"This is your meeting": a qualitative study of person-centered planning

Participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted to determine processes involved in person-centered planning. Initial planning meetings of 6 individuals were studied in connection with a project to assist young adults in transition from school to adult life. The organization and structure, facilitation process, participation of families, professionals, friends, and the focal individual were described. Although the major goal of the project was to assure that this was the individual's own meeting, implementation of this principle was constrained in several ways, including facilitators' tendency to behave according to prior roles and training. Six months following initiation, several positive outcomes could be attributed to the planning process. Further, many unplanned positive outcomes appeared to result from person-centered planning.