Methods
Person-centered planning utilises a number of techniques, with the central premise that any methods used must be reflective of the individual's personal communication mechanisms and assist them to outline their needs, wishes and goals. There is no differentiation between the process used and the output and outcomes of the PCP; instead it pursues social inclusion (e.g., community participation, employment and recreation) through inclusive means. Beth Mount characterised the key similarities or 'family resemblances' of the different person centred methods and approaches into four themes:
- seeing people first, rather than diagnostic labels
- using ordinary language and images, rather than professional jargon
- actively searching for a person's gifts and capacities in the context of community life
- strengthening the voice of the person, and those who know the person best in accounting for their history, evaluating their present conditions in terms of valued experiences and defining desirable changes in their life
Person centred thinking skills, total communication techniques, graphic facilitation of meetings and problem solving skills are some methods commonly used in the development of a person centred plan, as are PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows With Hope), circles of support (Canada), MAPS (Canada), personal futures planning (O'Brien & Mount, US), Essential Lifestyle Planning (Maryland, US), person centred reviews, Getting to Know You (Wisconsin, USA), and most recently the use of Person centred thinking tools to build from one page profiles into person centred descriptions/collections of person centred Information and on into full scale plans.
The resultant plan may be in any format that is accessible to the individual, such as a document, a drawing or an oral plan recorded onto a tape or compact disc. Multimedia techniques are becoming more popular for this type of planning as development costs decrease and the technology used becomes more readily available. Plans are updated as and when the individual wishes to make changes, or when a goal or aspiration is achieved. If part of a regular planning process in the US, regular plan updates are usually required by regulatory agencies (e.g., state offices in the USA through local agencies).
Person-centred planning can have many effects that go beyond the making of plans. It can create a space during which someone who is not usually listened to has central stage. It can insist that discussion is centred around what the person is telling us is important to them, with their words and behaviours, as well as what others feel is important for the person. It can engage participants personally by allowing them to hear of deeply felt hopes and fears. It can assist people in a circle of support to re-frame their views of the person it is focused on. It can help a group to solve difficult problems. In the US, person-centered planning can help to create new lifestyles, new homes and jobs, diverse kinds of support (informal and formal)and new social relationships.
Read more about this topic: Person-centred Planning
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