8 Ways to Become the “MacGyver” of Self Direct ion Advocacy

Applied Self Direct ion ~ Self Direct ion Conference!CHOICE. CONTROL. EFFICIENCY.

May 8, 2017 to May 9, 2017

Jenni fer Drganc, MRCI and Gai l Godwin, Shared Support Maryland, Inc, ~ in partnership

Welcome ~ Who’s Here?

Myths of Self Di rect ion

Myth 1 ~ You are not appropriate for self direction .

• All is all….

• Need support with someone that communicates differently?

• Need support medically?

Myth 2 ~ You n eed to h ave fam ily m em bers th a t can h elp .

• Only people with family…

• Only people with a network of natural support...

Myth 3 ~ It ’s too m uch work .

• That’s kind of how life is…

• Delegate, delegate, delegate….

Myth 4 ~ Regulat ions say that you can’t… do….

• Regs might change every second but you don’t…

Myth 5 ~ Self Di rection is a recipe for fraud. People don’t kn ow em ploym en t ru les , les s s tructure, can people supervise, it’s a free for a ll.

• Handbook - HR component

• Your entire team knows the rules…

• Fraud is almost always a case of not knowing the rules...

Myth 6 ~ Stick ing wi th an agency is the only way I can get s ta ff.

• The Match

• People from other arenas…

• Family members...

Myth 7 ~ Stick ing wi th an agency is the only way I can “get a budget”.

• Medicaid service eligibility is medicaid service eligibility!

• % cuts to full budgets in some states.

• Weighing the benefits and pitfalls of managing a budget.

Myth 8 ~ How can a person get wh at th ey wan t or we can ’t get th em to do wh at we wan t th em to do...

• What matters to me should matter to everyone.• What I want to do with my life is my support team’s job…• How can we elicit this from people for whom this is not obvious? (David

Pitonyak’s 7 Questions).• The ability to uniquely arrange my service structure means that we are already

90% of the way there. Often what people want is contrary to the way a program is set up.

• As a Person using Self-Directed Services, Support Broker, Resource Coordinator (titles), Family, Friend, Team Member….the majority of the responsibilities list is helping the team arrange the support structure in line with the person’s vision for their own life, aligning resources and relationships accordingly and helping with accountability.

Any Take Aways? Take a Moment to PlanWhat can we do

differently? What are the strategies? Who can we enlist to help?

Thank you so much for attending our session!