distracted now (check out awarenes…
rewritingsocialcare.blog
BEDS rewritingsocialcare.blog/2025/02/15/b... I think this might be my favourite @bryonyshannon.bsky.social language blog so far. Best line imho 'We focus our attention on whether people require assistance to get in and out of bed and forget to consider whether people have a reason to get up.'
