Person Centered Practices

You and every member of your Planning Team are encouraged to attend one of TCRC’s Person Centered Thinking Training sessions. During these sessions, TCRC brings together regional center staff members, service providers, the individuals we serve, and their families and friends to learn about the basics of PCT. You will learn creative ways to gather and share meaningful information, resolve problems, and create goals and action plans.

If you enjoy what you learn at the PCT Training session, you can get involved in our Communities of Practice. With meetings every other month at each TCRC office, the Communities of Practice dig deeper into topics introduced at the PCT Training and help to build your skills as a person centered thinker. During Communities of Practice meetings, TCRC staff, the individuals we serve, and service providers collaborate to figure out how we can use PCT to improve all of our working relationships, and the lives of persons with intellectual disabilities.

Click here to find the schedules for upcoming Person Centered Thinking Training sessions.

Click here for upcoming Communities of Practices meetings.

Click here for helpful Person Centered forms.

For more information about Person Centered Thinking visit:

• • The International Learning Community for Person Centered Practices at www.tlcpcp.com

• • The CA Gathering for Person Centered Practices– TCRC also teams up with the Learning Community and a number of regional organizations to host the annual California Gathering for Person Centered Practices, a collective learning event focused on sharing knowledge and furthering efforts to promote person centered system change. Keep an eye out for announcements about the California Gathering on the Learning Community and TCRC websites.

• Helen Sanderson Associates, a UK-based international team that works collaboratively to embed person centered practices in the heart of teams and organizations. You can read blogs, research papers, and news reports on their website here.

The History of Person Centered Practices at TCRC

TCRC’s leadership in the use of Person Centered Practices has resulted in real and acknowledged momentum.

Organizational cultural change initiatives such as developing and leading the effort for alternatives to day services locally and in Sacramento, as well as communicating with colleagues state-wide about these efforts, have resulted in a vibrant and progressive environment at TCRC.

Early in the initiative, we designated a core group of staff and service provider partners to serve on a PCT Task Force.  The purpose of this group was to recommend a strategy to embed person centered practices across the organization.  What started with a pilot group gradually expanded to agency wide implementation through the support of various sub committees, the work of the TCRC leadership team and a dedicated PCT coordinator position.  Ongoing collaboration with partner agencies has contributed greatly to the success of the initiative.

This focus on person centered practices resulted in a few key organizational changes:

• Adopting a guiding principle to be “Person Centered in All We Do” has kept us focused on our goals.We made a commitment to use “People First Language”.  This contributes to a more respectful environment, helping us focus on individuals, rather than disabilities.We changed the format of our IPP (Individualized Program Plan) to mirror some of the PCT tools.PCT tools helped create an environment in which issues are discussed openly and differing views are respected.We have adopted Positive and Productive Meetings principles and applied PCT tools in a variety of organizational settings; allowing participants to be heard and valued, resulting in a more efficient approach to planning and problem solving.Periodic reviews and revisions of strategic objectives to support this initiative were put in place to ensure we continue to strive for improvement.

TCRC’s commitment to person centered practice is evidenced by ongoing work toward a broad training initiative, allocation of staff time for this work, deep organizational change and collaboration with partner agencies.

Over the past decade TCRC has continued work on a broad training initiative to build capacity for person centered practices.  This multi-year plan includes training staff, service providers, families and adults served and other interested community members.  An introduction to Person Centered Thinking is required of all new staff and reinforced through modeling and coaching support from managers.  Communities of Practice is offered in each regional location to augment training and build confidence in using the tools.  Additional training opportunities are available to all stakeholders to embed person centered skills and practices in daily work and life.  The commitment to further these practices is reflected in our Training & Development plan.