Frequently asked questions about formal person-centered planning

Formal person-centered planning:

• Is a process-based approach to empowering people to have a voice and have positive control over their lives
• Involves exploration, discovery and learning that deepens our understanding of a person
• Is a facilitated process to support a person to achieve his or her dreams and make steps toward those dreams
• Strengthens and supports experience, talents and contributions of people, families and communities 
• Honors and respects the person and his or her dignity (without judgments) 
• Responds respectfully and effectively to people of all cultures, classes, ethnic backgrounds, races, religions and other diversity factors to affirm their worth as members of their communities 
• Focuses on the people who use services, putting them in charge of envisioning and defining the direction for their lives, not on the systems that might or might not be available to serve them 
• Ultimately leads to greater inclusion for people as valued members of both community and society.

Every planning process has a distinct purpose. Each planning process or methodology (e.g. PATH, MAPS, Picture of a Life) is unique. Some methods are better aligned to support certain planning purposes (e.g. Picture of a Life is great for someone who wants to move). Every formal person-centered planning process, however, will seek to: 

• Understand who a person is 
• Establish and support a personal vision 
• Work to build community supports and actions on behalf of the person in achieving that vision.

In a formal person-centered planning process: 

• The person will meet with the person-centered planning facilitator and a person whom he or she knows and trusts. 
• The process generally requires multiple meetings to get to know the person and circle of support before a formal planning meeting. 
• The facilitator and circle of support listen to understand the context of a person’s life and how the person wants to live his or her life. 
• The person and circle of support will identify action steps to move forward. 
• Key people will be enrolled who can help support these action steps and who can help the person be involved in his or her community. 
• The facilitator, person and circle of support will determine how to best measure success based on quality outcomes and determine how to follow up to make sure everyone is following through on their commitments. 
• Implementation is key to success. 
• Plans that are created in partnership are more likely to be implemented than plans created in isolation. 
• Actions should be shared by the whole circle. 
• People doing the day-to-day work must have the requisite person-centered thinking skills to ensure better implementation and ongoing learning; therefore, part of the formal person-centered planning process might include training offered by the facilitator for those supporters implementing the formal person-centered plan. 
• The person, his or her team and the facilitator celebrate successes.

• The person asks for it 
• The person’s voice is not being heard or his or her voice is not strong enough 
• The person or team feels “stuck” and needs more in-depth support to envision and articulate the person’s desired future 
• A person doesn’t know what he or she wants and doesn’t know the possibilities 
• The support planner and team are having trouble figuring out what is important to or for the person and the balance between important to and important for 
• Prior plans have not produced good/meaningful outcomes for the person 
• The team is stuck on implementation of the person’s vision or needs support in deepening the planning process with the person 
• A major change like transitioning out of school or out of the family home 
• The person’s team is at odds/disagrees about future steps or next directions

A person-centered planning facilitator: 

• Uses a "toolbox" of methods and resources that enables people to choose their own pathways to success 
• Supports people as they figure out where they want to go and how best to get there 
• Helps gather a group a people, or circle of support, important to the person who can help the person achieve his or her dream. The circle of support: 
  • Celebrates the person’s gifts, strengths and talents 
  • Creates trust that the person can make a contribution to his or her community 
• Acknowledges all voices in the group while asking probing questions to spark conversations and discussions 
• Supports the team in brainstorming ideas with the person 
• After brainstorming, captures the action steps to support the person in achieving his or her dreams 
• Supports the team to determine ongoing training and coordination needed to fulfill the plan 
• Works in partnership with teams to build trust, create a safe place to say anything, to clearly identify goals and support the implementation of those goals 
• May work with a graphic recorder who captures words and images as the person and the team describe them 
• Delivers information to the person and his or her team in a way that all can understand 
• Provides a written summary of the person-centered plan, which includes what’s important to the person, the vision of a desired life and goals/action steps.

Yes. The following resources are available at Disability Hub MN:

• Benefits Planning Toolkit
• Housing Toolkit
• Informed Choice Toolkit