Language guide aims to help Highland keep ‘The Promise’

A new pro-active language guide was launched today by The Highland Council supported by the Highland Child Protection Committee.

The Language guide which will be provided for practitioners is in the form of a Microbyte and will be fundamental to aiding organisations in Highland to keep ‘The Promise’.

The promise is that Scotland's children and young people will grow up loved, safe and respected. Full details on The Promise are at: https://thepromise.scot/

Fundamental to keeping The Promise is the language used and that organisations with responsibility towards care experienced children and young people are able to demonstrate they are embedding destigmatising language and practices across the way they work.

To launch the guide and help embed the principles of the guide into practice a language academy session was held at Highland Council’s headquarters at which a number of organisations attended with speakers from Highland Council; Each & Every Child; Language Leaders project - Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) and Write Right About Me Aberdeen’s multi-agency project (Aberdeen City Council).

Fiona Duncan, Chief Social Work Officer for Highland Council, said: “We were delighted to have more than 70 people join us for the language guide launch today, across Highland Council, Police, NHS Highland, Education, Community Planning Partnership, and other third sector colleagues.”

Fiona continued:  “It’s vital that staff and agencies supporting children and young people engage with them in plain language and words that they understand.  We know that Highland’s young people want people to speak to them ‘normally’ at a level and language with empathy that they can understand easily.  This new language guide will help staff across organisations to relate to and engage with young people and children more effectively.”

The Highland Language Guide is available here:  https://bit.ly/Highlandlanguage