Tuesday arvo.

A new email arrives:

“We need to tell people about the new service.”

Not much context.

Just the request sitting there while I’m already 5 projects deep. My mind fires off:

Who’s this for?
Why is it needed?
When does it launch?
What have they already written?
What’s the main goal here?

I shoot off an email with 5 questions.

They fire back answers…

A week later, I’ve finally got enough to start thinking about the actual work.

Sound familiar?

Here's what I used to do

I’d get frustrated.

I’d sit at my desk thinking,

“Why don’t they get that I need context?”

“Why am I playing email ping-pong when I could be setting them up quickly with what they need?”

I’d tell myself they just wanted me to move fast. That they didn’t understand what I needed to help them. And that they’ve come to us a little late…

But here’s the thing: I was frustrated at the wrong thing.

The real problem

They wanted to launch. Fast.

They had a deadline looming.
Their director was asking where the comms plan was.
The budget was approved.
The service was ready to go.

But they hadn’t done the thinking part yet: the why, the who, the what does success actually look like? part.

So they sent a one-liner and hoped I’d figure it out across a long email thread and a few meetings.

You’ve come across this too, haven’t you?

You just want to create a clear, powerful, effective campaign that does justice to a health service. For an event, service launch, or program.

Not share irrelevant content that overloads people with information they won’t read.

Not share a wall of complex, repetitive, vague text that confuses patients and frustrates staff.

You want to share information in the right format, in the right channel, in the right language.

Designed to help staff understand processes.

Information that’ll help the public know what’s going on, why, and what to do next.

Bu you can’t start that work without knowing where you’re headed and the content you need to communicate with.

What changed everything

I started getting stakeholders to fill in a simple communications brief before they sent the request.

Just one form. A few questions:

• Purpose: what’s this for, one sentence

• Audience: who it’s for, and just as important, who it’s not for

• What it replaces: is old content getting retired? Redirected?

• Owner: who signs off, who’s looking after it once it’s live

• Success: what metric will tell you this effort was worthwhile

• The essentials: what your reader needs to know, in dot points

• Constraints: deadline, budget, who needs to approve it

None of this is bureaucracy for the sake of it.

Your team can coordinate between themselves about the socials, the internal comms, the external comms, and get legal or other teams in the loop if needed - early. A 4-6 week minimum lead time is ideal.

Cos there’s nothing worse than a vague, untargeted newsletter article, email, or web page that overloads staff and the public with more of what they won’t read.

Healthcare content and communications project brief

Below is the brief in Word and PDF versions.

It’s based on what I get health service teams to fill in when they need communications support:

• Content and communications project brief (Word, 31KB)

• Content and communications project brief (PDF, 268KB)

You can use an editable word document or create a form and get people to fill it in.

A form works well especially when it collects requests onto the one spreadsheet.

Grab it and adapt it for your own team.

In a nutshell: a better way to deal with communication requests

The person sending the one-liner isn’t trying to waste your time. They’re moving at a “needed to have it done yesterday” context.

They’ve got patients who need the service, hard deadlines, limited time, and directors asking questions.

They’re not communications professionals. They genuinely don’t know what they don’t know - and what our health communication teams need to know.

And they’re doing their best to move fast.

And you?

You’re not frustrated because they’re vague.
You’re frustrated because you care.
You’re frustrated because you’re good at what you do.

You know the difference between content that lands and content that gets buried in an inbox.

A communications brief can guide them and get the information you need to share their wonderful service or initiative.

What does your inbox look like?
Are you getting loads of vague communications requests?

Try using the brief and let me know how you go.

I went squizzing at practitioner websites recently.

One looked like an e-commerce site with a shopping cart on the top right of the page. Buy-now energy everywhere.

I’m sure the practitioner was lovely.

But it felt like I was shopping for shoes, not looking for someone to trust with my health.

Credibility gone… as quickly as my hubby scoffs down my lamb roast.

Others had the opposite problem:

A wall of qualifications: degrees, memberships, acronyms, yada yada yada.

All impressive. Sounded fab.

But none of them said “Heck yeah, this is the person for me!”

Here’s the thing many of those pages overlooked:

Unless someone’s been referred to you, they’re not just checking your credentials.

They’re deciding whether they like and trust you.

Is the clinic convenient to get to?
Is this person available when it suits me?
Is it gonna be worth me forking out for the cost of a consult and possible follow ups

Your website or service page is where that decision happens.

This is how I look for someone to trust. It’s also how others do it too.

