Acknowledging Barriers in Adopting Person-Centered Planning

An apparent contradiction in adopting person-centered planning is exemplified by the question "If a system adopts person-centered planning, isn't it system-centered"? Such ambiguities are obvious to employees, who increasingly are being asked to consider more personalized ways of assisting people through person-centered planning. Our premise in this article is that employees' reservations are well-founded and should be addressed in order to facilitate understanding and eventual reconciliation of unavoidable conflicts that emerge when person-centered planning is undertaken by agency employees. Administrators who acknowledge the uncertainties accompanying person-centered planning and invite discussion about conceptual and practical difficulties inherent in its adoption are modeling a collaborative method of discovering ways to help people get what they need. Examples of group solutions are presented.