Artis Support Services

I believe curiosity is one of the most underrated skills in support work.

Not "being nice." Curiosity.

We live in a world that is very quick to shut people down.

If someone interprets a situation differently, if they process the world in a way that doesn't fit the standard mould, if their experience doesn't match the clinical picture.. the default response, more often than not, is correction.

"That's not right. That's not how it works. That's not what the research says."

The matrix moves fast and it doesn't leave a lot of room for difference.

But in support work? Difference is often where the most important information lives.

So what does curiosity actually look like on shift?
It looks like pausing before you correct someone.
It looks like asking "tell me more about that" instead of "actually, I think you'll find…"

It looks like genuinely wanting to understand how someone experiences their world... not so you can fix it, but so you can actually see it.

Because here's what staying curious has taught me: the people who get shut down the most are often the ones who are seeing something real.

Something that doesn't fit the framework but is deeply, powerfully true for them.

And the only way to access that truth is to ask and then actually listen.

Why does this matter so much in our work specifically?

Because the people we support have often spent a lifetime being told they're wrong. Wrong about what they feel. Wrong about what they need. Wrong about how they see the world.

When we show up with curiosity instead of correction, we're not just asking a better question. We're sending a message: your experience is worth understanding.

and that's the point..

Curiosity is how we build trust. It's how we stay humble enough to keep learning. And it's how we do support work that actually means something.

The goal isn't to have all the answers.
The goal is to ask better questions.

So here's one to sit with today:
When was the last time you stayed curious... even when it would have been easier to assume?