People are already researching your service

… and your information helps them say yay or nay.

Research about how people find, choose, and access health care found more than 60% of people use the internet.

Almost half of consumers put more trust in the healthcare organisation’s own website than anywhere else when making their final decision.

And research on how patients choose providers found they weigh up 2 things at once: your qualifications, and the practical stuff:

How long they’ll wait.
Where you are.
What it costs.
What rebates they’re eligible for.

Most service pages don’t answer either of these well.

They describe the service the way the organisation sees it…. not the way a stressed, exhausted person at 11pm searches for it.

Not the way a person who’s frustrated and sick of a plaguing problem searches for it.

The template I use with hospital teams

I work with practitioners and teams across one of my city’s largest hospital groups, and this is the template and content guidance I share with them for website service pages.

This content is based on the questions people often ask. And the web pages they most frequently visit.

It works just as well for a community service or a private practice, cos prospective clients or patients have much of the same service questions.

What we do

State clearly what you do in plain language. Do you help people diagnose food sensitivities? Do x-rays? Heart surgery?

The words and phrases you use here will be what people have in mind when they’re looking you up. It’ll also help your service get found on search engines.

So don’t fluff this section out with marketing or clinical content. Don’t use jargon. Remember your reader wants a straight answer, asap.

Here’s how that looks in practice, for a cancer service:

We:

• Do surgical procedures for patients with cancer

• Have up to 20 beds to look after patients who need to stay in hospital

• Offer chemotherapy services

• Support you as soon as you get diagnosed

• Offer emergency care, palliative care, and outpatient services

Who we help

Be explicit. Don’t make the mistake of saying everyone.

Do you help women? Men? Kids? People under 18. Over 55?

How we can help you

What you help with and what happens when someone contacts you.

Services

List your services.

The referral process

There are often 2 referral possibilities:

1. What a GP or another service needs to send you

2. What someone can do if they’re coming to you on their own, without a referral

That second reader is the one most services forget.

Resources and guides

The practical stuff people can use before or between appointments. This builds trust before you’ve even met. For instance, at my healthcare group, we share:

• A patient journey information booklet

• Delivery guidelines (food, belongings, gifts)

• Patient transport services

• Information for patients not eligible for public healthcare funding

Frequently asked questions

Real questions, answered plainly:

• Cost

• Wait times

• What to bring

• What happens at the first appointment

• How to access your medical records

The questions people email or call about.

About us

This could be the most important page on your site yet often the most underrated.

Understandably, medical staff are more used to clinical content more than personable content. On a hospital website many services leave this out because they rely on the reputation of the hospital.

But it’s still reassuring and helpful to include an about section on a service page even for a hospital service.

The about us page is the chance to humanise your service and truly connect with the person reading. It’s the chance to spur people to make that call, make that booking, or send that email.

Our purpose. Our team - people are important. Not just qualifications. A photo, a name, and a line or 2 that sounds like a human wrote it. This is where “do I trust this person?” gets decided.

This part is so important I wrote a whole About page article to guide you.

Contact details

A person in a hurry shouldn’t have to scroll to find out how to reach you.

Include your location and different contact methods in an easy to scan format:

Service / Place / Role
Email
Phone
Form (if set up - this might replace the email address)

Address (if there’s only one location, if more, see Service locations below).
Map

Avoid using terms such as ‘Registrars’ - most people don’t know what that means.

Include contact details for the range of services.

Service locations

This is a helpful subheading if the service is offered in a few different locations. For instance, we have 6 hospitals and 7 clinics in our hospital group. Some services are offered in a few locations. Say so plainly.

Fees, billing, and rebates

Use subheadings for each of these topics so it’s easy to scan and find what’s relevant. For instance:

• If you’re eligible for Medicare

• If you’re not eligible for Medicare

• When to organise payment

• How much you may pay

• Urgent or emergency situations

• Information for work or transport accident patients

• Unpaid accounts

Before and after

Here’s what the difference looks like in practice.

Before:

“Our service provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary care coordination for individuals experiencing complex psychosocial needs across the continuum of care.”

After:

“We help people going through a tough time with housing, money, or mental health. You can refer yourself, or your GP can refer you. Here’s what happens next.”

Same service. The first one was written for clinicians. The second one was written for the lay person you need to connect with.

And the team section:

Before:

“Dr Sarah Chen, BPsych (Hons), MPsych (Clin), PhD, MAPS.”

