Making a decision

Decisions can be big or small and some can lead to big changes to your life. Below is some information about decision making and advice to help you with the process: 

Mental Capacity 

• When making a decision, you might hear the term ‘mental capacity’
• Mental capacity means being able to understand a decision that needs to be made, think about it and then communicate your views, wishes and feelings about it
• You have the right to be included in decisions about your education and future, unless you feel that it is too difficult for you. 
• You can ask a trusted adult or your parent/carer to support you in making a decision if you feel you need help.  For more about this continue to ‘shared decision making’ below.

Shared Decision Making 

• Shared decision making means that you will be working with others to agree goals that you will be working towards or the treatment or support options that you might need. 
• This could include working with your parents/carers, support worker, professionals or a supporting agency, team or service.
• Shared decision making will take a person-centred approach.  This means giving you all the information that you need and listening to your views, wishes and feelings about it. 
• You might find this video by Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families on shared decision making helpful:

Shared Decision Making Top Tips for Young People

You will make small decisions each day about what to wear, what to eat, but what about when it comes to the bigger decisions such as your education?         

It can be helpful to break down the decision into steps. 

Write down your thoughts and/or talk it through with a trusted adult. 

Consider the things below:                                       

• What is the decision to be made?
• What options are there to choose from?
• What would be the outcome of each option?
• What do you like about each option?
• What do you not like about each option?
• Which option feels best for you?
• What needs to happen next?
• How will you know it was a good decision for you?

Write down your thoughts and/or talk it through with a trusted adult. 

Things to thing about: 

• Do you have all the information you need?
• Do you know what your options and outcomes are? Are they clear?
• Do you know why the decision is important and what might happen?
• Do you have questions you need to ask? If you do write them down.
• Do you feel rushed or under pressure to make the decision? Take your time to think about it.
• Do you need to help by talking to someone to make the decision?
• Which options feel right or wrong to you? Explore these feelings. Again, seek help from a trusted adult if you need to.
• Can the decision be broken down into smaller steps? Would it help to make a plan to lead up to a bigger change?
• Have you made any similar decisions before – how did they go? Did you learn anything from them?
• What would happen if you chose the wrong option and did not like the outcome? What would you do?
• What would be the worst that could happen? Are you happy taking a risk and/or feel prepared?
• Is everyone you want involved in the process?
• Do you feel comfortable discussing any personal information? If not, who could you talk to about this?