Chapters
Managing risks
Introduction
Risk is inevitable in everyone’s life, but each person is different in how much risk they are confident and comfortable with, or what types of risks they might need to consider.
As covered in Supporting your decision-making (Stage 1, Chapter 3), it is important that you talk with the people who are supporting you about what risks are relevant in your situation and which ones you are willing to take on in any new living arrangement.
While there is never a clear line that you can draw, having support and a clear plan can help you handle risks better.
Likelihood vs impact
Fear of ‘what if’ scenarios can be a difficult hurdle to overcome. Most models that are designed to help you think about risk break it down into two parts: how likely it is to happen (likelihood) and how bad it could be (impact).
By considering how likely (or rare) potential situations can be, you can start to make choices that feel acceptable to you.
For some risks, you can make plans to avoid them – like deciding you can cook, but only when support staff are with you. Other risks, however, are entirely outside of your control – such as natural disasters. While it may not be possible to avoid these completely, you can still be prepared.
It can be helpful to consider:
- what risks can be entirely prevented?
- what risks can be planned for to reduce the impact?
- what risks are beyond your control or planning?
It is also important to remember that some of these risks will already be applicable to your existing living situation. What strategies do you currently have in place that you can adapt or build on?
Categories of risk
To make sure you are thinking broadly about risks, it can help to break them down into categories that reflect the different parts of your life and wellbeing. For example:
- Physical risks – using the oven, locking the doors or travelling independently
- Financial risks – understanding your budget, making good money choices
- Emotional risks – loneliness, anxiety, trusting new people
- Social risks – dynamics with flatmates, strangers coming to the door
Responding to the unexpected
Even the best-laid plans will always have gaps, so it is unlikely that a risk-management plan will be perfect every time.
If, once you have moved, you notice a risk that you hadn’t expected – or if something is making you feel unsafe – it is important that you talk to the people who are helping you on this journey so that you can plan for this going forward.
Making mistakes can be an important part of how people learn, but it is recommended that you look at what happened and plan for next time so that you can prevent this from repeating.
Dignity of Risk and Duty of Care
Sometimes, we learn best by making a mistake. Risk planning is not about preventing mistakes entirely; it is about minimising the damage of those risks.
Anybody moving into independence for the first time will tend to make some silly purchases, eat some less-than-ideal food or stay up later than they usually would. These things can be a ‘rite of passage’ that help you understand what is important to you and why people might advise you not to do certain things.
It is your right to make decisions about your life, even if those decisions might have negative consequences (this is called the Dignity of Risk).
However, it is the obligation of the people who are supporting you to make sure that you are not putting yourself at risk in a way that you don’t fully understand the consequences of (this is called Duty of Care).
This can be hard to navigate if you and your supporters don’t agree from the start.
Where to start
Agree on your risk tolerance
To avoid the difficulties that can arise when you and your support team don’t share the same ideas around risk, it is good practice to agree on your risk tolerance from the beginning. Make sure the people who are supporting you understand what is important to you and why.
If you’re not all ‘on the same page’, ask your supporters to explain the worst thing that could happen, and you tell them the best thing that could happen, and vice versa. Then you can work together to find a plan where everyone is comfortable.
There is no definition for what is ‘too risky’. This is a complex and detailed area of your life, and you need to go through this process to plan what is going to work best for you in your new home.
Next steps
- Read through the example scenarios below
- Use the worksheet below to figure out which skills you want to focus on before you change your living situation
Scenarios
Adam
Adam catches the bus from his new home – a sleepout at his sister Miriam’s place – to his volunteer work in the city. He is very social and has quickly come to know several of the locals who catch the same bus he does in the mornings.
When he catches the bus home in the afternoon there are lots of people at the city bus station that he does not know, and, on several occasions, Adam has brought home people he has just met that day. Miriam worries that Adam is vulnerable to being hurt and having his (and her) things stolen by these strangers. Adam thinks she is treating him like a child and not letting him make friends.
They agree to install a doorbell camera, which Miriam can monitor from her phone, so that she has security and Adam has autonomy. They also have some robust conversations about safety with strangers and what warning signs Adam should keep an eye out for.
Charlie and Matteo
Charlie and Matteo share a wheelchair-accessible house and they pool their flexible funding to have paid support during the day, rather than having sleepover-support at night. When they moved in together they decided that they would rather spend their funding on opportunities to improve their everyday lives than on risk-management for a scenario, such as falling out of bed, which might never happen. If it did, they had a plan to use their phones to call their neighbour for help.
This plan worked well for years until the one night Charlie did fall out of bed but couldn’t reach his phone, and Matteo didn’t wake up when he called out. Faced with a tricky situation, Charlie pulled his duvet off the bed and slept on the floor. When the paid support arrived in the morning, Charlie was cold and had a few bruises, but he was able to get up and get going with his day focused, on the things he has chosen to prioritise.
Sam
Sam likes his own company and to be near the water, so finding a yacht at the marina for rent was a dream come true. The boat has a small galley without a lot of space for cooking and meal preparation. After moving in Sam had a few accidents while trying to cut vegetables in his moving boat and tiny kitchen. Sam brainstorms with a friend and realises that he can adjust his supermarket shopping to focus on pre-cut or frozen vegetables to minimise the risk. He still gets to eat nutritious meals that he loves, but he doesn’t have to cut up all the vegetables for his favourite stir-fry.
Worksheets
Prioritising and managing risk
Use this worksheet to identify any risks that will come with a new living situation and prioritise how you will manage those risks.
