Language Matters in Health Spaces
- Julia Flaherty
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from working in health spaces is this:
Language matters. More than we think.
You're Creating Clarity or Confusion
Using overly complex terminology doesn’t make you more impressive. It doesn’t make you more credible. And it definitely doesn’t make you more effective.
It just makes you look disconnected.
Your goal shouldn’t be to sound aspirational or intelligent.
Your goal should be to help.
This work isn’t about your ego. It’s about the person sitting across from you — or across the country, or across the world behind a screen. It’s about the person trying to make sense of what’s happening in their body and figure out what they can actually do about it.
Whether you’re chatting with them or writing for them, your words are either creating clarity… or creating confusion.
You Have to Meet People Where They Are
You can’t help someone by flooding them with terminology they don’t understand. You can’t empower them if they’re silently nodding while feeling confused. And you’re not meeting them where they are if you’re speaking above them.
In my world, that often means working with people navigating type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Every single person comes in with a different level of education, experience, fear, confidence, and health literacy. That matters.
Even with more advanced clients or audiences, I’ve learned it’s still best to start simple.
Clarity first. Depth second.
Start Simple + Work Your Way Up
It’s always better to assume someone doesn’t understand—and build up—than to assume they do and leave them behind.
Simple language isn’t “dumbing it down.”
It’s making it usable.
And usable information is what actually changes lives.
Language matters in health spaces.
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