Supported decision-making helps a person understand choices, express preferences and remain at the centre of decisions.
What support can look like
- Using the person’s preferred language, communication method and pace.
- Explaining options, benefits, risks and consequences in accessible terms.
- Giving time to ask questions, revisit a choice or try an option safely.
- Involving only the people the participant chooses, subject to lawful authority.
- Recording the person’s will and preferences, including when views differ.
Dignity of risk
Safety matters, but avoiding every risk can also remove choice and opportunity. Good support helps identify a proportionate way to pursue what matters to the person while planning safeguards together.
Ways to make your voice clearer
Ask for fewer choices at once, pictures, a trial visit, more time, an interpreter, an advocate or a meeting at a time and place that works for you.