The Person-Centred Language initiative and resources have been co-developed by Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) and the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation (CLRI) in Long-Term Care with support from an expert panel.

Person-Centred Language refers to using language that puts people first rather than the disease, symptoms or conditions that they may have. By using Person-Centred Language, we honour, respect and dignify people in our society by being thoughtful and building up strengths and abilities.

Learn more about the initiative by reviewing the following summary or our full report.

E-Courses

As part of the Person-Centred Language initiative, BSO and the Ontario CLRI partnered with MacHealth in the creation of two Person-Centred Language E-Courses:

1. Person-Centred Language: An Overview for Long-Term Care Team Members
2. Implementing Person-Centred Language: An Overview for Long-Term Care Team Leaders and Managers

The courses are free of charge and available at: https://machealth.ca/programs/person-centred_language

Posters & Pledge

As part of the Person-Centred Language initiative, posters have been created to illustrate the four Person-Centred Language commitment statements. Abridged and comprehensive versions of these posters are available to download by clicking on them below. To download the posters in French, please visit our French webpage. To request copies of either poster, please contact provincialbso@nbrhc.on.ca.

We also invite you to take our pledge and commit to person-centred language! In signing this pledge, a personalized certificate with your name will be made available for download. Please note that your information will be collected for the purpose of generating this certificate; however, will not be retained or used for any other purposes by Behavioural Supports Ontario.

Acknowledgements

The Person-Centred Language initiative and resources have been co-developed by BSO and the Ontario CLRI with support from an expert panel.

This work is supported in part with funding from the Government of Ontario through the Ontario CLRI and BSO. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Province.