- The concept and process of person centered planning are integral to the philosophy of recovery and essential for a mental health system to be truly a recovery oriented system of care.
- Person centered planning is the operationalization of respect for a person’s right to make life choices. (Tondora et al)
- So, what exactly does person centered planning mean? At its most rudimentary, person centered planning means that the person receiving service is at the centre of all discussions, planning, interventions, evaluations, and decisions making. It means that the person is in charge of defining future directions for his or her life. This means that nothing is planned or undertaken without the person’s active input and consent.
- A component of person centered planning involves supporting the person to articulate their needs, strengths, resources, choices, options and potential consequences of their choices both positive and negative – this process is called “informed decision-making.”
- Once an individual feels strong enough to begin discussing next steps toward recovery, helping the person develop his or her own goals for gaining or re-gaining a sense of purpose is an important next step. This point doesn’t seem necessary either.
- Person centered planning utilizes client-directed decision-making, in an equal partnership to identify strengths and resources available to take steps toward achieving goals. For a more detailed discussion on terminology, please see Francis CJ, Johnson A, Wilson RL. Supported decision!making interventions in mental healthcare: a systematic review of current evidence and implementation barriers. Health Expect. 2024;27:e14001. doi:10.1111/hex.14001
A true partnership based on mutual respect and trust and rapport must be established (see Module 1 for information and tips on establishing rapport and trust).
- Such a partnership is at the heart of person-centered planning. This true partnership can only be accomplished when the person in recovery is the one who decides what goals they wish to achieve, what services will best support them to achieve their goals, and which providers would be best to facilitate the process. The choice for provider may be based on the mutual respect, trust and rapport that has been established between client and provider.
- Identifying the individual’s strengths, resources, goals, and steps toward achieving each goal is key to helping someone discover and transition into meaningful and purposeful activity, such as employment or volunteerism.
- In addition to a partnership with a helping person, each of us needs social support. Support can be found in the form of family members, friends, a team of supporters, peers and formalized peer supporter networks, and community groups. This type of support can significantly help people gain and keep employment.