After:

“Dr Sarah Chen has spent 15 years helping people manage anxiety. She’s big on practical strategies you can use when a panic attack hits. She takes the time to listen with kindness, compassion, and without judgement”

Keep the credentials. Just don’t make them do the connecting on their own, cos they can’t. Credentials don’t have heart. You do.

This lines up with what research on physician self-disclosure found:

Physicians who share more about themselves online build more patient trust, not less.

Openness shows confidence. Not a lack of professionalism.

What’s less helpful

You might notice what’s not on that list. News. Awards. A carousel of stock photos. If it doesn’t help the person decide or act, it’s fluff.

I’m not saying photos aren’t helpful. They can add interest and visual appeal to a page.

Get the important content in and make it accessible before jazzing up the page.

What about reviews?

In health there are rules that prevent organisations from sharing testimonials about their clinical experiences on their website.

For instance in Australia, clinics can’t share stuff like “Dr Jones cured my back pain”.

But research into how consumers choose healthcare found 85% of people trust health website review sites to make decisions.

So you could point people to these independent platforms (without offering incentives - this is also a no-no):

Google or Yelp reviews.

A dedicated health review platform.

Anywhere a patient can share their own experience in their own words, outside your own site.

Make it easy to act: 10-second check

Your service page needs to do a lot. It’s your 24/7 call centre at nowhere near the cost.

After they’ve finished scouring your info, it’s gotta be easy to take the next step.

So, before you publish the service page, share the link to a mate or family member. Ask them to find:

Who is this service for?
What will happen when I contact them?
How do I reach them?

Time it.

If any of the 3 takes more than 10 seconds, that’s your rewrite priority.

Not the branding.
Not the photos.

Whether the person can find the answers to those 3 questions.

You can have all the info they’re looking for, but if it’s too hard to take the next step, you’ll lose ‘em.

In a nutshell

The person reading your service page or website tonight isn’t grading your qualifications.

They’re asking a quieter question:

will these people get me?

Every plain sentence says yes. Every wall of jargon says maybe not.

You don’t need a redesign to fix this. You need content honed in on the person reading it.

You also need to make it quick and easy for them to reach you once they’ve made the decision.

The people your service exists for, needs… deserve to find you, understand you, and feel like you thought about them before they arrived.

Cos you did. Your page just needs to show it.

What’s the hardest part of your service page to get right? Tell me in the comments, I’d love to know :)

Here’s the mistake I see a lot on About pages of therapists, counsellors, and allied health practitioners:

they overload their About pages with qualifications, modalities, and experience.

Fair enough. It sounds like that’s the place to do it, hey?

But here’s the secret behind About pages:

It IS about you. But it’s written for your reader.

Most practitioners get this the wrong way around…

… and it’s costing them clients.

I’ve seen this in both of my worlds:

as a digital crisis support worker searching for services to share with people who are overwhelmed, numb, or suicidal.

And as a senior digital communications adviser at one of Melbourne’s largest hospital groups working with clinical staff every week.

The pattern is the same in both places:

good people doing important work
writing for the wrong reader.

What the research tells us

Your About page is one of the most visited pages on websites, according to HubSpot research. And a study in the journal Sociology of Health and Illness found that trust is the central factor patients use to choose a practitioner.

On top of that, Northumbria University research on health websites found that what builds that trust isn’t flashy design or long credentials lists.

It’s clear, honest, human communication.

Your About page is where that trust starts to form.

The practitioners who do this well don’t write less about themselves.

They write about themselves with a spotlight on their reader.

‘Cos the person landing on your page isn’t looking for your theoretical framework. They’re wondering:

• Is this person right for me?

• Will they understand what I’m going through?

• Will they judge me?

• Can I trust them with the thing I haven’t told anyone else?

They’re hoping their search is over.

This article is about how to make sure it is.

The 4-part About page structure

Here’s the structure this article will walk you through:

Part 1. Who you can help

Part 2. What it’s like to work with you

Part 3. Who you are

Part 4. How to get started

Each part has a purpose. Together they move your reader from “I’m not sure” to “this is the person for me.”

Part 1. Who you can help

Start by naming something your reader recognises: a feeling. A situation. A moment they’ve been in.

Don’t open with “I am a registered psychologist with 12 years of experience.” That’s a credentials page, not an About page.

I think about the people I support on Lifeline shifts: overwhelmed, numb, exhausted. Sometimes telling me they want to die.

When I search for a service to share with them, the pages that stop me are the ones that open with something the person would recognise in themselves.

