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Strategies for Practice
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Enabling RiskMany benefits arise from supporting people with cognitive disabilities to participate in positive risk taking. These include increased engagement and the development of new skills.
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Activities involving risk can range from things such as cooking to forming new friendships.
Enabling risk means being proactive. You will need to find ways for the person to undertake a risky activity while minimising harm. For example, if the person’s preference is to go outside on a sunny day, then ensuring they wear a hat, apply sunscreen and have water is a good way forward.
Knowing what the person wants, and staying true to their preferences, is an important part of enabling risk.
The Essentials of Risk Enablement
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The 4 Essentials of Risk Enablement are:
These are shown in Figure 7.
You will note that the person is at the heart of the risk enablement process. |
Figure 7 The Essentials of Risk Enablement
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You can learn more about Enabling Risk in disability support work, and undertake activities, by accessing the separate online learning resource we have developed. You can access the link via the Module Resources section.
Summary Module 5
The Strategies are associated with every Step in the support for decision making process.
This Module has highlighted that supporters should:
- Tailor the strategies to the individual and their situation
- Find different ways to communicate
- Work through consequences of the decision with the person
- Take the time to listen
- Break the decision into smaller parts
- Enable positive risk taking.
