What is a Personal Empowerment Plan?
The Personal Empowerment Plan (PEP) is the companion tool to the Strengths Assessment in Strengths Model Case Management. Used together, they are practice tools that are part of an ongoing process to help people make movement toward what they value and want in life, even amid life challenges. The Strengths Assessment is typically started early in the helping relationship to help identify:
- key values/goals/desires/aspirations that are meaningful and important to the person (even if the person has difficulty imagining making movement toward any of these things in the current moment).
- current capabilities (things the person is able to do even in the midst of life challenges).
- key environmental strengths (things a person finds useful or helpful even in the midst of life challenges).
For this reason, we often call using the Strengths Assessment an “invitation to explore.” It doesn’t require the person to make any changes or commit to anything. It just visually creates space for things to exist and stand apart from all the stressors, symptoms, distress, and life challenges the person might be experiencing internally or externally.
The Personal Empowerment Plan is brought into the helping relationship when a person is ready or willing to take a step toward anything meaningful or important that they value or want in life (even in the midst of life challenges). For this reason, we often call the Personal Empowerment Plan an “invitation to act.”
Just like with the Strengths Assessment, there isn’t a specified timeframe in which a Personal Empowerment Plan HAS to be introduced. Some people might be ready to take a step on something the first time they are introduced to the Strengths Assessment. For some people, you might even start on the Personal Empowerment Plan before you have even had a chance to introduce the Strengths Assessment. For others, it might take a while before they are ready to act on anything due to feeling overwhelmed, constantly battling symptoms/thoughts/emotions, or continuously experiencing crisis.
While we want to have flexibility around when we introduce the Personal Empowerment Plan, we want to stay open to opportunities for when this tool might be most effectively used. In order to do that, there are three key elements that need to be present in order for introducing a Personal Empowerment Plan (PEP) to be relevant to a person:
Three Key Elements to Introduce a PEP
1: Something a person wants to achieve/be able to do.
In order to be consistent with Strengths Model practice, the goal needs to be something the person wants. The PEP should not be used for something providers want a person to do, even if they think it might be beneficial to the person. The tool should never be used to coerce a person to take medications, attend appointments, stop using substances, etc.
2: Something the person wants your help with.
Just because a person desires to achieve something, this does not always mean that they want us involved in helping them take steps toward achieving it. People may have several values/goals/desires/aspirations listed on their Strengths Assessment that they only want noted because they are meaningful and important to the person. This does not mean the worker has a role in helping the person with the goal.
3: Something that would be more likely achieved if it was broken down into smaller, manageable steps.
There are some goals that people want to achieve AND they want our help with, yet we may not need a PEP to help them achieve it. For example, a person might want to learn about resources where they can get food or clothing. This might involve us having a conversation about what they are looking for, writing down some resources that relate to the need, and maybe even helping a person make a connection with the resource. If a goal can be achieved through verbal conversations and a little guidance, then you don’t need a PEP.
The PEP is used to help a person take small, incremental steps towards something they value or want in life specifically when movement has been (or is perceived to be) difficult for the person. This could be for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to:
o The goal or any of the steps feel overwhelming to the person.
o The person has low confidence in their ability to take certain steps.
o The person has not had success in the past making movement toward the goal.
o The person has difficulty keeping focus in order to take needed steps.
o The person doesn’t know where or how to get started in relation to the goal.
o The person has a lot of questions related to the goal or potential pathways of how to get there.
While this is not an exhaustive list, the main point here is that something is making movement difficult; therefore, taking things one or two steps at a time and then re-assessing the next steps can be helpful and useful.
Finding a context
A context for introducing the Personal Empowerment Plan is a situation in which the person feels you are talking about something relevant to them. When you show the person the PEP tool, it becomes something useful or helpful to them related to what they are experiencing. Here are five examples of contexts which are amenable to introducing a Personal Empowerment Plan:
1. A goal the person has.
This might be the most straightforward context in which to introduce a Personal Empowerment Plan. While most goals would work as a context to introduce a Personal Empowerment Plan, the tool is most impactful when it is a goal that is meaningful and important to the person and has the potential to increase a person’s sense of identity, connection, and support apart from formal behavioral health services (e.g., find a place to live, get a job, pursue an education-related goal, get involved in something in the community, expand or strengthen supportive relationships, etc.).
How it might sound in practice: “It sounds like getting your own apartment is important to you AND it feels a little overwhelming when you think about all the steps it might take to get your own place. I would like to show you a tool that might help this feel a little less overwhelming. All we have to do is start with one or two steps that you feel comfortable taking this week and then we can go from there. Each time we meet you will know exactly where we are related to your housing goal. Would it be okay if we used this to help you take steps toward getting your own apartment?”
2. A symptom that is challenging or distressing to the person.
It is fine to introduce the Personal Empowerment Plan in the context of a symptom a person experiences, particularly if they view the symptom as a major barrier to goal achievement. For example, a person may desire to do something that requires social interaction (e.g., get involved in a community activity, get a job, take a class, go shopping on their own, etc.), yet their fear of social situations makes it difficult to even get started. The PEP allows you to focus on one small goal that a person would like to be able to do and find a way to take one small step that moves them in the direction of that goal, EVEN in the midst of the anxiety they experience.
How it might sound in practice: “I know you experience a lot of anxiety being around other people, AND it sounds like you are ready to take some steps to join a gym. I would like to show you a tool that can help you take some steps toward this and not make it feel so overwhelming. We have already identified several things that seem to help a bit with the anxiety. We can use this tool to test out some of those strategies.”