Not a credential.

A feeling.

The research supports this.

A study published in JMIR Mental Health found that more than 40% of people use the internet to search for help when they’re feeling distressed.

They’re searching for someone who feels right before they get in touch.

And a Harvard Business Review study of nearly 12,000 consumers across 11 countries found that empathy matters more to their decision to get help than reviews or recommendations.

Especially in moments of vulnerability.

They want to know that a practitioner truly understands their situation.

So begin your About page in the words you’ve heard clients use.

Show them you already understand where they’re at before they’ve said a word.

Examples:

“If you feel like no one really understands what you’re going through… even the people closest to you… you’re in the right place.”

“A lot of people come to me after they’ve already tried a few things that didn’t work. That’s not a failure. That’s how people find what works.”

“I work with people who are tired of holding it all together. People who look fine on the outside but feel like they’re running on empty.”

“If you’ve been telling yourself you’re not struggling enough to need help, most people feel that way before they reach out. You don’t have to be in crisis to deserve support.”

One or 2 sentences that say: I see you. I know why you’re here.

Part 2. What it’s like to work with you

This is where most practitioners lose people.

“I use somatic, IFS, and attachment-based approaches” means nothing to someone who’s never heard those terms.

And if they can’t quickly understand what working with you feels like, they’ll keep searching.

In my work supporting clinical staff, I see this constantly.

Practitioners who are warm, skilled, and genuinely patient-centred when they’re in front of them… writing service descriptions that feel cold, impersonal, and unempathetic.

It’s not a reflection of their care.

It’s a reflection of the writing they’re used to.

The research reinforces how much plain language can help you connect more deeply to your clients.

A randomised trial published in ScienceDirect found that people given plain language health information understood and acted on it… more than when given the same information in standard clinical language.

Share the outcome, not the method.

What do people usually come in feeling?
What do they leave with?
What does the process actually feel like from their side?

Examples:

Instead of: “I use EMDR to process traumatic memories.”

Try: “We work through difficult experiences at a pace that feels manageable for you. A lot of people find they can face things in our sessions that felt impossible to look at on their own.”

Instead of: “My practice is rooted in somatic approaches.”

Try: “We pay attention to what’s happening in your body, not just your thoughts. A lot of people find that’s where the real shift happens.”

Instead of: “I offer cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety and depression.”

Try: “We look at the thoughts and patterns that are keeping you stuck, and work out practical ways to shift them. Most people notice a difference within a few sessions.”

Instead of: “I take a trauma-informed, person-centred approach.”

Try: “We go at your pace. There’s nothing you have to say before you’re ready. A lot of people tell me our sessions are the first time they’ve felt truly heard.”

The person who specifically wants EMDR or somatic work will ask.

The person who’s nervous and searching to feel seen… will stay.

Part 3. Who you are

This is the part practitioners skip most. Yet it’s what makes someone choose you over someone else with the same qualifications.

Research by Talkspace on how to build therapeutic relationships confirms that presenting yourself honestly rather than hiding behind a professional facade gets better health outcomes.

And the Northumbria University study on trust online found that people are drawn to practitioners who feel similar to them and who share their experiences, not just their credentials.

I teach yin yoga, rock climb on weekends, and juggle this work alongside raising my daughter and a day job supporting hospital staff.

When I share that on my own About page, it’s not because it’s clinically relevant. It’s because it makes me a person, not a profile.

Give ‘em something real.

Why you do this work.
What drew you to it.
What you care about outside your practice.

Not because it’s relevant to your modality. Because it makes you a warm blooded human, not a cold service listing.

This matters even more now that practitioners are using AI for their writing.

People don’t want to work with someone who sounds like a resume.

They want to work with a warm, compassionate human who also happens to be a professional.

Examples:

“I became a counsellor after going through my own period of burnout. I know what it’s like to sit on the other side of the room.”

“Outside of work I’m a trail runner, a bad guitarist, and a devoted fan of terrible reality TV. I believe in the whole person, including the parts that need to switch off.”

“I started this work because I kept meeting people who’d been told there was nothing wrong with them. I disagreed.”

“I’m a social worker who moved into private practice after 12 years in the public system. I’ve seen the gaps. I wanted to do something about them.”

“I teach yin yoga on weekends, which has taught me more about sitting with discomfort than any textbook.”

Use words you actually say. It will add your unique flavour and heart to your words.

Your reader will feel the difference between a page that’s been written in a clinical way… and words that infuse the empathy, warmth, and welcome you bring across to clients.

