Person - centered approaches
Polly Madson cox, Lcsw
Person - centered approaches
Polly Madson cox, Lcsw
Melanie Desjardins, LMSW
Melanie Desjardins, LMSW
Jacinta Deschaine, BA
Jacinta Deschaine, BA
Embedded Files
Polly Madson cox, Lcsw
Person centered approaches began in the 1940’s as a treatment model focusing on the individual through autonomy, choice and agency. It has been ever-evolving so that we can now aptly apply it to how we interact as Community Connectors. Person centered is a way of being with the people. It creates a non-judgemental environment that is respectful and responsive to how clients identify their own needs. This approach relies on our own self-awareness as Community Connectors in order to refrain from projecting our own ideas and values onto those we support. This enables clients to make decisions that are reflective of their own lives and reflect their own beliefs and experiences which ensures we are providing the best support possible.
Person Centered Approaches
Person Centered Approaches
We will learn the fundamentals of being person centered, including the importance of self-awareness in order not to project our own ideas onto the people we support. We will acknowledge the challenges in asking for and accepting help and ways being person centered can mitigate these barriers.
Reflection: Person Centered Approaches
Reflection: Person Centered Approaches
Reflect on a time when you felt others focused on only one aspect of who you are—perhaps your role, your background, or a specific trait. How did that affect the way you engaged or communicated in that situation?
When we focus only on someone’s needs, what parts of their identity or humanity might we be overlooking—and how might truly seeing them as a whole person change the support we provide?
Person Centered Approaches, In Practice
Person Centered Approaches, In Practice
Building on what we just learned, we go into further detail of what person centered interactions look like. Shifting our image and experiences to person lead, we focus on how every interaction we have can be person centered through listening and patience, and focusing on strengths and providing dignity.
Activity: Person-Centered Approaches
Activity: Person-Centered Approaches
CC-PC-Section 2 Learning Activity.pdfAdditional Resources
Additional Resources
What are Person Centered Practices?
The video “What are Person Centered Practices?” introduces seven elements of person-centered planning and shows how they help people shape their own futures.
It begins by explaining that person-centered practices are simple tools designed to balance the power of systems with the power of the individual, by placing the person at the center of conversations and discovering what is truly important to them. The narrator emphasizes starting with your own life—answering the questions yourself—to build empathy before using the tools with others.
The seven elements are:
Seeking to understand your current state through open questions, active listening, and building trust rather than jumping to solutions.
Envisioning the future by imagining a “big picture” and defining what success looks like.
Understanding strengths by identifying gifts, abilities, and existing resources that can support change.
Exploring challenges and barriers to clarify what might get in the way and what actions could address those obstacles.
Tending the future by caring for yourself, developing skills, routines, and supports that sustain your direction over time.
Asking for help by recognizing you do not have to do it alone, naming who is “on your team,” and being clear about what support you need.
Stepping into the future by taking small, concrete actions toward your vision, persisting even when it is difficult.
Together, these elements show that person-centered practice is not a form to fill out but an ongoing process of listening, clarifying what matters, and supporting people to act on their own plans and hopes.
Practicalities and possibilities of Person Centred Thinking with older people.pdfPerson-Centred Thinking with Older People” outlines six simple, visual tools that workers can use in people’s homes and local communities to understand what really matters to each older person and shape support around that. It shows how to move beyond service-led routines to conversations that uncover what is important to the person (daily rhythms, relationships, community connections, spiritual life, interests) alongside what is important for them (health, safety, support needs).
The book illustrates how to use tools like “like and admire,” relationship maps, important to/for, and “working/not working” in everyday interactions—home visits, reviews, and informal check-ins—to co-design support plans that help older people stay connected, independent, and valued in their own communities. Case examples highlight common community-service dilemmas (such as balancing risk and independence, supporting carers, or dealing with isolation) and show how these person-centred practices can lead to more dignified, creative, and individualized solutions.
The Three Legs of The Stool - A Framework for person centered approaches
This webinar introduces the “three legs of the stool” framework for person-centered community mental health services in Ashland County, Ohio, built on recovery and resiliency, trauma‑informed care, and medication optimization, all grounded in the principle “do no harm.”
Presenters describe how the traditional, highly medicalized and often coercive mental health system can conflict with being truly person‑centered and trauma‑informed, and how Ashland County has tried to realign policies, funding, and clinical practice toward human rights, choice, and self‑direction. The county behavioral health board uses its authority and flexible “carve‑out” funds to prioritize non‑coercive, psychosocial supports (like school‑based liaisons, Hearing Voices groups, and supported employment) and to avoid investing in practices such as forced treatment or seclusion and restraint.
Agency leaders explain how they operationalize the framework: using trauma‑informed and family‑systems lenses in assessment and treatment, viewing diagnosis mainly as an administrative label, emphasizing group and community‑based supports, and steering staff training toward approaches like EMDR, trauma‑focused CBT, and DBT rather than purely biomedical models. A person with lived experience shares how moving from a diagnosis‑focused identity to peer support and the Hearing Voices Network allowed her to reinterpret her experiences, reclaim her sense of self, and collaborate more thoughtfully on medication decisions, while also naming the physical health impacts of long‑term psychotropic use.
Polly Madson Cox, LCSW
Polly has great enjoyment working with older adults and in her past 25+ years in social services has been committed to issues of aging in all her professional roles and settings. For the past 3 years, she has been part of the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine and is proud to be part of a team creating and implementing programs supporting older adults who experience abuse or maltreatment. When she's not at work, Polly can be found on Maine's waters, hiking trails and ski slopes!
Jacinta Deschaine, B.A.
Jacinta has worked with the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine since February 2023, first as an advocate, and currently as the Transitional Housing Program Specialist. Jacinta has enjoyed exploring different narratives of aging, and has found great fulfillment in working with older adults.
Melanie Desjardins, LMSW
Melanie graduated from Boston College with a Masters of Social Work with a concentration in clinical social work, and a sub-concentration in gerontology. Following her passion to work with older people, she spent the first 25 years of her career working in health care in sub-acute and long-term care. In 2023 Melanie became an Advocate at the Elder Abuse Institute of Maine working in their Elder Service Connections program. She lives in Portland with her family.
During this chapter, we hope you will gain a few tools to make your community more dementia inclusive.
If you have any questions as you are going through the material, please email: lifelong@maine.edu.
The Lifelong Maine Skill Building Series was developed as part of the Community Connections project.
Funding for the project was provided through support of the Governor's Cabinet on Aging and Office of Aging and Disability Services.
We are deeply grateful for the funding and for the thought leadership provided by Elizabeth Gattine, Coordinator of the Governor's Cabinet on Aging.
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