More talk about a good life, less talk about risk

• Kerry Mcinnes and Stephen Finlayson

More talk about a good life, less talk about risk.........

Thoughts from adult protection research

How it feels we often think about risk............................

Between 2011 and 2013 a group of people who used services provided by Altrum organisations worked as participant researchers alongside Stirling University researchers.

We used forum theatre to create depictions of practice that allowed participants the opportunity to take a moment by moment tour of steps in the ASP process.

Research Questions• In the opinion of people who use services,

what should professionals consider when they:– make decisions about risk;– attempt to balance issues of protection and

restriction;– obtain the views of the person who is being

assessed as potentially at risk?

Aimed at developing guidance for practitioners

Key findings• Many of the findings connect with existing research

about good practice. • You cannot underestimate the anxiety that the

feeling of being under scrutiny, or having your capacity judged, causes.

• The process can crush or nurture growth and resilience.

• The processes of ASPA (and risk assessment) can make it easy for people to feel they are not in control and at the heart of the situation.

Kerry’s story•Felt like I was just a number on a file.•Felt like the decisions were being made behind my back.•Felt like I didn’t have the same rights as everyone else.

• Focus on outcomes gives opportunity for new language around risk (worries!)• An outcomes conversation will inevitably have some focus on what people

are worried about…………….but in the context of what they hope for their lives.

Outcomes and worries........

The tools we developed.........

(Or more honestly adapted, evolved, and err borrowed.........)

•A tool to plan for how the person wants their life to be beyond the risk. (In outcomes language a quality of life or change outcome).•A tool to think about the concerns and feelings of the person involved during the concerns (In outcomes language a process outcome).

• Ordinary language…………ordinary conversations & solutions.• Technical, bureaucratic language………….technical, bureaucratic

conversations and solutions.• Risk and risk assessment………………….health and safety, industrial

origins………ill suited to social care. New phenomenon…………..not present pre 1990’s.

• Worries………….ordinary language without presumption of requiring to be fixed.

Language matters

What are we worried about?

How worried are we?

What can we do to worry less?

RISK

A Report with recommendations at each stage of the process

Visual Tools to make the overall process and each stage easier to engage with

A suite of video clips that show: How we worked

Dramatised issues for discussion at each stage

Demonstrate how to use visual tools

A range of planning tools to help keep the person at the centre of the process.The report, videos and tools are all available at: http://www.thistle.org.uk/riskresearchproject/adultprotectionresources

Our resources

Contact us:

Stephen.finlayson@thistle.org.uk

kerrymcinnes1@gmail.com