Part 4. How to get started

You’ve done the hard work. They feel seen. They trust you. They like you.

Don’t leave them hanging.

In almost 2 decades helping small businesses and health organisations with their online communications, the most common thing I’ve seen missing from an otherwise good About page is a clear, warm next step.

People read, feel inspired… and then don’t know what to do.

So they ditch your page and keep shopping for help.

The research backs this up.

WordStream research found that a single, clear call to action can increase clicks by 371%.

And a HubSpot study found that calls to action that speak directly to a reader converted 202% better than generic ones.

“Contact us” doesn’t cut it. Tell them exactly what to do next.

Make the ask warm and direct.
Not clinical.
Not pushy.

Examples:

“If any of this sounds like what you’re after, I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here.”

“Not sure if we’re the right fit? That’s what a free 20-minute discovery call is for. No pressure, no obligation.”

“The first step is just sending an email. I’ll get back to you within 24 hours.”

“Booking is easy. Choose a time that works for you and I’ll send through everything you need to know before your first session.”

Then test the next step:

• Is your form quick and easy to fill in?

• Is your email link correct and clickable?

• Is your voicemail giving the vibe you want to give?

What many practitioners worry about

“I don’t know how much to share.”

“What if it sounds unprofessional?”

Of course these feel like real concerns.

You’ve been trained to hold space, not occupy it.

Your About page asks you to do something different: to be present. To take up space.

To say, clearly and warmly:

“Here I am, here’s what I care about, here’s how I can help you.”

Professional doesn’t have to mean formal.

The most trustworthy About pages I’ve read are warm, specific, and purposeful. They sound like the person wrote them.

Write the way you speak to a client in the first session:
that’s the voice your About page needs.

A quick check before you publish

Read your About page back and ask:

• Does this start with my reader, or with me?

• Have I named what it feels like to work with me, not just what I do?

• Is there something specific and human on this page, or does it read like it could belong to anyone?

• Have I made it clear what to do next?

If any of those answers is no, that’s where to start.

After you update it, give me a shout if you’d like a look over. I’d be happy to let you know how it sounds.

Even better, share it with a few clients. They know how you sound in sessions, and they’ll tell you if the page sounds like you and what else you do for them that you’ve missed.

Want to see what this looks like in practice? Here’s my About page.

I share best practices in plain language, accessibility, and digital communication strategies for health practitioners every week on Write with Impact. If this resonated, forward it to someone you reckon might find it useful too.

“I’m thinking of dying”

That’s what people say to me often on my shifts in crisis support.

Sometimes they ask me to find them a health or community service or resource.

I search quickly. I find a page. I start scanning.

Clinical language. Walls of text. Acronyms I have to stop and decode.

I’m outta there as quickly as you can say “Vegemite”.

Cos if it’s too much effort for me to scan and understand health and community content…

….there’s no way I’d offer a resource as a lifeline to a person feeling overwhelmed, desperate, suicidal.

This happens far more than it should.

This article is about why that happens, what it costs… and one simple technique you can use to write content that’s helpful to the person who needs it.

Words get in the way

Health and community content creators weren’t trying to make my job harder.

They definitely weren’t trying to dig a hole deeper for a person who can’t see any way out.

They were doing their best with the skills they had… and their job doesn’t revolve around writing.

But their words sometimes get in the way.

And I know they’d feel terrible if they knew that.

When language feels like a uniform

A few weeks ago I spent a few days keeping my dad company in hospital. While there, I heard nurses asking patients if they’d “opened their bowels.”

I once went to an ayurvedic practitioner who talked about “incomplete evacuation.” “Huh? Who got left in the burning building?” was my confused thought.

And doctors describe a chest X-ray as “impressive”... when what they really mean is, “Houston, we have a problem”.

These aren’t careless, uncaring people.

I support medical professionals every week at hospitals and clinics. They’re skilled professionals who care a crapload about their patients.

Their hours, efforts, and stresses are invisible to the public.

Why smart professionals aren’t catching onto the confusion

So why don’t they realise the average person doesn’t have a clue what the heck they’re talking about?

The same reason with every other industry and their jargon:

Medical language feels like the scrubs (uniform) a practitioner chucks on every day without thinking.

They’ve used it every shift for years. They’ve forgotten there was a time they didn’t know what the words meant.

The gap between what they’re saying and what someone else is hearing quietly widens… and no-one says anything.

So medical staff reckon they get what their patients and families mean.

