We label others all the time. It helps us to manage situations and behaviours.
However, the fact that we label people by their behaviour and characteristics can end up limiting our curiosity about a person. Our interest can end in exploring a connection with someone because we think we know who they are.
Imagine others doing this to you constantly. It feels unfair doesn’t it? But we also do this to ourselves willingly. And above all we should be the ones who understand that context and a complex hive of emotions and past experiences are behind every label.
Labels end up conveying something absolute. That’s difficult to navigate away from once it’s decided. Why do this to yourself and prevent growth in other areas?
Once we start putting labels to the side we can truly invest in our potential.
Thinking about people’s personalities and skill sets in a less fixed way allows you to be person centred. When you deny people and yourself the privilege to change and move in a different direction, you’re denying a sense of what makes us human.
So we asked ourselves why? Why do we label areas of our home?
Why do we call it the Memory Unit? This leads us to judge people and makes us assume they have problems or will be challenging.
Why do we call it the general residential unit? Do residents just generally reside here or are they part of our home and family?
With that in mind we decided to rename our units. We considered different names and asked the residents their opinions.Bearing in mind we are surrounded by beautiful trees from the Gala field we decided to name our units after trees – so without further ado welcome to…
The Willow Unit (prev. Memory Unit)
The Sycamore Unit (prev. was General Residential)
The Aspen Unit (prev. Upstairs Flats)
We held a little naming day party to celebrate the changes – see our lovely photos below – both residents and staff love the new names and enjoyed a tipple or two to mark the occasion!
– By Teresa Stephenson, Home Manager
