How to Manage Risk as a Support Coordinator

It is imperative that Support Coordinators understand how to manage risk as part of their profession. In this article, we explore risk management specifically related to the NDIS landscape, to assist you in your complex and busy role.

ByMary Ingerton, Managing Director at Support Coordination Academy.

We regularly encounter risk in our lives.

For Support Coordinators, it’s a factor that requires constant attention. It comes with the territory, and, naturally, the NDIS takes risk management very seriously.

So, how do you manage risk in the role of a Support Coordinator?

In this insightful article, we explore the topic in practical terms, outlining examples where risk may occur and detailing strategies to manage and mitigate risk and much more.

Here is what you need to know…

Risk for Support Coordinators in the NDIS

As most of us would know, risk is defined as the potential for harm to arise from a particular action or event. 

Risk occurs when there is uncertainty of the effects or implications of an event happening, which are viewed in terms of negative or undesirable consequences. This may include things like a deterioration in someone’s health, a person becoming unsafe within a specific setting, or a critical impact on someone’s wellbeing.

As an intermediary between the NDIS and a participant, Support Coordinators have a professional responsibility to develop the skills to assess, manage and report on risk – as a safeguard within their role.

When assessing risk, Support Coordinators weigh up the likelihood of a risk occurring, and if the risk does eventuate, the most likely outcome based on evidence that a Support Coordinator has at hand. 

Support Coordinators use risk assessments to evidence how barriers to accessing the supports a participant needs to live their best life, impacts on and creates risk for a participant. 

Assessing risk is a two-pronged approach – identifying the impact of current risk and future risk to a participant.

Let’s look at an example of each scenario…

Current risk

A participant disclosed they were in a domestic violence relationship, which not only placed their safety at risk, but also created barriers to the participant accessing the support they needed to maintain their health.

The participant had limited ability to understand the impact of these controlling behaviours, which placed them at significant risk of deteriorating health.

A Support Coordinator may implement a mitigation strategy to link the participant with a domestic violence support service and/or a counselling service to understand how the controlling behaviours impact on their ability to get the support they need.

This is an example of a participant experiencing risk in their current situation.

Future risk

A participant continuously chooses to have relationships with people who manipulate them to hand over money, which creates a financial burden.

A Support Coordinator may implement a mitigation strategy to link supports (e.g., a psychologist) to help the participant gain insight into their choices and the consequences of not having enough money each week to pay bills or their rent.

If these behaviours continue even after putting safeguards in place, the participant would likely be at risk of becoming homeless.

This is an example of a participant being subject to future risk if nothing changes.

Dignity of Risk vs Duty of Care

A Support Coordinator also needs to possess the skills to understand the differences between a dignity of risk and duty of care response to assessed risk.

What Is a Dignity of Risk?

A dignity of risk recognises that people with disability have freedom of choice, the right to take reasonable risks and to learn from their experiences – just like any person in society. 

A Support Coordinator must respect a participant’s right to independence and the right to live the life they choose, even if their choices involve a level of risk and may lead to an adverse outcome.

A Support Coordinator’s responsibility is to take reasonable steps to support a participant to understand how to manage the risk safely with appropriate safeguards in place, which are evidenced in a Support Coordinator’s file notes. 

An action to put safeguards in place could include:

• Raising concerns with the participant directly, to help them understand the impact of their choices and to problem solve strategies to safely manage any risk.
• Linking a participant into supports and services that will help to educate and increase their capacity to make informed and safe choices.

What Is a Duty of Care?

Duty of care is a term often used within the disability sector that refers to the actions an organisation and their staff must take to ensure no harm comes to the participants they support. 

This means an organisation that is providing direct support to a participant has a legal or moral responsibility to protect the safety and wellbeing of participants. 

In this context, the term ‘duty of care’ recognises that a participant is at risk of a more urgent or critical consequence, which often requires a more intensive and coordinated response. 

A Support Coordinator’s responsibility in these situations includes assessing the overall level of risk to a participant and developing a risk management plan. This assists a Support Coordinator to:

• Evidence the factors that contribute to a level of risk and the impact for a participant
• Develop risk-mitigation strategies to reduce the likelihood and impact of the risk occurring
• Document the actions taken to mitigate the risk
• Detail how the risk is being managed and monitored

How Does a Support Coordinator Assess Which Response Is Required?