Patients and families who are overwhelmed, afraid, and exhausted… well they’re too confused or embarrassed to say they have no f*cking clue what was just said.

Jargon oblivion

That’s the term created by University of Minnesota researchers in their paper, Medical terminology can be confusing to patients.

They surveyed more than 200 adults and found there’s a gap between what clinicians think patients understand… and what patients actually understand.

How often does this happen?

A 2019 study, Eradicating Jargon-Oblivion, found that healthcare providers use terms patients don’t understand as often as 70 times every time they meet.

All the while, practitioners rate their ability to communicate clearly as high.

How do you feel when you hear this?

I’m not sharing this to make anyone feel bad.

Healthcare staff need to be celebrated, acknowledged, and rewarded for the incredible service they give our community.

They just need to understand how health jargon sounds to people who need information that don’t know what the jargon means.

This awareness can help practitioners to intentionally write health content more clearly and with more impact.

Why this gap between perception and reality happens

When you’re in healthcare, medical English becomes your first language.

And writing for a public website, a brochure, or a service description isn’t what you trained for.

Every week I share accessible writing and formatting techniques with medical and clinical staff in hospitals and clinics.

What I’ve noticed confirms it: the people writing this content are not the problem. The gap between professional language and plain language is.

A few examples: from complex to clear

Below are a few examples of common medical terms that weren’t well understood according to research. And the plain language alternatives.

Example 1

“You’ll need to be NPO from midnight.”

Only half of patients correctly researched understood NPO means nothing to eat or drink in Accuracy in Patient Understanding of Common Medical Phrases.

“Don’t eat or drink anything after midnight” sounds clearer.

Example 2

“The findings on your X-ray were quite impressive.” From a 2022 research 79% of the 215 people surveyed thought “impressive” was a compliment and had a positive meaning.

But it means the doctor was worried.

Alternatives to clarify the feedback:

“Your X-ray shows something we need to look into.”

“We found something on your X-ray we’re gonna keep an eye on.”

“Your X-ray shows an area we’re worried about. Let’s talk about what we can do to help.”

Example 3

“Your potassium is up today.” One patient heard this and thought she should stop eating bananas, according to a Cleveland hospital in the article Avoiding Medical Jargon to Improve Communication, Reduce Ambiguity.

“Your potassium levels are higher than we’d like.”

“One of your levels is a bit high. We’ll explain what that means.”

“Your potassium is higher than the usual range we’d like it to be in. Here’s what we’re going to do about it.”

Example 4

“The tumour is progressing.” Progress sounds like a good thing. More than half of patients don’t realise this means the cancer is getting worse.

What could be said instead?

“The cancer is growing.”

“The tumour has gotten bigger since your last scan.”

“The cancer isn’t responding to treatment the way we’d hoped.”

Example 5

“You have a fracture of your left upper extremity.”

Eight in ten patients in an orthopaedic clinic thought fracture and break were two different injuries. They’re not. “You’ve broken your arm” works fine.

Try this simple plain language check

When you’ve finished writing, read it back and ask:

Ask:

Would I say this out loud to a patient or client in those exact words?

Is there a phrase that makes sense to a colleague but not to the person I’m trying to help?

Is there an acronym I haven’t explained?

If the answer is no, the words need to change.

Here’s a before and after example:

Before: “Clients who have been assessed as eligible and who have received written confirmation from their case manager are able to commence accessing services within 5 business days, provided they have completed the required intake documentation.”

After: “Has your case manager said you can use this service? Great. You can use the service from next Tuesday. First fill in these intake forms before Friday.”

Same information.

Completely different experience for the person feeling exhausted, tired, and overwhelmed.

In a nutshell

Your work in health and community is valuable.

Your care. Your kindness. Your expertise is needed.

So share your information with the same care and kindness.

Plain language isn’t the absence of expertise. It’s expertise in a form people can use.

Meet people where they are.

Write for them. Not for you. Not for your colleagues.

Don’t let your words get in the way.

I’m celebrating this month: I finally completed my crisis support training and 52 hours volunteering as a digital crisis supporter at Lifeline Australia.

People often wonder why anyone would to support people in their suicidal moments.

Well, at some of the crappiest, most hopeless moments of someone’s life, people are starving for connection.

And words make a difference.

Words with purpose can help a person feel acknowledged and validated.
Careless words can dig their hole deeper.

That’s true on a crisis line.

It’s also true when someone’s browsing a website to find out if they can get support.

