Jeff Guthrie: How Self-Determination has made a difference in my life

Jeff is presenting a slide show:

Jeff's interests include computers, video games, etc. Jeff has been received treatment for depression and chizo-effective disorder. He was the first person with MI to use self-determination under a pilot program using his PCP.

He talked to people he trusted, and found them to be very supportive of SD. He pulled his circle and an independent facilitator. It was a powerful experience. A core was the understanding of how much money was being spent, and the possibilities if those funds were re-directed.

Jeff's goals: move out on his own and get a job. He has done both of them. He hired a staff person to support his goals, especially menu planning, food shopping and cooking. He is very proud of himself.

Jeff has learned that networking is a useful tool, and spoke about his desire for a job during a presentation. He got two job offers on the same day and accepted both! He has met lots of people through his work.

His shyness has dropped away, opening up other doors. He believes that taking risk is necessary to truly experience life.

Jeff believes that SD means focusing on what you like to do and what you want to do.

Jeff is a leader in Michigan Partners for Freedom.

Possibilities

More community options; academic and vocational training; assistance with accessible transportation and vehicle purchase; how we talk about purpose and SD; Co-payment systems; eliminate spend down; flexible and coordinated crisis support; a real crisis plan; financial crisis planning; Use b3's for people with MI; eliminate non-useful regulation and documentation requirements; more measures on outcomes, and less on docs; one stop for supports; cross system supports management; communication between DHS and CMH; social security needs to be a strength based system; eliminate redundancy in applications for supports; making communications from systems easy to understand; alignedservice systems;

Barriers to SD

Funding, # of people supported; substance abuse, caseloads; learned helplessness, people don't think in SD terms, resistance to change, no consensus on medical necessity definition, how b3 services are interpreted,

President's New Freedom Report

The 10 Fundamental Components of Recovery:

1. Empowerment
2. Holistic
3. Non-Linear
4. Strengths Based
5. Respect
6. Responsibility
7. Individualized and Person Centered
8. Self-Direction
9. Peer Support
10. Hope

Amount, Scope, and Duration

Medicaid don't pay if you don't record this information accurately, in order to generate a documented encounter code.

Is there a more transparent, shorter, easier way to generate this necessary documentation?

Good plans are about your life, about the person, a map of outcomes, based on strengths, changing and evolving, and developed in more than one hour.

PCPC is a process, not a document, not a meeting, etc.

The more empowered the peer is in creating the PCP, the better the outcomes will be.

For our community, Self-determination is a journey of healing and transformation based on a foundation of recovery.

Self Determination for Peers

I'm at a workshop to discuss self-determination for peers in Michigan's mental health system. We have discussed barriers and ways to promote SD, and Pam Werner is now reviewing the history of attempts to get SD to work in our community.

She has mentioned paperwork, and failure to implement as the two biggest problems. She is focusing on the Person centered plan as being subordinate to the ultimate goal of "getting a life"

The ultimate question is "What is my dream"?

Look at Community Inclusion, Participation, Independence and Productivity.

RCSD Final: Next Steps

Because we broke into work groups for the final effort around priorities, I'll wait to post on the outcomes of the strategy planning for the minutes and other documents. But the results were pretty good. More later on this, and I'll be reporting from a Self-Determination Workshop focused on peers today!

RCSD7: Aftermath

We have settled on 6 priorities, and have finished coming up with some initial steps for one of the priorities. We just finished a good lunch and are regrouping for the rest of our planning. The objective we have finished is the "Statewide" Recovery Policy".

RCSD6: Top Priorities

We are rating the priorities from last meeting and coming up with an initiating activity for each. More later

RCSD5: More Vision

Respect is the way you tell whether the system is transforming; Every part of the system needs to be flooded with recovery; it needs to be seen everywhere.
We need an operational model of recovery to impact the system as an infrastructure; Boards need to be immersed in recovery;

RCSD 4: National Pillars of Support and More Vision

Supervisory support is a key Pillar of Support in the system; PSS ID; Issues of Support for burnout, building an outside life; not taking on too much; sharing ways to balance; support for peers working full time with benefits and a career path; eduation around nutritional approaches to recovery; positive media re recovery; resolve paradox of recipient rights and employee rights; all DCH documents related to recovery should be reviewed; we need a much fuller vision of a complete community system of supports based on recovery;

RCSD 3: More Vision

Concrete signs of respect for PSS; Stories by peers about how they are getting a life; professional incentives for understanding the recovery movement; actual effort by CMH to respect peers; held a conference focused on providers and recovery, and we will hold another this year; The RC has bonded, and will show collaboration in reaching the outcomes we plan today; More attention to rural areas, enough to publicly show their understanding of the importance of recover; empowerment of peers through modeling of RC activities, and modeling by peers;

RCSD 2: Accomplishments and Vision

# of peer support specialists; REE implementation and the data it produces; The system would understand and show that each person's chosen life is possible; relationships outside the system; PSS embedded in day to day workings of the system; Recovery in education and training and public education; PSS on university faculty in Georgia!!; More stories of recovery in the public arena and self-identified peers in positions of power;

Recovery Council Strategy Development, Part 1

Ike is leading our effort today, to build a Council strategy for 2010 at LCC West. We will be reviewing our vision and our priorities, and modeling our future relationship with DCH and the CMH system.