Take your ‘what ifs’ for a test drive.

Positive Risk Taking How to step out of your comfort zone and into success

‘Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing at all.’ Your dreams matter. Whether you dream of learning to sail, getting a job, moving out of home, or learning to swim, your hopes for the future are important and valuable. Positive risk taking is a way of thinking about risks and rewards when making the decision to try something new. It looks at the positive outcomes that can come from taking part in new activities, whilst being smart and realistic about managing possible risks. In a social services setting, positive risk taking is a vital element of ‘person-centred planning,’ – a model of disability service that puts you in charge of your own story. Every individual has the right to take risks and no-one has the right to stop you choosing what risks you take.

44

www.progressmagazine.co.uk

Positive risk taking is about bringing your parents, service providers and supporting friends along on the journey to reaching your goals.

Positive risk taking is about bringing your parents, service providers and supporting friends along on the journey to reaching your goals.

Facing fears and taking risks can be even harder for them than it is for you, so a positive step-bystep process is a way to make change easier for everyone. If you ask yourself ‘what are

Helen Keller

the consequences of not taking risks in life?’ the answer will be true for everyone: there will be less change. There will be less learning, fewer adventures, and less of an ability to handle life’s surprises in the future without taking some controlled risks in the now. ‘You could say that denying an individual’s opportunities to take their own risks is actually depriving them of life experience and learning,’ added Dela Begum, SweetTree Learning Disabilities Service Manager, ‘which means putting them at greater risk of harm in the future.’ Risk can never be completely eliminated from a person’s life but there are a number of ways to positively manage and therefore, embrace risk.