It is always important to assess risk, taking into consideration, the severity/impact if the risk occurs and the likelihood of the risk occurring.

Think of risk on a continuum, where severity starts from the left (e.g. low) and progresses to the right (critical).

This is imperative to ensure the response is always focused on the least intrusive option and follows a person-centred approach, accounting for the participant’s right to freedom of choice. 

A Support Coordinator must assess the overall level of risk, which is the accumulative effect of all risk factors identified, to determine whether the situation requires a dignity of risk or duty of care response.

If the overall risk level will ‘likely occur’ and ‘have a serious impact’ or ‘an event has already occurred that has a serious to critical impact’, this would generally indicate a duty of care response is required.

This could include an event that places the participant at risk of being:

• Exposed to the criminal justice system
• Physically harmed by someone in the community
• Experiencing psychological harm
• Inflicting physical harm on others

It is important that Support Coordinators don’t feel that they need to assess and manage risk on their own, especially when working independently. 

Instead, Support Coordinators should access specific training, find a mentor or get supervision or coaching, to develop the skills to assess and manage risk, as well as take care of their own health and wellbeing. 

Risk Subjectivity

Support Coordinators commonly ask, “How do we assess risk and know what actions we need to take?”. This is particularly so when they don’t have the skills or experience to assess risk.

What they are referring to is risk subjectivity. 

Risk subjectivity acknowledges that what one person may consider a risk might not be perceived as a risk by others. This is due to each person’s varying perspectives and subjective interpretations when assessing risk. 

Understanding how to mitigate the impact of risk subjectivity is crucial. This enables a Support Coordinator to make informed decisions to manage risk effectively, while minimising the potential impact and likelihood of a risk occurring. 

Support Coordination providers must have a comprehensive Risk Management Policy and Procedures document in place to provide direction to their Support Coordinators around their expectations of how risk is to be managed. 

A Risk Management Policy and Procedure document should include the following four elements:

1. Definitions and examples of the tolerance levels of risk within an organisation and the actions a Support Coordinator must take, for each assessed level of risk.

• Examples are generally drawn from experience in assessing and managing risk and the values of the provider.
• Definitions and examples need to be reviewed and updated as the provider gains more experience and skills in this area.

2. The Procedures need to provide risk assessment tools and clear steps for a Support Coordinator to follow.

• What is the likelihood of the risk occurring? Is it unlikely or likely to occur or will it occur?
• What would be the impact if the risk did occur? Would it have little or no impact, some impact, a serious impact or a critical impact on the participant?

3. Provide clear direction of actions required to manage the potential/actual risk and a Support Coordinator’s reporting responsibilities.

• Who needs to be made aware of the situation and the assessed level of risk – e.g. a Team Leader, a manager?
• What actions does a Support Coordinator need to take and what are the timeframes they need to take these actions within?

4. Procedures should also include:

• Monitoring and reviewing processes to measure the effectiveness of the risk management strategies being implemented.
• How feedback of lessons learned will be captured to facilitate continuous improvement of the Policies and Procedures.

Strategies to Manage Risk

It is crucial that a Support Coordinator takes time to reflect on and assess the factors that contribute to participant risk, then prioritise actions based on the likelihood of the risk occurring.

Taking a planned approach to a crisis situation helps a Support Coordinator to identify other stakeholders within the participant’s support network, who can help to manage the situation and evident risk.

The NDIA refers to the actions a Support Coordinator must take to manage a crisis as “crisis planning, prevention, mitigation and action”.

This does not mean that it is a Support Coordinator’s responsibility to hold on to and manage ongoing risk for a participant. 

Assessing and managing high levels of risk are often achieved through collaboration with supports and services within the stakeholder group connected to a participant. 

Stakeholder meetings are used to raise and discuss concerns, share information, develop mitigation strategies and identify who has the skills and experience to manage the risk.

A risk assessment and risk-management plan is then used to evidence and report on the level of risk a participant is experiencing, how the risk is being managed and recommendations of additional or different NDIS supports required. 

Need More Information?

If you have any questions about this complex topic or require other assistance as a Support Coordinator, contact us today.

To help you to build your skills, Endeavour Foundation has partnered with Support Coordination Academy to offer free online professional learning sessions for Support Coordinators.

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