Matt is 20, he is a young guy who has a ‘life is for living’ attitude. Matt is described as being; honest, charming, a sweet talker, romantic, very tactile… the list goes on. These accounts have been collected by Matt’s ‘circle of support’ – a group of people who he chose and invited to come together for the purpose of supporting him with planning and achieving goals in his adult life.

Matt’s circle began by creating a ‘person centred plan’ that could be read by others and that would influence those ‘professionals’ who have a duty to provide a service to him. Areas that were covered included: Matt’s unique gifts, a description of his perfect day; the day to day support that he needs in order to live how he wants to and much more.

Through being involved in this process, Matt’s circle members got to know him and his aspirations better, Matt got to know them better and they got to know each other better – everyone benefits! As a bonus everyone brings their own different skills and experiences to the table thereby widening the potential opportunities for Matt.

Recording these important facets of Matt’s life though was only the beginning. The true ‘person centred planning / approach’ is in the creativity and power of meeting collectively and everyone taking responsibility for supporting Matt in different areas of his life. For example, Ron shares a passion for football and so has the role of organising trips to local matches as well as those further afield. Circles are about involving people who are there for the ‘long run’ and are mainly made up of unpaid supporters in somebody’s life i.e. family, friends, neighbours, friends of friends etc.

Matt likes his independence and loves being at the centre of his (approximately) monthly circle meetings. His circle began 18 months ago when he arrived back in his home town after being away at residential college for 3 years. Both Matt and his family agreed that the best way forward for Matt was to live in his own place. Luckily, Matt was offered a new bungalow and with the use of a direct payment and ILF funding, moved in a few months later. Matt has 24 hour individual support with a very small team of personal assistants, a vehicle and a dream of conquering the world!

Matt’s circle was originally created to put together his person centred plan and to support him with the big move away from his family home in to his own place. Now that this has happened, the group support him with whatever challenges he faces as well as enjoying being together and having fun. There is a long term aim to assist Matt in making new friendships with other young people who may then join his circle and help him to be more included and ‘out there’.

One of the underlying principles of person centred approaches/planning is the focus on a person’s dreams. Well, when we began putting Matt’s plan together he definitely had these. Included were: to go to a Motown concert; to be a dad someday; a moving-in party; to do ordinary ‘blokey things; to experience the army life. Some of these have been achieved, some may never be, but they are still there. Matt has a dream of being in the army; the reality is that the army probably will not employ him, however that does not stop him experiencing it. With support from those around him he can take place in roughing it and sleeping outside and in wearing an army uniform. Just because the ideal may not be possible does not mean that Matt cannot get part way there, it just takes others believing in the importance of that dream and wanting him to experience as much of it as he can.

Matt’s ‘person centred plan’ is his circle of support. Without the chosen others, his plan would not really mean much and certainly would not be changing and enriching his life. This is the whole point and purpose of person centred planning – changing lives, the recorded plan is just the very beginning.

In Matt’s mum’s words “as individuals we are nothing special, but put us together as a circle and you would be amazed at how dynamic we can be and ALL for Matt”.

Circles Network is national voluntary organization with an educational objective of creating circles of support in order to combat isolation and social exclusion. One of the organisation’s many projects is CREDO east – a project funded by the Community Fund in the Eastern region of England that supports teenagers with multiple impairments to ‘have a voice’ and to have more control over their lives through developing circles of support and facilitating person centred approaches and planning.

Nadine Jay
CREDO east
Tel: 01788 816671
Nadine@circles.free-online.co.uk