Or when they’re trying to figure out how to fill in an online form.

Clear digital communication about health and community services isn’t a writing preference.

For a lot of people, it’s the difference between getting help and throwing up their hands in frustration, “Screw it, it’s too bloody hard!”.

That’s what this newsletter is about.

Welcome to issue one.

📊 Numbers worth knowing

50–60%

More than 50% of adults across 12 OECD countries have low health literacy. The figure is close to 60% here in my home, Australia. The health content published every day either helps people through that gap… or widens it.

Source: PMC / National Health Survey

📖 Worth reading

Health literacy studies research → Health literacy isn’t just a patient skill. It’s a system responsibility. Healthcare organizations that create complex content are part of the problem. (PubMed Central)

How people read online → People rarely read web pages word by word. They scan. So structure your content for scanning. (Nielsen Norman Group)

Writing for web accessibility → Practical tips for writing content that works for everyone, no matter what they use to read it. (W3C Web Accessibility Initiative)

💭Worth sitting with

“A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.”

— ISO Plain Language Standard, 2023

⚡One thing you can do today

🔍Test your reading level

Chuck a page of your content into Hemingway Editor.

It’s my fav, free tool to find out the reading grade level of any content… It shares ways to cut down the reading level if it’s past Grade 8 (the max level recommended by global web accessibility guidelines).

Demo of the Hemingway Editor

Here’s how you’d use the editor to help you check a bit of content on a community intake form:

❌Before: “Individuals seeking to access support services are requested to complete all applicable sections of the enclosed documentation to facilitate the assessment of their eligibility for the provision of assistance.” 📚Readability level: Postgraduate

✅ After: “Please fill in this form so we can find out how to help you.”🎯 Readability level: Grade 1

Screenshots

The ‘Screenshot: Readability level before’ below shows that the sentence is at a postgraduate level.

Readability is ‘Post-graduate’ with the comment ‘Poor. Aim for 9’.

The sentence has been highlighted in red to show that 1 sentence is very hard to read.

The words ‘are requested’ in blue is a weakener.

Two words in purple, ‘facilitate’ and ‘assistance’ are flagged as having simpler alternatives.

Screenshot: Readability level of before sentence

The ‘Screenshot: Readability level after’ shows that the sentence has gone down to a ‘Grade 1 level. Good.’ No issues have been flagged.

Screenshot: Readability level after

Same information.

Yet, one sentence helps someone with reassuring, simple language that’s easy to understand quickly.

The other sentence is lazy writing. It’s disrespectful to the reader and may make them feel confused and frustrated after reading it.

🛠️ Free tools

Word and phrase swap → a useful list of complex terms and their plain language alternatives. Could be used for health or any other type of writing. (health.tas.gov.au)

Every day words for public health communications → word and phrase swaps for public health jargon. Note: I found the A-Z words index more helpful than plugging in words. (cdc.gov)

Federal Plain Language Guidelines → a fab plain language series. Runs through the plain language principles and how to write, design, and test your content for understanding. (plainlanguage.gov)

About

Write with Impact is published weekly for health and community service content creators.

Gotta question about plain language, web content accessibility, or clear communication you’ve never found a straight answer to?

Give me a shout, I’d love to hear from you. 💌 Cheers, Cynth

One thing I hear again and again from people in crisis is:

“Are you a bot??!!”

People in crisis are stressed. Overwhelmed. Exhausted.

They want to know there’s a human on the other side: to listen, acknowledge, and validate their feelings.

One important way we show we’re human is to speak like a human: in a conversational way.

Using plain language.

This is helpful whenever we share information, particularly for health and community services.

This article shares:

• When plain language became a global standard

• Plain language is about more than words

• How to implement the 4 parts of the plain language standard to your writing

Plain language is a global standard

In May 2023, plain language officially became an international standard through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The plain language standard defines plain language as:

‘A communication is in plain language if its wording, structure, and design are so clear that the intended readers can easily find what they need, understand what they find, and use that information.’

I’m really excited about this. I know it’s a weird thing to be excited about. But I believe every person has the right to access information quickly and easily.

And each of us can make that happen.

That’s why I’m a member of the Standards Australia Plain Language Working Group.

I’ve gotten to contribute to the creation of the 5 plain language parts:

Part 1 - governing principles

Part 2 - legal communication

Part 3 - science writing

Part 4 - requirements for implementing plain language in organizations

Part 5 - document design

Plain language helps to make sure we include everyone: no matter their literacy level, background, or ability.

