Support Plans and Person-Centred Plans capture the detail about what is important in your life, what is working well for you and also the areas of your life that you would like to change. At Imagineer, we are experienced in creatively working alongside people who would benefit from a Support Plan or Person-Centred Plan ensuring that their wishes are clearly and accurately expressed in their plan.
A Support Plan should form the basis of positive action towards an improved future.
A Support Plan is focused on and led by you. The details will be determined by what you want to share, what you want to focus on and the areas of your life that you wish to achieve things in or to change. The Plan is what helps you to stay in control and be in the driving seat of your life; and it helps everyone else to understand how that should happen.
An individualised Support Plan can start life as a blank sheet of paper. The information builds over time until the important details have been captured that truly represent you. This can include your:
Local Authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (NHS) require people to complete a Support Plan as part of the process to access a Personal Budget or a Personal Health Budget.
In these circumstances, a template form is usually provided which you would complete with support from people that you choose to have involved (such as family or close friends); and the process is coordinated by your Social Worker or Care Coordinator.
The content of a Support Plan should be led by you and the people who are important in your life, which could include your Circle of Support. That doesn’t mean to say that you have to complete it alone. Support Brokers can assist you with developing your Support Plan, including how to pay for implementing the plan. This is known as Support Brokerage.
Imagineer can also help provide the continued assistance some people need with the implementation and ongoing management of their Support Plan – this is sometimes referred to as Brokerage Management.
The content of a Support Plan includes:
Whilst a Support Plan for a Local Authority or Clinical Commissioning Group who are supplying you with a Personal Health Budget or Personal Budget often takes the shape of a pre-formatted form; Person-Centred Plans do not follow a fixed format or template, and can take a more flexible approach to gather all the important information listed above. This way of planning can be useful because templates can sometimes restrict the conversation too much. Gathering information in a way that makes the most sense to you can help free up your way of thinking and make sure you have captured everything that is important to you.
It’s important to note that when completing a Support Plan for the Local Authority or a Clinical Commissioning Team it is still possible for you to start your Support Plan with a blank sheet of paper and for the content of the plan to be led by you and what you want to capture and share in the way you feel most comfortable with. Once the plan is completed in the way you prefer, the information can then be transferred onto the official Support Plan template form and any gaps in the information can be addressed.
This approach means that you drive the process and the Plan is more informed about what is important to you, no matter if it’s a Support Plan or Person-Centred Plan.
At Imagineer, we are trained, skilled and experienced Person-Centred Planning facilitators. The team are able to facilitate Plans using the following dynamic Person-Centred Planning tools:
These tools help us support you in an open manner, gathering information not by using templates but in a way that you like best and that you understand the most.
Find out how our Director Liz’s approach helped Jason develop a Support Plan that reflected his wish to care for dogs!
We can work with anyone to develop their Person-Centred Plan. We are experienced in working with people living with physical or learning disabilities, those in complex situations or with limited verbal communication and we do so in a very creative, engaging and effective way. We also welcome anyone who isn’t eligible for Health and Social Care support but who feel they would find a Support Plan or Person-Centred Plan helpful.
We can support you with the reviewing of progress which helps to keep things on track, by holding regular review meetings with the people you would like to involve.
The frequency of the review meetings will be up to you and this can change depending on what is happening in your life at any particular time. At Imagineer, we find that people value regular meetings when there are changes taking place in their life or when there are a number of issues that need to be addressed.
We would love to find out more about what you need help with and how we can support you. As part of our initial conversation with you, we may be able to explore if any funding options are available to you. Please get in touch with us using the details below.
Here are some example support plans that have been developed through our Support Brokerage Training.
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