We are the premier resource in New England for organizations seeking to provide higher quality support to people through a focus on person-centered practices

Learn Anywhere!

You’re adapting to a distributed workforce and so are we! We can drop in on one of your video conference meetings to offer a one-hour training, provide you with a “kit” to assemble and run your own online training in a person-centered skill, or have you attend one of our introductory workshops on Person Centered Thinking that are now instructor-led, live learning experiences. Take a look!

What We Learn

Person-centered thinking (PCT) skills and person-centered practices are about supporting someone in having positive control over their life. The foundational skill of PCT is looking at what is important to and for that person from their perspective. This provides the opportunity for those of us who support others, to learn from them directly. This learning includes the ways in which one identifies themselves, what customs and traditions they value, and how they experience the world. Those are the keys to what is important to them. It is directly related to the quality of their life.

How We Learn

Sessions that are interactive and engaging take full advantage of the way that video-conferencing software allows the instructor and learner to work together. We can ask questions and answer through chat, share files spontaneously through links in chat or with document cameras, answer polls, use break-out conversations to work with fellow participants, whiteboards, group annotation and other new approaches. We can handle set up and registration for your online training with us or arrange to sign in to one of your existing online sessions to add a staff development agenda item. The standard PCT workshop has an online version. Or you can manage your own training with one of our S.T.A.R. System Kits.

One Hour Online Session

These can be focused on a topic selected from the person-centered formats or another area of interest to help keep your team’s learning going forward. Participants listen, ask questions, engage in break-out room conversations and have materials and resources to bring with them.

Charting the LifeCourse Overview Online

This overview is provided by a Charting the LifeCourse Ambassador from Firstperson Services. It can be scheduled as a drop-in to your existing scheduled team meeting on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams or Jitsi or scheduled as a stand-alone training through our system where your staff can enroll. Live and interactive; this session can get your team familiar with the basics.

On Demand Training

By using one of our Firstperson Services S.T.A.R. System Kits you can have all of the elements that you need to run your own refresher online in one of your team meetings. These include an on-demand recorded webinar, conversation starters and reflection sheets.

Online Instructor Led PCT Workshop

The basic PCT Workshop designed by The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices has been adapted as an interactive and engaging set of modules where learners experience all of the components of the standard session in a virtual format. The full workshop is six 3-hour modules. There’s one coming up. You can also arrange one just for your organization.

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Person Centered Thinking Facilitators

Credentialing workshop facilitators with

The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices

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Service Provider Agencies

Strengthening your on-boarding, training and retention of valued employees with in-person workshops, video conference and webinars

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Agency Administrators

Quality audits and gap analysis for person-centered requirements of Home & Community Based Services rules

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Direct Support Professionals

Techniques for learning and recording what is important to the people that you support

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Self Advocates & Family Advocates

Planning together with your support team

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About Roy Gerstenberger

A recognized leader in the field of developmental services and organizational development in person centered practices, Roy brings more than 35 years of experience to bear as he works to further person centered thinking practices. As Executive Director, Roy dedicated more than 20 years to advancing the capacity of Community Bridges, a major non-profit based in Concord, New Hampshire, earning accreditation from the Council on Quality & Leadership while growing the organization. In recent years, he served as the division director for the State of Vermont. He has completed Executive Education program courses at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government on performance measurement and leadership decision making and at the Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Institute on strategic perspectives for nonprofit management. He is a credentialed mentor trainer with The Learning Community for Person Centered Practices.

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