The US, New Zealand, and UK already have plain language legislation.

Australia is a little slow off the mark.

But it makes it indirectly unlawful to give people information they can't understand through the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and local government laws.

Plain language is about more than words

Many people I speak to think plain language is about words. Yes, it’s helpful to use simple words over complex ones. But it’s also about how we design content.

How content is formatted and presented affects how our readers consume content.

For example, useful content presented as a wall of text that’s hard to read won’t help our readers easily find what they need, will it?

Formatting matters as much as language.

The 4 principles — with real examples

The standard shares guidelines for the 4 principles. These help readers to find, understand, and use the information they find.

Principle 1: Readers get what they need (relevant)
Principle 2: Readers can easily find what they need (findable)
Principle 3: Readers can easily understand what they find (understandable)
Principle 4: Readers can easily use the information (usable)

Let’s look at each of the principles with examples of how to weave them into our writing.

Principle 1: Relevant — give readers what they need

I’ve had trouble finding clear information on search about these topics:

How do you apply for an intervention order?

Who has the right to make medical decisions for a person in a coma if they haven’t created an official document?

Sometimes the content I wanted wasn’t there. I didn’t understand it. It was hard to read. Or it didn’t tell me what to do next.

Ask yourself 2 questions before you start writing

Why will someone read this?

How can I help them use this information?

So, how can you work those out?

Check your emails.
Look at the analytics to find out the most visited pages.
Talk to your frontline staff — they get the same questions every day.

You can also use Google’s ‘People also ask’ section: search ‘how to access mental health support’ or whatever topic you need to write about.

You’ll quickly see what people are confused about.

Write to answer those questions.

This is what I do to create relevant, helpful, and timely communication resources and tools for medical staff at work.

Principle 2: Findable — help readers find what they need fast

Use clear, specific headings and subheadings.

They help people scan quickly, which is how most of us read online.

They also help content get found in search engines.

Heading example

Original: Supporting your journey

Improved: How to apply for in-home aged care support

Explanation:

The original sounds warm but tells readers nothing.

The improved version tells them exactly what they’ll find.

Subheading example

Original:

Individuals providing ongoing care to a family member with a disability or chronic illness may, subject to Centrelink's eligibility criteria, be entitled to receive a fortnightly carer payment.

Improved:

Are you a carer? You may be entitled to a fortnightly payment. Contact Centrelink to check.

Explanation:

The subheading transforms a complex, long sentence into plain language: short, plain language, and a direct question that speaks to the reader.

They instantly know this section is for them — and what to do next.

Principle 3: Understandable — less is more

When I go rock climbing, my partners and I use as few words as possible to communicate and stay safe. We use key words and phrases such as:

“Safe.”

“Climb when ready.”

“On belay.”

It’s hard to shout long sentences 50 metres down a rock face. So we keep it short. And less truly is more. Less keeps us safe.

The same principle applies to writing: the longer your sentence, the less people will read and understand. So shorten. Or chop.

Global web standard guidelines (WCAG 2.2) suggests content that doesn’t need more than a lower secondary level of reading.

The 15–20 word guideline comes from general plain language standards (like the US Plain Language Guidelines and Hemingway readability principles).

Sentence example:

Original:

Clients who have been assessed as eligible and who have received written confirmation from their case manager are able to commence accessing services within 5 business days, provided they have completed the required intake documentation.

Improved:

Confirmed eligible by your case manager? You can start services within 5 business days. Just make sure your intake forms are done first.

Principle 4: Usable — test it before you publish

Before you publish, ask someone to test it.

Give a task to a client, a carer, or a colleague who’s new to the topic.

For instance, get them to find out how to make a referral or check their eligibility for a program.

I’ve done this and it’s fascinating to see participants spend far too long searching for something that should have taken seconds.

Where people get stuck is where you need to edit. Simplify a word. Add a subheading. Give a buried topic its own page or navigation item.

It doesn’t have to be a formal process.

One person testing your content will tell you more than hours of editing alone.

If you want to learn more about user testing, check out How to Test Content with Users by the Nielson Norman Group.

Make health and community services easier to use

People reach out for health and community services at some of the toughest moments of their lives.

They deserve content that meets them where they are — empathetic, human, timely… and in plain language.

So:

• Find out what your families and carers need

• Use specific headings and subheadings

• Write one idea per sentence

• Test your content with a real reader

Which one resonates most with you?

I’d love to hear which one you’ll try out next time you write.