Person Centered Planning is a term used to describe a variety of approaches used to help a person identify what is desired and meaningful in their life. The common theme in each approach is that the person is the primary focus; their hopes dreams and desires are the priority.

People invite their family and others that care about them to be part of the planning meeting. The team’s role is to help share the things that are most important to the person and to develop action steps to move toward the desired future.  Planning always includes a process facilitator that leads the group through a series of conversations. The facilitator also assures that the person centered planning meeting remains respectful and that the person’s choices are at the center of all discussions. The planning meeting may also include a graphic recorder. The recorders job is to capture in picture and words the essence of the meeting. Graphic recording helps everyone to see what is being written in way that all people can understand.

Person Centered Planning can have a significant effect on the amount of positive control that people have in their lives. People’s hopes, dreams, and desires typically center around where they live, where they work, where they go, who they spend time with, and how they can have more independence in their lives. The focus is on these things that are important to the person, not the disability.

I first started working on Person Centered Planning methods with the Hammer staff in the early 1990s. Hammer Residence Inc. was always looking for the best way to support people to have the life they desired. They worked hard to listen to the people they served and to develop resources and supports around the person. They were ahead of their time. Person Centered Thinking and Person Centered Planning is now mandated in Minnesota by Rule 245D and the Positive Support Rule.  This is exciting for everyone, and especially for the staff that have been working so long to help people have the lives they really want. This is not just the rule: it is the right thing to do for people. We are all excited to see people have control of their lives and to identify what will make a difference for them. Please join our conversation at Hammer’s Family Education Forum as we focus on the critical importance of our role in this process. Together we are better!

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Person centered thinking and person centered planning seem to be the buzzwords in the disability world, again. We have been talking about these concepts for all of my 30+ years in the field. We all want to believe that we are providing person centered services and that we have been doing it all of our careers. However, the things we believed were person centered 20 years ago are now things we cannot believe that we did. We scratch our heads and say, “What was I thinking?” Being person centered means we must continue to think about our work and how what we do leads the people we support to the lives they want.

Effective January 2014, providers across the state of Minnesota are required to comply with a new rule, Chapter 245D “Home and Community-based Services Standards.” The intent of the rule is to assist us to be more person centered in our service delivery. It asks teams to look at not only what is important for a person (issues of health, safety and security) but also what is important to a person. Things that are important to a person are the things that help us all to feel satisfied, fulfilled, content and happy. Think about what’s important in your life … Who are the people you want to be with? What are the things you like to do? What are things you must have?

Really understanding what is important to a person requires us to plan in a different way. New assessment tools will ask different questions. They will focus on strengths and desires rather than on deficits and vulnerabilities. Our planning conversations will be different; we need to focus on the future and not as much on the past. The individuals we support need to be in control of their meetings and outcomes.

Everyone has hopes, dreams, and desires. Our job is to learn what they are and help each person move in the direction they choose. We must continue to work at being person centered. We don’t want to be scratching our heads another 20 years from now.

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