My work for the past almost 20 years has been mostly about trying to figure out what it means to work in a 'Person Centred' way. I moved through the stages of thinking that a plan was the answer to everything; to realising that it wasn't enough to say that I was being Person Centred to understanding that I needed to have actions and attitudes that matched what I was saying. I came to understand that to be serious about being Person Centred meant that I couldn't just apply a formula and be certain that it would work out fine. What I needed to do was take seriously the person standing in front of me - I remember being profoundly moved when I heard John O'Brien talk about seeing people's faces - and alongside that, Simon Duffy's definition of Person Centredness guided my thinking and gave me some words to articulate this profound idea.
'Attitudes and values that honour a person's unique individuality and perspective and are concerned with their full inclusion.'
Over the years I've had a growing awareness of the complexity and the nuance in what I do. I stopped looking for standardised answers...in fact, I've actively distrusted the work of people who have tried to tame the individuality of a person. I don't think that people are standarised or uniform and I suspect that this 'tidying up' has more to do with meeting the needs of the service system than meeting the needs of the people concerned. I've given up on trying to create one, big, happy family of people with disabilities and I've come to an understanding that they are as awkward, co-operative, difficult and delightful as everyone else, each requiring a bespoke response to their situation...
All of this makes the work difficult.
All of this makes the work wonderful.
I've brought every bit of me to this work...my mind...my heart...my hands...
I think about it...puzzle over it...I have been know to cry about it and there have been times when the joy of this work has completely overwhelmed me and I can think of nothing better to do...
So you might forgive me then when I react personally to an attitude that seems to be in the air at the moment. A feeling that somehow, this business of being Person Centred has had its day...its old hat...it's very 90's...and that this work to which I remain deeply committed is now an irrelevance...
It seems that we've moved on now and we're talking about Citizenship and different kinds of Capital...ideas of community and rights and personalised, self directed, self-determined this, that and the next thing are all the rage...
But y'know what...I can't understand any of these ideas except through the lens of being Person Centred. If I take Simon's definition seriously then Person Centredness is the prerequisite. Any understanding of a person's right's and entitlements as a citizen is predicated on the idea of their full inclusion. Any serious intention around the work of personalisation or self direction must take into account the unique individuality and perspective of that person. The shape that self direction will take in my life will be heavily dependent on my perspective on the world...it is my life as I see it...not as the service system thinks it should be.
I KNOW that it hasn't all worked out the way it should. I KNOW that there is the worst kind of indifference and neglect occurring under the banner of Person Centred working.
Almost every single day of my working life I hear stories that make me want to weep about what I hear is done in the name of being Person Centred...lazy, sloppy, thoughtless care and support given by staff who've maybe, if they are lucky, had a couple of days of some sort of training that's called itself person centred...in organisations where there is no culture of ongoing learning and development for staff and the prevailing attitude is 'What's the least we can get away with?' They are being supervised by seniors who've done maybe half a day of training because they already know what it all means and they are doing it already. However, ask them to articulate the issues and explain a better way to staff and they fall back on cliches and slogans and their own prejudices and preconceptions.
Often these organisations are being led by CEO's who don't feel that they need to explore or examine their own attitudes and who give little in the way of Values leadership. But they will proclaim that they have done Person Centred...here's the thing that I know...you're never done figuring this out...saying that you've 'done' Person Centredness is a bit like saying that you've done God...
It seems to me that the problem continues to lie with the System...and that the System does what it always does...it takes a good idea and turns it into a monster. Just the other day Simon Duffy wrote that we had confused being big with being good...apologies if that's not the exact quote...
The System stretches the idea to breaking point and then blames the idea for not being robust enough. It's one of those things that 'everybody knows'...and we all collude with it...
The System stretches the idea to breaking point and then blames the idea for not being robust enough. It's one of those things that 'everybody knows'...and we all collude with it...
There's nothing wrong with the idea...
People get confused and think that because the idea of Person Centred work has a simplicity about it then those of us who do the work must be naive about the complexity of the practice. It isn't true. We understand that it is the starting place for all good work. It's the place from which it is possible to hear the need for other interventions...to ponder what it would take for the person in front of you to live their life in their way...to be moved to action by the injustice and pain already experienced. To try and try and try again...
We're not daft, y'know...we are not stupid...we know how difficult it can be...
Please...do not dismiss this work as one dimensional...outdated...yesterday's ideas...
The truth is that Person Centred working is an idea that we have not really tried yet. It has a depth that we have hardly begun to imagine never mind explore.
Do not write it off...
