Person-centered practice since 1998
With support as desired, or needed.
I help disability and aging services turn good intentions into good days. Person-centered practice, consulting, training, and Advance Care Planning that keeps the person at the center, during any part of their life, including the end of life.
It starts with a short conversation. No fee, and no package to buy.
In partnership with
The gap we close
Systems use all the right words. Person-centered. Dignity of risk. Self-determination. The hard part is making them true on someone's actual Tuesday.
That's where I come in. I stand in the space between policy and practice, between a plan on paper and the life someone actually lives. Some days that's coaching a team through a hard situation. Some days it's training staff or facilitators, or supporting implementation of the final Settings Rule, or helping a person say what matters to them at the end of life.
Every time, it comes down to keeping the person at the center instead of the system.
A short introduction to who I am, how I got here, and what to expect if we team up.
have a listen
How I think about support
This is the heart of Essential Lifestyle Planning, the method I helped build in the late 1980s, and the core foundation of Person-Centered Thinking. Good support means always striving for balance between both sides. Most plans that fail have missed the balance.
What matters to the person.
The people, routines, rituals, activities, belongings, that each person values, even the ones the rest of us wouldn't choose. Their voice, their life, their call.
What helps them stay healthy and safe, on their terms.
Health, safety, and being a welcome part of a community. Real, and never a reason to quietly take a person's life out of their own hands.
The whole job is holding the tension between them and finding balance.
How I help
Four services. The same idea runs through all of them: supporting people to be in charge of their own lives.
How it goes
No fixed packages and no pressure. Here's how it goes, from the first conversation to something that lasts.
We start with a short talk about what you're dealing with and what a good outcome would look like. There's no fee for it. You're the customer, so it starts from your needs, not from a package I'm trying to sell.
One-time event or a longer partnership? In person, virtual, or both? We figure out an approach that fits, and you see a clear proposal before anything starts.
I bring structure and stay flexible, because the path usually shifts along the way. We build in follow-up so the change holds after I leave.
Stories from the work
Four true stories about what Advance Care Planning protects when it starts from the person. I was there for each of them.
The person behind InLeadS
In the late 1980s I helped develop Essential Lifestyle Planning, one of the first formal person-centered planning methods, as people were moving out of state institutions. I wrote a national guide to communicating healthcare and end-of-life wishes. For more than 30 years I've helped families, providers, and governments do this well.
Behavior is communication.
It is a phrase at the center of everything I do, and a debt to the late Dr. Shelley Dumas and her daughter Katherine, who the capital S in InLeadS honors. When a plan is not working, the person is usually telling us something no one has listened to yet. My job is to listen, and then to help the team build something that fits.
In their words
Facilitators, planners, and national organizations on what it's like to learn and work alongside Leigh Ann.
“Not only is she a great resource to learn from for person-centered planning, but she was also easy to learn from as a facilitator, and a trainer.”
“Leigh Ann creates an accessible, thoughtful learning environment. She weaves relevant personal experience into her teaching.”
“Leigh Ann was gracious with her time, managed schedules and demonstrated natural leading qualities.”
Selected projects
A snapshot of current engagements with states and provider organizations.
I've supported the Indiana Division of Aging in several capacities since 2015. Right now I'm partnering with the Division and its staff on compliance with the CMS Settings Rule, turning federal requirements into person-centered practice on the ground.
This engagement is broadly about operationalizing good person-centered practices in the day-to-day lives of people with disabilities. More specifically, it's about helping people get better lives. I support the provider agency to develop specialized supports and to treat behavior as communication.
It starts with a short conversation about what you're facing. No fee, no pressure, and no package to buy. We'll figure out together whether I'm the right fit.