Hello everyone, welcome back to the Tetso College Psychology Department Wellness Podcast. Today we will be talking about “Fostering a Culture of Respect”. To create for ourselves healthier spaces to coexist, we need to create a culture of respect in our schools, colleges, workplaces, in our families and friendships. To engage more meaningfully with our environment, and experience more fulfilling relationships, it becomes necessary that we very consciously and deliberately eliminate words and actions that contribute to disrespect, and model behaviours that build respectful and secure environments.
Before we look into what it means to be respectful, let us first try to identify disrespect within our own selves, communities, and institutions. Disrespect can lead to a toxic atmosphere that diminishs joy and fulfilment, and it can manifest in a lot of ways, disrespect can look like looking down on other cultures different from our own, using words that demean or objectify another person, shutting down other people’s ideas, not recognising worth in someone because of their social identity, lying or hurting people on purpose and so on. Identifying behaviours that cause harm to other people and making a conscious resolution to stop them is the first step to being respectful.
Firstly, pay attention to how respectful you are in your communication and actions on an ongoing basis. Avoid engaging in gossip or talking ill about someone else. Make sure that the people around you know that you will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, and bullying. Treat everyone with the same dignity and respect as a valued human being.
Educate yourself - continually make efforts to educate yourself about unfamiliar cultures, and be intentional in counteracting negative biases. Make sure to consciously try and be inclusive of all types of people, not just accommodate but value diverse backgrounds.
Be trustworthy and reliable - even when it’s difficult, tell the truth, not just what you think people want to hear. Make sure that you take responsibility when you make mistakes. Do not go about relaying what someone else has revealed to you in confidence; and guard yourself from making unwarranted assumptions about people.
Listen and support: actively listen without judgement, encourage and show support, be tolerant and empathetic when people make mistakes. Take a democratic approach in maintaining relationships, making sure that your friends and family know that they are heard, understood, and valued. When there are conflicts to be resolved, do so respectfully, avoid shaming or humiliating during confrontations, instead focus on the problem and not the person.
Be kind: understand that we may never know what someone else may be going through in their personal lives, it could be a mental health or a physical health issue, financial, familial, or other personal issues– pay attention and tune in to what is being communicated nonverbally. Being considerate during these times is a sign of respect. Build accountability and respect boundaries: acknowledge the mistakes you make, apologise and make amends. Know that it is okay to set boundaries for yourselves and respect other people’s boundaries as well. Build trust by being first a trustworthy person. Be honest with yourself and others, take responsibility for your words and actions – this is crucial in breeding a culture of respect. And lastly, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I hope this talk has been useful in helping us identify within our own circles behaviours that negatively impact health, and to recognise behaviours that we can embody to build healthier and happier spaces. Thanks for listening! And do tune in for our next episode, Cheerio!
