ABSTRACT
Humans are more alike than different, yet racial and cultural lines leave us divided from each other and interfere with progress in health and social care. Transforming those lines occurs with communication that is caring, aware, and compassionate . Abundant literature shows that caring and compassionate communication supports collaborative partnerships and optimal health and wellbeing. Development of strong communication skills is a complex journey – especially across racial and cultural lines, but also within and across those lines. Given the ever-present dimension of culture and race in human interactions, the authors equate effective communication with racially and culturally effective communication and define both as, “the artful interplay between listening, speaking, and caring coupled with awareness, sensitivity, appreciation and responsiveness to verbal and non-verbal communication, emotions, and racial and cultural diversity that supports connection, understanding, collaboration, and mutually successful outcomes”. Artful communication forges healing, sustaining, and liberating connections that can transform racial and cultural lines and elevate health and wellbeing for individuals, populations, and communities.
