The benefits of Positive Risk Taking
The benefits of Positive Risk Taking
Supporting individuals to take positive risks in their lives is not about encouraging them to sky dive or drive fast cars. It’s about individuals taking control of their lives and making choices – either positive or negative – and then learning from the consequences of those choices – again positive or negative. At Frontier, we believe that everyone has the right to take risks, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us when we’re supporting them.
Clearly, positive risk taking, doesn’t eliminate the need for safeguarding or the duty of care that support providers must work with. It’s about identifying the risks associated with any given activity and then assessing how that activity can be completed in a way that :
- builds confidence
- develops new skills
- teaches responsibility
- demonstrates there are consequences if decisions are wrong
- promotes learning from making mistakes
- manages emotional constraints
- enables people to learn from missed opportunities
- engenders satisfaction in succeeding
- builds esteem
- gives an individual power to make choice in all areas of their lives
- views risk taking as a good and positive experience
Our policy of supporting people to take positive risks is part of our belief that, as much as possible, it’s our role to put the people we support in the driving seat of their own lives. The alternative – to consider risk as a negative experience that’s best avoided – can lead to a limited and sterile life for the person being supported. And that’s not the Frontier way.