Person-Centred Practice

The DADHC Guide – Exploring and implementing Person Centred Approaches gives us this definition: ‘Person centred planning puts the person with the disability at the centre of the planning, listens deeply to them and their family and friends, learns over time what it is they want for their life now and in the future, and then acts on this’ (DADHC, 7)

In the words of Adam Kahane: ‘Being an expert is a severe impediment to listening and learning’.

At The Housing Connection, we know no other way than to be person centred, individually focused, and it is certainly not a new approach. However, just speaking the language of person centred practice makes not difference to anyone – it is our actions and their impacts on those we support that matter.

Nevertheless, we all need to be careful in saying that ‘we already do it’. Person centred planning and practice goes well beyond the traditional individualized planning processes with which we are all familiar. (Garner and Dietz 1994). This approach is not confined by a negative focus of the individual with disability, on what they cannot do, on stereotypes, minimal expectations about what is possible and the narrow confines of a service delivery system. Traditional approaches still focus on the ‘system’ and how people fit into ‘slots’ or spaces within programs. However, all systems have resource limitations or specifications that do not address specific needs of individuals. People have been forced to accept what is on offer, rather than what they want. The person centred approach relies less on formal resources, though these are of course critical, and harnesses the capacity by using individualised, natural and creative supports to achieve meaningful goals based on the individual’s strengths and preferences. A focus on what is available restricts our vision.

Some of the principles of a person centred approach include:

• The focus is on the individual – who they are and what they desire.
• There is a future orientation.
• Planning takes place with the individual with a disability, a group of friends and supports, other service providers and peers with the aim of developing the capacity of family and informal networks – but it is the person with a disability who defines the goals and owns the plan.
• Services need to know the individual/family and their wishes intimately and work together to develop the vision. There is a shift in power.
• The crux of person centredness is voice, choice and control.
• There needs to be a shared ideal between the individual and those providing support.
• The emphasis is on creating and implementing a dream for a full and rich life for the person with a disability, based on strengths, interests, values, aspirations and choices.
• Working with the individual to make choices about where and with whom the will live; what they do during the day; how they will be involved in the community. There is a reduced reliance on formal supports.

Person centred practice is, of course, not the same as self-directed funding and support, in which funding goes directly to the person rather than the service. This model of support is in its infancy in the NSW context and The Housing Connection welcomes this approach for those who choose it.

The registration brochure for this conference informs us that to ‘ensure quality outcomes for people with disability, their families and carers, the disability services sector must continue to progress person-centred and individualised approaches to service planning and delivery and create a system where the person is firmly at the centre.’ In keeping with the theme of this conference, Walk the Talk… Together, we want to give the opportunity to those who have walked the journey – people living with disability their whole lives – to tell us what ‘walking the talk’ actually looks like. What does person-centred practice feel like to the people whom we serve? Ultimately, it is our clients who are only ones in a position to say whether we truly honour and act on this philosophy.

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Related posts:

1. Walk in Our Shoes: People with Disability Share their Experience of Person-Centred Practice
2. What do the values of the community sector look like in practice?