Person Centred Planning

Person Centred Planning (PCP) is a way of thinking, an ideology, that grew from human rights activism and consumer movements within disability and mental health sectors to address the marginalisation of any individual perceived to be functioning outside of normative societal standards and experiencing stigma as a consequence (Sépulchre, 2020). Within any service setting, the values of PCP are commonly agreed to be empowerment, consumer-led choice and control, collaboration with case managers and services involving families, carers, and communities with consumers’ independence and rights at the forefront of planning (Phelan et al., 2020).

In the mental health field, recovery-oriented practice (ROP) supports individuals in defining their vision of recovery from mental health distress (Hummelvoll et al., 2015). Recovery principles are often seen as hope, connectedness, meaning, identity, and empowerment and are ingrained within recovery practice (Mancini et al., 2005). Recovery-action planning, an intervention used within the recovery model, directly aligns with PCP principles by seeking to improve self-awareness and autonomy for consumers, involving multiple stakeholders and carers, with consumers at the centre of planning (Meadows et al., 2021).

Many practitioners have adopted intervention planning in mental health settings to support consumers with co-occurring mental health distress and substance abuse (Macneil et al., 2012). Intervention planning is a comprehensive tool practitioners use to articulate a consumer's strengths, goals and priorities whilst collaborating with different service providers to achieve a coordinated and realistic plan (Tondora et al., 2014). Furthermore, intervention planning fosters empowerment by directly collaborating with consumers in planning decisions, treatment options, and the inclusion of services based on their strengths and goals (Topor et al., 2018). Intervention planning demonstrates the principles of PCP and is an effective way to support consumers, manage ongoing care needs, and work with multiple healthcare practitioners across various services to improve outcomes and promote self-determination (Blanner et al., 2015).         

As practitioners, using a PCP model allows collaboration and a greater opportunity to support individuals in defining their goals and strengths, delivering the autonomy and rights they ought to have, and supporting consumers to live a life of meaning as they determine.

References

Blanner, K. C., Juel, A., Vinther, H, M., Hansen, A. M., Kilian, R., & Hjorth, P. (2015). Promoting physical health in severe mental illness: Patient and staff perspective. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 132(6), 470–478. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12520

Hummelvoll, J. K., Karlsson, B., & Borg, M. (2015). Recovery and person-centredness in mental health services: roots of the concepts and implications for practice. International Practice Development Journal, 5(7), 1-4. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/recovery-person-centredness-mental-health/docview/1793669011/se-2

Macneil, C. A., Hasty, M. K., Conus, P., & Berk, M. (2012). Is diagnosis enough to guide interventions in mental health? Using case formulation in clinical practice. BMC Medicine, 10(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-10-111

Mancini, M. A., Hardiman, E. R., & Lawson, H. A. (2005). Making sense of it all: Consumer providers' theories about factors facilitating and impeding recovery from psychiatric disabilities. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, 29(1), 48-55. https://doi.org/10.2975/29.2005.48.55  

Meadows, G., Farhall, J., Fossey, E., Happell, B., McDermott, F., & Rosenberg, S. (2021). Mental health and collaborative community practice: an Australian perspective (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Phelan, A., Mccormack, B., Dewing, J., Brown, D., Cardiff, S., Cook, N., Dickson, C., Kmete, S., Lorber, M., Magowan, R., Mccance, T., Skovdahl, K., Štiglic, G., & Van Lieshout, F. (2020). Review of developments in person-centred healthcare. International Practice Development Journal, 10(2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.19043/ipdj.10suppl2.003

Sépulchre, M. (2020). Disability and citizenship studies. Routledge.

Tondora, J., Miller, R., Slade, M., & Davidson, L. (2014). Partnering for recovery in mental health: A practical guide to person-centred planning. John Wiley & Sons.

Topor, A., Bøe, T. D., & Larsen, I. B. (2018). Small things, micro-affirmations and helpful professionals everyday recovery-orientated practices according to persons with mental health problems. Community Mental Health Journal, 54(8), 1212-1220. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-018-0245-9