Case study 01 · Inclusive health communication

CAMH Clear & Inclusive Writing Guide

Changing more than words: helping CAMH turn inclusive language from an abstract principle into practical, organization-wide guidance.

Emily Foucault and Jess Taylor-Calhoun presenting the Clear and Inclusive Writing Guide — Emily Foucault and Jess Taylor-Calhoun presenting at CAMH Research Engagement Day in Toronto, 2026.

Context

What shaped the work

Inclusive communication is essential to safe, equitable mental health and addiction care. CAMH needed practical guidance that could help people write about patients and communities with dignity while accounting for trauma, stigma, accessibility, identity, power, Indigeneity and antiracism.

The work began with the understanding that inclusive writing is not simply about preferred terminology. Language can influence whether people feel respected, represented and safe within health care.

Emily's role

Where Emily contributed

Emily served as a patient advisor and co-lead writer, combining more than 15 years of communications experience with lived experience navigating health care. She also wrote the guide's foreword and contributed to sections where she held direct lived expertise.

Collaborative process

How the work happened

More than 70 CAMH staff, patients and community members contributed through partner engagement, consultation, co-writing and revision. Rather than arriving with finished copy for approval, the team asked what people had experienced as harmful and how they wanted to be written about and spoken to.

Contribution

From insight to action.

Helped shape the guide's overall approach, structure and voice.
Translated inclusive-writing principles into clear, usable guidance.
Centred dignity, trauma-informed communication and lived experience.
Helped identify language that can reinforce stigma, power imbalances or medical dismissal.
Contributed writing on rare disease, disability, addictions and effective writing practices.
Presented and wrote about the project's wider significance.

Output

What resulted

The project produced CAMH's Clear & Inclusive Writing Guide, a practical resource intended to support respectful, person-centred communication. The co-creation process was also documented through conference presentations and an award-winning poster.

Download the guide ↓Read about inclusive language ↗

Impact

What changed

Embedded lived experience throughout the development of institutional writing guidance.
Created a shared resource that staff and communicators can apply in daily work.
Strengthened collaborators' feelings of ownership, expertise and pride.
Received the 2026 Best Status Only Faculty Poster Award at the University of Toronto Department of Psychiatry's Donald Wasylenki Education Day.

Continue through the work

Case study 02