Meeting Together to write a Plan

Planning Conferences

What are they? When the team gets together to work on the written plan everyone should be there to work on it together. This is an important meeting because it gives everyone on the team an idea of how things are going. Are people living where they want to live, spending time the way they want to spend it, working on their hopes and dreams for the future? While this meeting is important, what happens between meetings is more important. That's called life!

SCHEDULING THE CONFERENCE

Getting set for the meeting. Here are some things to remember when setting up a meeting to work on the written plan:

• these meetings may take longer because there's a lot more to talk about;
• they have to be held at least every 3 years;
• if someone asks for a meeting to work on the plan, they can ask for it to be held in 30 days;
• everyone should know about the meeting far enough ahead so they can plan to attend; and,
• meetings should be somewhere that everyone likes, if possible.

SETTING THE GROUND RULES

Meetings that work. When people get together to work on a plan, those meetings work best when:

• teams talk about someone's life choices; what's going well, what could be going better hopes, dreams and things might scare people about the future ;
• choices about how people want to live are supported by the team;
• everyone works together;
• everyone listens to what others have to say; and,
• someone takes notes.

It's okay if it takes more than one meeting to finish working on the plan.

DISCUSSION PATTERN

Most important. The most important things to talk about at the meeting are someone's choices about where to live, how to spend time each day, who to spend time with and plans for the future. After talking about the future, the team should spend some time talking about how things are going now This will give everyone an idea of what's working well and what needs to be done to move in the direction of the plan for the future. The IPP also has:

• a list of the different kinds of services and supports that people need;
• who will provide that service and support; and,
• how that service and support will help people get where they want to go.

The basic parts of a plan are:

• Goals
• Objectives & Action Plans
• Family Plan Component (when someone is under 18 and living at home)
• Schedule of Services & Supports

REVIEW SCHEDULE

More about working together as a team. When people get together to work on a person-centered plan, everyone has a job to do:

• Team Leader: This can be anyone on the team who wants to help keep the meeting going.
• Team Recorder: Someone who will take notes about the meeting. This is usually the regional center service coordinator.
• Team Members: Everyone who comes to support the person and his or her family in working on a plan for the future.

What happens when the team doesn't get along? When team members don't get along or don't support the choices someone makes for their life, it's up to the team leader to help get things going again. One way is to write down a list of the things that people agree on and another list for the things that people don't agree on. Next, the team thinks of new ways to look at the things they don't agree on until everyone sees something that can work. If things still aren't working well, then the team may need to choose a new leader or ask someone else to come in and get things going again. The important thing to remember is that the team decides what is written into the plan together and the plan is written to help people get the support and service they want and need.

GOALS

What are they? Goals are the things that people want to do in the next few years. They are the choices that people make about where to live, what to do during the day, who to spend time with and hopes and dreams. They can be things that someone wants to change about their life or they can be things that people want to stay the same. Here are some ideas of what goals might look like:

• I will learn how to ride the bus.
• I will go to church.
• I will get a job.
• I will meet new friends.
• I will live in my own apartment.
• I will go to the after-school program at my school.
• I will invite family and friends to a circle of support meeting.
• I will take care of my own money.

IPP Contents

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