2019 TASH Conference

For many years, Skills Society has worked hard to be a fertile ground for fresh ideas, and radical innovations to emerge because of our strong values, focus on continuous learning and the creative culture we have built together. Something that continued to challenge and frustrate us was how bureaucratic and dehumanizing the planning and case management experience can be for people with disabilities. We noticed how people with disabilities and their families can often be left out of the planning process, lacking control and say in the services they receive. We also noticed how conventional planning processes leave little opportunity for creativity and outside the box thinking, making it challenging for people and their supports to come up with meaningful citizenship roles and employment opportunities. In response to these challenges, a decade ago, we set out to explore the following question: How might we transform service planning from what can often be a bureaucratic, dehumanizing and less than engaging experience, into a delightful, insightful and truly meaningful collaboration? Two ideas emerged from these explorations and have evolved to become (1) MyCompass Planning: People Powered Planning, an online suite of case management tools and (2) MyCompass Planning Labs, a disciplined brainstorming process to support goal generation. Both tools incorporate Human Centred Design principles which are about disciplined problem solving and really empathizing, learning, and listening to the people we are trying to design solutions with. Design thinking MyCompass Planning: People Powered Planning MyCompass Planning: People Powered Planning is an online platform (www.mycompassplanning.com) developed by Skills Society, Southern Alberta Community Living Association and Lift Interactive, that humanizes planning and case management. Importantly, the platform was developed with people with disabilities and their supports who provided input, insights, and feedback throughout the entire process. MyCompass Planning makes it easier: For people with disabilities and their families to be at the helm when designing the service they want and deserve To follow up on plans so there is increased accountability that a person's plan is acted upon and achieved To train and enhance the skills of human service workers whose role is central to ensuring plans are high quality and centred on what a person receiving services wants and needs MyCompass is changing the way service organizations approach planning. Rather than being bound by rigid, dehumanizing planning meetings that happen once or twice a year, MyCompass is flexible and adaptable, enabling people and their supports to plan and strategize as life unfolds. MyCompass Planning Labs MyCompass Planning Labs is a think tank process for discovering innovative ways to connect people with disabilities to meaningful citizenship roles and employment opportunities in the community. The Citizen Action Lab is a process that helps unlock creativity in Community Support Workers so they can strengthen their approaches to supporting people with disabilities to uncover and connect with all the things that make life great. Over the years we have refined the think tank process. MyCompass Labs bring support workers together to generate fresh ideas for meaningful citizenship roles and employment opportunities. Over the course of one and half hours, a steward takes the group through a series of disciplined creative processes which enable them to first think and dream big and then slowly refine their ideas into concrete, achievable goals and tasks that can later be entered into an individual's MyCompass plan. The labs spur people to think differently and encourage "outside the box" thinking in 5 life domains: Paid Employment Community Connections Health and Wellness Strengthening Relationships Homelife. Join us for this interactive workshop where you will learn about and experience our approach to humanizing case management and the two processes we have developed: MyCompass Planning and MyCompass Planning Labs. As part of the workshop we will break into small groups and go through a MyCompass Lab process together. After, there will be an opportunity for reflection and sharing as to how human-centred design principles might fit within the context of participant's work.