Context

Every person has the ability to choose a better future, to chart a course toward it and strive to reach it. Person-centered planning provides a structure to support this process of improvement. In order for services to effectively support a person in this process, they must be provided within the context of personal goals. Orienting a broad and complex service system to keep the person as its central focus requires a consistent, overarching framework for training, implementation and oversight.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Administration (MDHHS-BHDDA) is working to support this person-centered orientation with the following strategy: To develop a common body of knowledge for person-centered planning, mapped to relevant policies and research, which will inform a shared curriculum, fidelity model, and measurement framework to support improved quality of life for each person.

To this end, MDHHS-BHDDA has convened a state-wide work group including members from all regions of the state. The initial focus of this group has been to develop guidance for developing and documenting goals and objectives with people receiving services.

Key Activities

The core set of activities documented below are intended to guide the collaborative development of goals and objectives which make up a person’s service plan. These activities were compiled through a review of existing best practice knowledge and rephrased as necessary for readability by a more general audience working within the behavioral health field.

Each high-level group of activities is comprised of a set of sub-activities which further define it. Each of these sub-activities is made up of more detailed sub-steps, and so on, in order to provide increasing clarity and definition regarding each concept within a simple overall framework.

Please note that, while the work group has approved this framework and list of activities for an initial study of feasibility in practice, the details do not constitute official guidance of MDHHS-BHDDA.