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Building Trust Before the Storm: Reflections on Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication Training (CERC)
Building trust and credibility over time—through things like regular engagement with local media, growing our social media presence, and forging partnerships across sectors—lays the groundwork to communicate well, and do it quickly, when it matters most.
An Antidote to Isolation and Loneliness
United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy recently named loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection a public health crisis. These feelings are not just personal struggles—they have a profound impact on our collective wellbeing.
At the heart of this crisis is a need for connection. We as people want to feel that our lives matter and that we are seen, heard, and valued. While we may never fully grasp the ripple effects our lives have on others, our ability to communicate can be a powerful antidote to isolation. Here’s how.
Talking Data, Equity, or Partnerships? Start with Values.
Do you have data you want to tell people about? Are health equity topics heavy on your mind, and you want others to understand? Are you working to develop a partnership? Here’s one thing you can do to help your words land in the way you intend.
Know what values the people you’re trying to reach have in common with you, as a public health professional. Name those values. Say them loud, proud, and first. When you take a moment to connect in this way, others may be more ready to hear your data, talk about equity, and take action together.
Shifting Mindsets: Health Individualism and Systemic Understanding
Health individualism can lead to blame and stigma, because it makes it easy to assume that disparities are the result of groups of people making the same bad choices.
Take a guess. Since 2020, has the prevalence of health individualism increased, deceased, or stayed the same across the American public?
Read on for the answer, and to find out what steps you can take to advance a systemic understanding of health.
Bridging the Gap: How We Can Better Communicate Across Sectors
Public health is all about creating healthier communities, but sometimes, we do not get the message we intend to in the right way. This is especially true when we are partnering with educators, health systems, business leaders, or housing developers. We want all our partners on board with us and on the same page to create healthier communities. So, how can we bridge the communication gap?
Quick Tips for Impactful Presentations
Whether you’re presenting to your colleagues, a group of students or community members, or at a conference, things like how your information is organized, your pace, and whether you ask questions can all make a big difference in what they’ll take away. Check out these two principles and five elements that can turn your audience from glazed to engaged!
Wait! That’s not true?!?
In today's digital age, we're inundated with information—some credible, some not. According to the de Beaumont Foundation, hundreds of millions of people interact with trillions of pieces of content every MINUTE! For public health professionals, this deluge can be both a challenge and an opportunity. Both misinformation and disinformation pose serious challenges to public health.
A Guide for Public Health Storytelling
Use this framework to tell a story about the impact and potential of your work. It can help recruit champions—from colleagues and partners to community leaders and policy makers—who could help remove barriers and solve problems that get in the way. There is a 1-minute message included in the toolkit that you can use verbatim, but it’s most useful as a guide for creating your own 1-minute messages about work that matters in your community.
Gobbledygook Has Got To Go!*
Plain language is when you use writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience.
In Public Health, there is evidence that there are better outcomes when our intended audience understands what we are saying/asking/telling.
Imagine this.
It’s your neighbor’s annual barbeque. You show up with a dish of your grandmother’s ambrosia salad, squeeze it onto the table between the brat buns and sweet corn salsa, and load up your plate. There are some new faces at the picnic table—this must be the family that just moved in across the street. You sit down, make introductions, and then comes the question: “What do you do for work?”