Supported decision-making in practice
Activity 4
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to think about what poor support to make decisions looks like in practice and how to prevent it.
Activity
First watch this short animation of an example of poor practice in supporting victim/survivors with learning disabilities to make decisions.
Supported decision-making: Poor practice
Now reflect and take notes on:
- How the woman with a learning disability in the animation was prevented from making her own decisions.
- What the support worker could have done differently, to support the woman with a learning disability to make her own decisions.
Need some help?
Think about:
- What the support worker did wrong.
- Why it was wrong.
- How it made the victim/survivor with a learning disability feel and respond.
- What could the potential short and long-term consequences be for the victim/survivor with a learning disability?
- Could a supported decision-making approach have helped?
- How could a supported decision-making approach have helped?
Now, listen to what members of People First (Scotland)’s Equally Safe Group advise about supporting victim/survivors with learning disabilities to make decisions in this video.
Activity 5
Purpose: The purpose of this activity is to think about what good support to make decisions looks like in practice and how to promote good practice in your organisation.
Activity
Watch this short video of the same professional offering support to another woman with learning disabilities.
Supported decision-making: Good practice
Now reflect and take notes on:
- What practitioners can do to embed supported decision-making in their everyday work.
- What service providers can do to embed supported decision-making in their organisations’ policies and procedures.
Need some help?
Think about:
- The types of decision-making processes you have previously used to support victim/survivors with or without learning disabilities, whether they were effective and why they were/were not effective.
- Practical steps you can take to support victim/survivors with learning disabilities to make their own informed decisions.
- What resources and support you would need to do this.
- Whether you and/or your colleagues feel confident in supporting women with learning disabilities to make informed decisions, and if not, what would help, for example further information, guidance, or training.
- Which policies and procedures could help your organisation to embed supported decision-making practices, for example Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategies, staff recruitment, induction, and development procedures.
Supported decision-making resources
For further guidance and advice about putting supported decision-making into practice, click here
For further guidance and advice about communicating with people with learning disabilities, click here
