The Government’s White Paper ‘Valuing People’ [2001] identified that people with learning disabilities should have as much choice and control as possible over their lives, and that this should be achieved through advocacy and person centred approaches.
Person Centred Planning (PCP) has been adopted by CARE as a way of ensuring that every person using our services remains at the centre of all decisions and choices about their life. Using a person centred approach, we focus on what a person wants to do in their life and the support they might need in order for them to achieve their dreams or ambitions. PCP questions the assumption that needing help and support is undesirable - we all need support, but what we don’t necessarily want is someone else to tell us how to live our life.
An essential part of PCP is the involvement of each person’s wider social network, families and friends, as partners in the planning process. The individual chooses who they wish to involve in this ‘circle of support’ or ‘planning circle’ which, as a group, supports the person to achieve the life they want.
Person Centred Planning encourages individuals to take part in activities that they would enjoy and prefer, not just to choose from those currently on offer. It also focuses on each person’s specific capabilities. In this way, the process gives greater feedback to the organisation, enabling us to develop services that are more successfully tailored to meet the current and future needs of each individual.
