About Us - Personalise Me?

What does it mean?

Ask most people what is meant by person centred care and the majority will 'get' that it's about putting the person at the centre of their care. So, the answer to the question seems simple - but is it always? We often start working with people when they are not able to tell us what they want and usually when their 'world' is not working.  If the answers to providing personalised or person centred care was simple then less people with autism and learning differences would be left isolated and  feeling alone trying to navigate a world around them they struggle to engage or understand. 

In fact almost 100% of all referrals for our support don't come from the person to us - someone else requests it. So, it's no surprise that whilst the idea of Person Centred Planning is intrinsic in our legislation  the experience for most people referred to us is that someone else decides.  So, our starting point to personalising support is to value and listen to all that is being said by those who make the referral but our focus is the person referred.  Our role is to learn how to understand what is being said by them, to see if we can use our knowledge to draw out how each person feels now and wants to feel in their future. 

We compare this with the views of other people and the differences become the 'grey' areas we work with. In our world person centred practice has to go beyond wanting to be seen to listen - personalising support can only come from a depth of understanding.

Our approach is about building trust, building relationships, developing strengths, new skills and behaviours that safely gain or avoid for the person. This works when we have learnt from a person and by being honest in if and how we can support them.

Our job is ultimately to enhance support for an individual, to maximise and build upon their strength. When we do this well we help create a  Person-Centred pathway, which guides a person towards their vision of their personal future.