When something has gone wrong in your life, have you taken responsibility for your actions? What about when things have gone well – do you like to take responsibility then? This article will be about our Making Positive Moves participants discussing when they have taken personal responsibility for where they are today – and the positives and negatives of doing this.
When something has gone wrong in your life, and you’ve acted in a way that has had negative consequences to you or those around you, have you taken responsibility for your actions? What about when things have gone well – have you found you like to take full responsibility then? This article will be about our Making Positive Moves participants discussing when they have taken personal responsibility for where they are today – and the positives and negatives of doing this.
Having agency over our actions and their consequences can be helpful – if something has gone wrong, believing this was all due to us can help us reflect on what happened, learn from our mistakes and think about how we might do things differently next time. And when things have gone well, it’s potentially quite tempting to think that this was all down to ourselves! And to believe that our success was all due to some inner skills and strengths.
For example, Mark described having fewer restrictions now he was on a different section of the Mental Health Act:
It feels really good, and it feels fine, erm, it feels amazing! You know, it feels like I’m climbing a big mountain [laughs]. And, erm, I’m achieving what I am achieving now, and I’m, I’m achieving my goals and, like, my goal is, my, my future is really happening now.
There is a sense from this that Mark feels like he is in the driving seat of his life now; and also potentially a sense of pride in the way that he is describing things so positively.
Linked to this idea of pride, Max talks about how other people are proud of him:
[Staff member] is really proud of me, and, and like, er, the doctors are proud of me and they say it’s all your work, Max.
The way people have told him that it “it’s all your work” seems a real positive for Max here – other people have tried emphasising to Max that he needs to take the credit for the changes that have been happening in his life.
But what about when there are other forces at play in someone’s action or decision – does taking full responsibility for something stop us seeing the context in which these things took place?
At another point, Mark talked about the things that have changed for him that he is happy about (freedom and independence), and feeling that this is all down to him:
I think it’s just like, you know, erm, the situation that I’m in now and, like, the freedom that I’ve got and, erm, the independence that I’ve got. And I think it all comes down to myself, myself, really, the way that I approach things and the way that I manage my behaviour.
The conflict between these ideas made me think about McGill et al (2020)’s discussion of the importance of ‘capable environments’ when it comes to working from a Positive Behaviour Support perspective. The environment in which we find ourselves will impact on our behaviour – from whether the environment is predictable, to how much choice we have, to what levels of support and social interaction are given.
In this way, perhaps there is a bit of both at play. Sometimes people can act in ways that could be harmful, and maybe a sense of responsibility for these can be important. However, when someone isn’t given the right support that they need, i.e. their environment is not fully ‘capable’, is it fair for them to feel the full burden of responsibility?
Some participants described what it was like to feel responsible when things have ‘gone wrong’:
Mick: That shouldn’t happen in my life, you know what I mean? Because I’m an adult now, you know what I mean? I’m not a kid anymore, you know what I mean? Because I have got responsibilities, for my actions, you know what I mean?
Mary: That’s what I try to do, don’t do silly things and end up in hospital, backwards and forwards.
These quotes suggest that there might be negative consequences of taking responsibility, such as a sense of guilt or even a perceived risk of re-admission to hospital.
Henry says this when asked what he would advise others moving out of hospital:
[I would] just tell them. …. Do not self-harm yourself. Do not jump out the window. Do not take overdoses. Don’t shout. Don’t panic. …. Just control your anxiety, and your anxious problem and then attitudes and behaviour.
He discusses the people should ‘just’ control the anxiety and therefore behaviour, but this could be oversimplifying a very complicated issue. People’s behaviour needs to be seen in context, and is influenced by a lot more than someone’s internal motivations. What might Henry feel if at some point he doesn’t live up to his hopes to control these things?
This sense of taking agency for one’s actions, versus understanding behaviours in context, is therefore a complex issue for people with learning disabilities to grapple with after moving out of hospital. We would love to hear your thoughts about the ideas and quotes here – please get in touch.
Suggested further reading: McGill, P., Bradshaw, J., Smyth, G., Hurman, M., & Roy, A. (2020). Capable environments. Tizard Learning Disability Review, 25(3), 109-116.
