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Person-Centered Training Services With a Mindful Approach

Person-Centered Training and Credentialing services to embrace person-centered service and enhance the quality of life of those you support.

Person-Centered Thinking goes beyond a mindset.

It's a skill set.

Changing how we think is essential to achieving Person-Centered Practices. If people are going to gain or regain positive control over their lives, then those supporting the person need to have a person-centered approach and mindset.  This begins with how we think.

Person-Centered Thinking is the foundational mindset that enables those who support others to deliver services that are organized and consistent with Person-Centered Practices.

Real Results from Person-Centered Thinking Training

“I just wanted to let you know that yesterday I did an activity with a person I support where I asked her the “7 questions you should be able to answer for each person you support.” And the feedback I received from her was powerful. 

I’ve been working with her for about 4 months now, and that was the most she’s opened up. She even shared a situation from the past which gave her a lot of relief. So I just wanted to say thank you for the awesome training, and I am looking forward to using different PCT strategies! 

Hope this story proves useful in broadcasting your training and its ability to be effective.” 

– E.R., PCT Training Student

Person-Centered Practices represent the ideal methodology of delivering services and supports that respect the person’s autonomy and promotes a life of their own choosing in their own community

Whether it is because of a disability from birth, accident, or just the aging process, at some point, we may all need support from others. However, this can lead to a loss of positive control or autonomy in our lives. Person-Centered Practices help ensure the person remains the focus of these supports. We all want to retain our autonomy. We want a life of our choosing, lived out in a place of our choosing, surrounded by people of our choosing.

Person-Centered Practices are rooted in Person-Centered Thinking (PCT), which helps others to gain and keep a positive and correct response to the person. It promotes the all-important balance of what is Important TO and FOR the person.
And remember, person-centeredness is not just for those with IDD. It applies to anyone who, for any reason, has lost ownership or positive control over their lives. When supports are needed from others, person-centered approaches help ensure the person stays in control of their life as much as possible.

About the Curriculum

The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices (TLCPCP) is a collaborative of agencies, companies, states, and individuals who have come together to ensure best practices in Person-Centered Practices as well as resources such as curriculum, education, conferences, group discussions, and celebration.

IntellectAbility has partnered with TLCPCP to provide tools and training that empower, educate, and inform those responsible for protecting, maintaining, and restoring health, wholeness, and good quality of life.

For a more detailed look at the Curriculum, please contact us below!

Meet Our Trainers

Our Person-Centered Services Mentor and Trainers are all credentialed with The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices and deliver this curriculum.
When you successfully complete any of these trainings with IntellectAbility, you will be officially recognized with The Learning Community.

Marissa Landgraf

Person-centered services manager & PCT Trainer

Marissa has over 7 years of experience working with vulnerable populations, including those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities – specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder. She has served these populations at the agency level and the state level with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. Marissa also has experience supporting and teaching students with disabilities at an inclusive post-secondary comprehensive transition program. Marissa, who joined IntellectAbility in December 2022, is currently a Person-Centered Thinking Trainer and the Person-Centered Services Manager for IntellectAbility.

Patrick Lane

PCT Mentor & Trainer

Patrick has over 15 years working in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He has extensive experience in case management, project oversight, and is a certified AAIDD Supports Intensity Scale Specialist. He is presently a Person-Centered Practices Mentor by The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices.

David Toback

PCT Mentor & Trainer

David has nearly 16 years of experience working in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. He has worked both at the provider level and the state level as a training and project manager for GA Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD). David has experience in transition initiatives for those moving from institutional to community settings and also worked as a SIS interviewer for many years. He is a certified Person-Centered Practices Mentor and Person Centered Thinking Trainer by The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices. 

Debra Davis

PCT Trainer

Deb has over 20 years as a Registered Nurse working with vulnerable populations, including those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Mental Illness, and Aging. She is an Certified Developmental Disabilities Nurse and a Registered Nurse Trainer for the state of Illinois. She has been a member of DDNA for 14 years and served as the president of Central IL DDNA for 10 years. 

Johnathon Crumley

PCT TRAINER

Johnathon has nearly 20 years working in the field of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. For many years he was the Vice President of Operations for a large Support Coordination agency in Georgia. Concurrently he worked as a Supports Intensity Scale (SIS) senior trainer with AAIDD, working in both the US and Canada. He is a certified Person-Centered Thinking Trainer by The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices. He has been with IntellectAbility since 2013 and is currently its Chief Operations Officer.

