Person-centered planning is a process-oriented approach empowering people to plan their life, find their voice, and work toward reaching their goals.
The goal of person-center planning is to support participants to be the center of planning their supports and goals.
Person-centered planning is really ensuring that the plan is developed with the person, for the person and by the person and so it really is a different way of thinking of how we create services and supports for people based on what the participant wants and not what the system has to offer.
Tony Green, Facebook Live, April 2020
Nebraska's Person-Centered Planning Initiative
DHHS - Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is working to encourage Person-Centered Planning through multiple initiatives:
- Since 2020, DDD and the Nebraska Council on Developmental Disabilities have worked together on a Person-Centered Planning initiative to reinvigorate person-centered supports through a series of webinars with Dr. Mark Friedman.
- As part of the 2022 DHHS Business Plan, DDD committed to developing training and supports for the use of the Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) framework developed by the University of Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC) and the incorporation of CtLC principles and tools into the service planning process.
Charting the LifeCourse
As a part of the 2022 DHHS Business Plan, DDD committed to implementing the Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) framework to continue the Person-Centered Planning initiative, which began in 2020.
CtLC was developed as a tool for person-centered planning by the Institute for Human Development at the University of Missouri –Kansas City, a University Center for Excellence (UCEDD). It was created in partnership with many different national and statewide stakeholders. Since its development, it has been used in more than 18 states as a framework for supporting person-centered planning and decision-making.
- A statewide kick-off was held March 9, 2022 for more than 290 stakeholders across Nebraska. A recording of the meeting is on the PCP Resources page, along with presentation materials.
- DDD continues to provide training and resources to encourage the use of the CtLC framework.
Person-centered planning is used to create service plans for all Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers: the Aged and Disabled Waiver, Developmental Disabilities Waivers, and the Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.
Person-Centered Planning Training
Our training events provided tools to empower participants, their families, and guardians to expand their knowledge and acquire skills to participate effectively in developing self-directed, person-centered plans. Recordings are available on the PCP Resources page.
Person-centered planning training was provided free of charge.
Training sponsored by the
Nebraska Council on Developmental Disabilities.
Collaborators include:
Nebraska DHHS,
Statewide Independent Living Council,
League of Human Dignity,
Brain Injury Alliance,
People First of Nebraska,
The Arc of Nebraska,
Disability Rights Nebraska,
Munroe-Meyer Institute - UCEDD,
Nebraska Association of Service Providers (NASP),
Parent Training and Information (PTI) Nebraska,
Nebraska VR, and
Nebraska Brain Injury Advisory Council.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Attending training for person-centered planning will:
- Empower participants, guardians, and family members in decision making.
- Deepen communication between Service Coordinators and participants, guardians, and family members.
- Strengthen relationships between service providers and participants, guardians and family members.
DHHS hopes to increase the capacity and abilities of participants to advocate for themselves throughout their lives and determine their own services and supports.
To that end, DHHS plans to update the Individual Supports Plan (ISP) to be inclusive Charting the LifeCourse principles.
All Nebraskans are welcome to use the training resources and webinars.
As part of the Person-Centered Planning series, DHHS staff received training specific to their roles:
- Supervisors had two-hour sessions, one day per week for eight weeks. Training covered person-centered planning and skills for facilitating meetings online using online platforms.
- Service Coordinators had two-hour sessions, one day per week for eight weeks. Trainings covered topics specific to service coordination and person-centered planning, such as how to develop the person's vision of their future, how to build a person-centered plan into an ISP, and how to facilitate ISP meetings.
Other trainings, resources, webinars, and other opportunities are posted as available to participants and those who support them.
Closed captioning is available for all training sessions.
For PCP training in partnership with the Nebraska Council on DD, an experienced translator provided live audio Spanish translation for all webinars, as requested. Translation was based on input from Jessica Gutierrez, Bilingual-Parent resource coordinator at Munroe-Meyer Institute and on our Project Advisory Committee.
Translations for Charting the LifeCourse curriculum and resources are being developed. The CtLC website has the options for other languages. Charting the LifeCourse has a specific page of Spanish Resources.
This project was supported in part by grant funds provided to the Nebraska Council on Developmental Disabilities through Grant #2001SCDDNE, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.