Person-Centred Planning for older people and carers

Everyone needs to manage or have control of his or her own life. Sometimes there is a need to compromise the way people live around the lives of loved ones or companions, but in the final analysis every individual needs to be sure they make their own decisions and that others do not make the decisions for them.

In order to achieve a basic balanced approach to living everyone needs to have access to some financial security, appropriate support, and fulfilling activities that interest us whilst ensuring that we are healthy and safe and not a risk to others.

In order to achieve this it is necessary to work out what you want to do with your life and to ensure that everyone around you knows how you want to live. Sometimes it is advisable to discuss these wishes with relatives, friends or professional advisers, but the final decisions should be up to the individual whose wishes should be respected, providing they do not put the lives of others at risk, in which case it may be necessary to agree a compromise.

These decisions do not have to wait until you have an illness or life threatening condition, in fact it is better to make plans to cover all eventualities and then live your life to the full without worrying about what will happen when you become unfit or incapable of being totally independent.

1. Planning your life as an older person or carer

   Person-centred planning is a process developed to assist people with learning difficulties to manage their own lives, but it is not just for people with disabilities but is easily and equally transferrable to anyone of any age. It is actually just a name for a natural process we all go through, for better or for worse. The tools can be used by all of us and are best learnt by application to ourselves first.

   Sometimes it is difficult to work out the best thing to do and we may need the help and support of other people to do this in respect of our own particular circumstances. The Person-centred planning process helps people work out the best thing for themselves and encourages individuals to take control of their life.

2. Person-centred planning was developed for a number of reasons:

   • Life is not easy - we all find difficulties sometimes, are unable to find direction or unable to see how to achieve what we want.
   • Support is powerful - we all need support to be independent. If our life is in the control of others, decisions are often made without reference to us or to the people who are important to us.
   • Everyone makes assumptions sometimes - If we rely on others to support us we are vulnerable to their assumptions about what is important for us and this may not be what we actually want.
   • We can become defined by support - If our life is in the control of others then we can lose our sense of having our own life and our own community, instead we become defined by their habits and practices.

3. Processes available:

   There are number of structured processes available to assist in planning your own life such as PATHs, MAPs, Personal Futures Planning, Essential Lifestyle Planning. At the centre of all the processes is the belief that every single individual has their own life to lead, a life that is right for them.

• PATH: Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope

  Developed by John O'Brien, Marsha Forest and Jack Pearpoint - a graphical model for helping people find direction and build strength.

• MAPS: McGill Action Planning System

  Developed by John O'Brien, Marsha Forest, Jack Pearpoint, Judith Snow and David Hasbury - a series of questions by which individuals can develop a plan of action to head towards their dream and away from their nightmare

• PFP: Personal Futures Planning

  Developed by Beth Mount - a flexible set of questions and graphical maps for building up a sense of the individual's strengths and gifts and how they could be better utilised.

• ELP: Essential Lifestyle Planning

  Developed by Michael Smull and Susan Harrison - a powerful means of gathering information about what is and is not working in your life now.

  At the heart of all these processes is the belief that every single individual has their own life to lead, a life that is right for them.

4. There are many potential benefits to planning in a person-centred way:

   • Positive - Person-centred planning is a positive process. It provides you with the chance to think about your strengths and interests and to build on these. It helps you to get from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

   • Individual - Person-centred planning is about you as an individual. It provides a way you can think about your own unique value as a human being and helps people think about you as an individual.
   • Powerful - Person-centred planning finds ways, even when communication is difficult, to put the individual in control of their own life.
   • Ordinary - Person-centred planning can be used by all of us; it simply builds on all the ordinary things we can do to help ourselves make good decisions.