Stacey Ramirez

PCT TRAINER

Stacey Ramirez has over 20+ years of advocacy experience in the disability community. In 2017 the Georgia governor signed into law, HB343, a bill she introduced to replace the harmful term “mental retardation” with the respectful term intellectual disabilities. Currently, she is a board member for the Georgia Learning Community, Georgia Association of People Supporting Employment First (GaAPSE), and DisAbility LINK (DLINK) – a Center for Independent Living and a credentialed Person-Centered Thinking trainer with IntellectAbility. Stacey is the State Director for The Arc Georgia, but most importantly, the mother of three young men – one of whom has autism.

Frequently Asked Questions

Person-Centered Thinking training is an 18-hour training delivered live via Zoom. It is an interactive training held in a virtual classroom environment. Typically, this training is delivered over three consecutive, six-hour days but is also available for custom scheduling based on client preferences. 

Yes. IntellectAbility is bound by The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices (TLCPCP) to ensure that students meet the minimum requirements to receive a certificate for completing this virtual training. Participation for the entire 18-hours is one of these requirements. 

No. Person-Centered Thinking training is a virtual, interactive training experience and requires the learner to engage in small group activities and other interactions with the trainer. 

Yes. The Person-Centered Thinking curriculum used by IntellectAbility trainers is that of The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices (TLCPCP) and is consistent with CMS Person-Centered standards. 

Person-Centered Thinking is an essential pre-requisite to successful planning or facilitation. Without the right mindset, skillset, and perspective, writing and implementing person-centered plans and practices will be largely ineffective no matter the planning product or method 

IntellectAbility provides all materials the learner needs to engage in the live, virtual Person-Centered Thinking training. Since this is virtual training, pre-training preparation is required and is coordinated by an IntellectAbility representative. This ensures all participants join with the necessary hardware, software, and documents as well as an understanding of training expectations.
Yes. We provide ongoing support to all who have completed any person-centered service offered by IntellectAbility. We provide a help line that can be accessed if the user has questions related to the training they have received or the proper use of the training content.

 Yes. IntellectAbility provides a certificate of completion for anyone successfully completing virtual Person-Centered Thinking training. 

Yes. The Person-Centered Thinking training effectively supports all kinds of person-centered planning approaches and methods such as: Facilitation Planning, Maps, Profiles, Charting the Life-Course and others. 

Yes, IntellectAbility’s Person-Centered Services Mentors work with qualified trainer-candidates to develop Person-Centered Thinking Trainers that meet the prerequisites and high standards of The Learning Community for Person-Centered Practices (TLCPCP). This training consists of both virtual class time and on-site training observation by an IntellectAbility Mentor.  

Person-Centered Coaches are specifically trained in the application, proper use, and implementation of the person-centered skills learned in Person-Centered Thinking training. Coaches receive additional training to provide front line support to those within their agency. They can not only offer troubleshooting assistance but also help the agency keep the momentum of the person-centered efforts going and help change the culture of the agency or entity. IntellectAbility highly recommends the use of Coaches to maximize all person-centered initiatives and endeavors.  

Those seeking to become a Coach should have: 

  • A strong commitment to person-centered approaches 
  • A solid willingness to work with others to ensure proper application of person-centered approaches 
  • A strong desire to provide ongoing support to others in the application, proper use, and implementation of person-centered approaches 
  • A firm belief that EVERYONE should be supported in a way that is significant and meaningful to that person 

 

IntellectAbility can assist the client in the selection of Person-Centered Coaches. 

 Person-Centered Coach training takes 6 months. Coach Trainees meet one Friday a month for six months and complete homework between meetings. 

Becoming a Person-Centered Thinking Trainer takes between 6-8 months. Trainer-candidates meet on Mondays with a Mentor for 14 weeks to prepare, while completing homework between meetings. They then schedule two rounds of live, onsite demonstration trainings to be delivered under the supervision of a Mentor. The time between preparation and demonstration is used for review and rehearsal. 

 The curriculum is extensive and requires the support of a co-trainer to deliver the demonstration trainings. Trainers should continue to train in pairs even after credentialing until they have been approved by a Mentor to deliver the training alone.  

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