The Pit-Falls of 'Language Policing' in Support Settings
- CCR
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 6 hours ago
August 29, 2025 - As a community peer-based organization supporting at-risk populations for nearly five years, we've learned a fundamental truth: the demands of language policing often do more harm than good.
Our work at Colusa County Recovery is not about dictating how people should speak; it's about creating an environment where their voices are heard and their lived experience is validated. We are speaking directly to the pitfalls of language policing in this article because we have seen firsthand how it can silence the very people it claims to protect.
Builds Distrust and Violates Principles
Language policing violates the core principles of peer support and trauma-informed care. While both frameworks promote respectful communication, they focus on empowerment and individual well-being, whereas language policing can foster an environment of judgment, distrust, inequity, and potential retraumatization.
Safety | By creating an atmosphere of judgment and fear, language policing makes individuals feel unsafe. It can be particularly distressing for those who have been shamed or controlled in the past. |
Peer support is built on mutual respect, non-judgment, and empathy between people who share similar life experiences. Language policing, which involves criticizing or correcting someone's word choice, can be counterproductive to this model in several way:
Breaks down mutuality and trust: Peer support is based on a relationship of equals, but language policing can create a power dynamic where one person is deemed "correct" and the other "wrong". This judgment can erode the trust necessary for open and honest sharing.
Discourages open communication: Peer support thrives on the ability to share experiences openly, often using the language that feels most natural to the speaker. Constant fear of saying the "wrong" thing can cause individuals to self-censor, leading them to withhold important details of their experience.
Inhibits personal expression: Someone's word choice can be deeply tied to their identity and their experience of distress. Correcting their language can feel like an invalidation of their lived reality, diminishing their voice and sense of self-determination. Enforcing a strict verbal CODE is contrary to the empathetic nature of peer support.
Trauma-informed care
The central tenet of trauma-informed care is to do no harm and to avoid retraumatizing individuals. Policing language can violate this principle by replicating harmful power dynamics and triggering past trauma.
Different Cultures, Populations and Subcultures | Language policing can fail to recognize that different cultures, at-risk populations and subcultures have unique ways of communicating and sharing lived experience. Enforcing a single demand of "correct" language dismisses the importance of diverse perspectives and expressions, and can alienate people This is particularly true for individuals experiencing homelessness. |
Our Approach & Group Guidelines
After welconing everyone,we read our groups goals and guidelines, which include: To ensure everyone feels safe, valued and respected in today's group, we request that members keep colorful language -PG13- but acknowlege that expressing intense feelings and trauma 'authentically' may involve bolder word choices on occasion.
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