Personal budgets: risk enablement and mental health

What is the video about?
This film showcases the work of Stockport Council and Pennine Care NHS Trust. As part of their risk enablement strategy for personal budgets and mental health they established a risk enablement panel as a last resort for discussing final support plans for people considered to be at risk. However, in the three years since the panel was established, they have only used it twice. Stockport has also committed to a culture change where staff and service users are able to openly discuss positive risk taking and concerns about risk. This has resulted in people with mental health problems (even those with more complex needs who use a budget managed by a third party) being able to use their personal budgets more creatively. They are experiencing positive outcomes such as improved confidence and self-determination and greater levels of activity. They also have more opportunities to take up volunteering and training for employment.
Messages for practice
Risk enablement is a vital part of self directed support planning and personal budget use for people with mental health problems
Enabling people to take positive risk is an integral part of choice, control, independent living and mental health recovery
There needs to be organisation-wide understanding and embedding of risk enablement and staff need to feel confident in supporting people with mental health problems to take positive risks, which may include innovative use of personal budgets
Who will find this useful?
Commissioners; adult social care service directors and managers; service providers in all sectors; frontline staff supporting adults (including older people) with self-directed support planning and personal budgets (i.e. social workers, community psychiatric nurses, OTs etc); service users and carers;