A Person-Centered Organization
At the end of 2007, the Center for Medicaid
and Medicare Services (CMS) awarded the state of Tennessee, in collaboration with five other states (Oregon, Georgia, North
Carolina, Virginia, South Dakota), a Person Centered Planning Implementation Grant. According to the CMS website, "These
three year grants are aimed at changing the basic model of care planning from one that is directed by the needs of the institution
/ agency to one that responds to the needs of the individual. These grants are to help states develop ways to identify the
strengths, capacities, preferences, needs and desired health and quality of life outcomes of the person who needs assistance."
Known as "Good 2 Great",
this person centered initiative, an international effort to support organizations in having better outcomes for the people
they support, kicked off in Tennessee in February 2008, with support from Support Development Associates and the Tennessee
Council on Developmental Disabilities, partners in the CMS grant. Through participation in the initiative, organizations
learn how to apply person centered thinking skills to the lives of people supported and in the practices of the organization,
using coaches groups and leadership groups to identify barriers and facilitate changes within the Division of Intellectual
Disabilities Services (DIDS) system.
Compass participates in the Good
2 Great initiative in a number of ways. Compass is working with stakeholders and within our own organization
to design and implement practices that embrace person-centered thinking, planning and practice across the state's service
delivery system. Members of our leadership team are working with other leaders to become proficient at using person-centered
tools in our work. A senior member of our management is being trained how to train others in using person-centered practices.
Person-Centered Practices*
Since our inception, Compass has held certain person-centered practices as central to
our core values. These practices include:
- Listening to and learning
about what people want in their everyday lives;
- Helping people take and maintain
control of their lives;
- Working together with a person and his/her family,
friends and professionals to support the person in living the life that they want;
- Emphasizing
the person's connection and contribution to the community;
- Recording information
in a person-centered plan for the person;
- Doing business that puts the person
at the center of what we do; and
- Giving and supporting hope for a good life.*
Compass ensures that person-centered values are front and center within
our organization by:
- Supporting our staff members in practicing person-centered
thinking and planning;
- Matching our employees to the people that they support
based on skills and personality;
- Making sure that employees know their core
job responsibilities (those things that they have to do) and where they may use judgment and creativity (by trying different
ways or approaches);
- Making sure employees understand principles of personal
privacy and that they respect individual privacy;
- Ensuring that the plans that
we write for the people that we support are reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis to change with the person and person's
needs;
- Promoting control by the person over his/her personal property and money;
- Being creative and flexible in how we support our employees and the people that they support; and
- Asking frequently, "what is working?"; "what is not working?"; and "what
do we still need to learn?" *
* Bulleted information based on and used with permission
from "What Does "Person Centered" Mean?" developed by Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia
Commonwealth University.
Please
go to this link: http://www.vcu.edu/partnership/cdservices/resources/PCP/principles%20booklet06-08rev1.pdf to read about the Principles of Person Centered Practices.
