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Person-centered planning is a process-oriented approach empowering people to plan their life, find their voice, and work toward reaching their goals. Person-centered planning is used to create service plans for all Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Waivers.
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
Resources for Participants
Nebraska's Person-Centered Planning Initiative
DHHS - Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) is working to encourage Person-Centered Planning.
- In 2020 DDD and the Nebraska Council on Developmental Disabilities (NCDD) began working together on an 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.
- In April 2025 the National Community of Practice (CoP) was on-site in Nebraska. They provided a Technical Assistance Visit Summary to help Nebraska better support families.
Life Experience Quick Guides
Contain questions from each life domain for that specific life stage. Can be used by anyone to work toward their vision for a good life.
Charting the LifeCourse
Charting the LifeCourse (CtLC) is a tool for person-centered planning developed 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 stakeholders and has been used in many 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.
PCP Champions: Dive into Charting the LifeCourse
DHHS has a monthly discussion on the first Tuesday of each month on Webex at 3:00 PM, CT, led by Amy Callendar-Taft, a Service Coordinator and CTLC Ambassador. Anyone can attend. We want to engage participants, guardians, independent providers, and agency staff.
Sessions are open discussions about how CtLC tools work and any problems people have.
- We share ideas, show examples, talk about resources, problem solve, and explore the tools.
- We talk about how teams can use CtLC tools to create goals, supports, and improve the lives of those they were created for and by.
- We will discuss different community resources, habilitative ideas, technology, and relationships.
- Most importantly, we open essential dialog between participants, Service Coordinators, families, and providers about the value of CTLC tools when fully prepared and used.
Join Meeting Meeting ID: 2484 319 0031 Meeting password: FQtsucjC343
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. Participant person-centered plans include Charting the LifeCourse tools.
Closed captioning is available on all 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.