Risk

Risk is a big topic in Social Work. This is more at the front of my mind this week because I attended a training course where we were discussing it. I think the initial thought process to consider is what a risk is or what does that mean to different people. Is this another term that means more to professionals than the people we support.

The thing that I find really interesting is that we are so concerned about the risks that the people we support take on a daily basis when they may not even see it as a risk. As not just practitioners but people we take many risks every single day that we do not even think about. Even on a basic level we do tasks such as crossing a road without even considering that it is a risk. I think about it a bit more because I have a young child so I am usually explaining to her why we have to be careful and why it could be unsafe. It may be a consideration that is taken into account when supporting people with learning disabilities or someone who has difficulties with road safety but how do we provide support with this? What steps would need to be taken and how would these look different depending on who we were talking to.

This is how supporting anyone with risk should look regardless of the size of the risk. It should not be a one size fits all approach because everyone has a different level of understanding or ability. One behaviour may be a risk for one person but not for another. Most of the time the discussions I get into when working with older people is that family see something as a concern or a worry but when we explore it further I do not agree. It is obviously more difficult to be subjective when it is a family member but that does not mean that something is as much of a worry as people think. I remember a case I had where the concern that had been raised with us was that the older person was going outside her house in the dark. When I explored this further she was going out into her garden at about 9pm. I personally did not see this as a risk, it could have been that she wanted some fresh air and if she was younger or did not have a Dementia diagnosis then it would not have been an issue at all.

This happens a lot with different types of behaviour that is viewed as risky. These usually relate to money or sexual activity most of the time in my experience. An older person giving money to a new person in their lives can be seen as abuse and a major risk but there are occasions when I have discussed this with the family and they have said they have always been generous and given money to other people so why all of a sudden when they reach a certain age is that behaviour no longer acceptable. I remember a discussion I had in a lecture when completing my Social Work degree about an older gentleman who employed the services of sex workers and would spend a lot of his money on this. His daughter had taken his laptop from him as this was how he was arranging it and his bank card so he could not access his money. Both of these are unlawful because they breach his Article 8 Human Right to a private and family life. It is not up to the daughter in this scenario how he chooses to spend his money and as a Social Worker it is not our choice either.

Another aspect of this type of situation is realistically who are we to decide that something is a risk, there are certain activities that I would not personally engage in such as sky diving but for someone that does this on a regular basis and has had all the training they no longer see it as an issue. It is important to take into consideration how often it has happened and what the person has to say about it. Like the person outside in the dark, if you spoke to them they may say they wanted to see the stars or the moon.

Is the action a risk they are taking repeatedly or did they maybe make an unwise decision once that is being repeatedly used as an example of how they are not aware of risks. This can happen for other situations too such as if someone has lashed out and hurt someone once then they can be labelled as violent or that they demonstrate challenging behaviour. That is something that can cause issues when trying to find placements or support for them in the future because people will not always deal with them if they are violent.

I think a really interesting activity is to think through a normal day in your life and look at how many risks you take. Even something as simple as pouring a kettle of boiling water. 

So how many risks do you take in a day?