3. A behavior change a person wants to make.
The Personal Empowerment Plan can be introduced when a person wants to make a behavior change, even if they have ambivalence about making the change. This could be related to substance use, physical activity, nutrition, addressing a health condition, sleep, spending, etc. Using the Personal Empowerment Plan can be a good tool to “test the waters” and only commit to a few steps before making any further decisions. The Personal Empowerment Plan can be used to write a few exploratory steps to find out any information that is needed before making a substantial change.
How it might sound in practice: “It sounds like you might be ready to try to take a step toward sobriety. I know this is a big decision for you. Would it be okay if I show you a tool that might help me better support you on this journey you are about to take? You would be in complete control of each step you decide to take toward sobriety. The tool helps you take one step at time so you can continue to build your confidence.”
Once you have decided on a context in which to introduce the Personal Empowerment Plan tool, here are some tips to help make this tool useful to you and the person you are working with:
Writing the goal and why it is important to the person.
The goal on the Personal Empowerment Plan should reflect something meaningful and important to the person. Typically, it is related to something in the priority section of the Strengths Assessment, however it could be any goal or aspiration in which the client wants to make movement.
The best goals are ones a person is trying to move toward, not things they want to move away from. For example, “I want my own apartment” or “I want to get a job” or “I want to be able to do things in the community with friends.”
If a person does state something that sounds like an “away from” goal (e.g., “I want to stop feeling depressed all the time,” “I want to get out of my parent’s house,” “I want to stop using alcohol,” etc.), find out what the person hopes to be able to do if they are able to accomplish any of these things. For example, a person might say “If I didn’t feel depressed all the time, I would be out of the house doing things with my friends” or “If I weren’t using alcohol, I would be able to work and save up money for a car.” Focusing on the latter half of each of these examples is a more powerful goal to use on the PEP, “I want to work and save up money for a car.”
Make sure to use first-person language. It is important that both the goal and why it is important are written from the person’s perspective using “I” and “my” wording. This helps to reinforce that these are the person’s values/goals/desires/aspirations.
Be careful to avoid any potentially entrapping narratives in the goal or why it is important. Sometimes a person can state a great goal “I want to get my own apartment” and then bring in an entrapping narrative when stating why this is important to them. For example, “I’m tired of being on the streets and feeling unsafe.” This may be what the person says and how they feel, however it overemphasizes what the person is trying to move away from rather than what they are trying to move toward. It is more effective to verbally validate what people feel or experience and then try to elicit the positive direction the person wants to move toward. For example, “it sounds like you hope getting an apartment will help you find the safety and stability you are looking for. Would it be okay if I put that here where it says why this is important to me?”
Writing Action Steps
Only write down steps that can be accomplished within 1-2 weeks, preferably a step that can be taken in the next week. The intent is just to get movement by taking immediate action on something the person says they are willing and able to do.
Use good action verbs for the action steps. Verbs like call, go to, ask, write, get are specific and behavioral. Writing something like “Go to _____ website and apply for ____ job online” or “Make a list of items I will need for new apartment” make it clear what the person taking action will do. When writing down an action step make sure it is understood by both you and the person receiving services. Avoid steps that are vague or complex (e.g., explore housing options, look for jobs, exercise this week, etc.).
Make sure each action step is positive. Steps should be something the person is moving toward not something they are moving away from. You want to see steps that indicate something a person is going to do rather than something they are not going to do. So, if a person has a goal to stop drinking alcohol, you would not want to see a step that says “Don’t drink this week.” It would be more useful to record small steps a person might take that week to move them in the direction of sobriety. For example, “Make a list of the reasons I want to abstain from alcohol” or “Call my brother and ask him if he could stay with me over the weekend for additional support” or “Go to the AA meeting on Thursday at 11am.”
Note who will do each step. Who will take each step is dependent upon the person’s ability to take self-directed action. When possible, it is great to see at least one step that the person will take on their own, or with a natural support person, even if it is a small step. This helps to reinforce the person’s sense of agency and ability to do something that moves them toward something they value or want. For people who have difficulty getting started on a goal, it is fine (and helpful) to see steps that the worker and client take together.
Set dates to be accomplished no further than two weeks out. Target dates for steps that are closer to the date the step was recorded are more likely to be accomplished. Typically, if a step needs longer than 2 weeks to be accomplished, it may need to be broken down further or it may be a sign that the person may not be ready to take the step. In this case, it is best to wait until the time is closer to when the person is ready and able to take a step on something.
Avoid using “ongoing” for when steps are to be accomplished. Often, this occurs when the step is vague like “explore job opportunities” or “search for housing options.” It’s more useful to write out what the person will specifically do in the next week that moves them toward their goal. Even if the step is something that the person hopes to repeat, then it is better to only write out what step they are going to take that week. Then you can re-evaluate if it’s helpful to write the step again or if the person can now take self-directed action without needing to write the step on the Personal Empowerment Plan.
Final Thoughts
The purpose of the Personal Empowerment Plan (PEP) is to get people in motion, not to try to plan out every step a person needs to take related to a goal. As a practice tool, the PEP is used to help a person mindfully take a committed action toward something that is important and meaningful to them, even amid life challenges. This is the reason you should only strive to write down 1-2 steps a person is able to take immediately following the meeting with you, between appointments, or during the next meeting you have with the person.
Once you have started a PEP, you can use it to check in with people the next time you meet. Based on the outcome or result of the steps listed from your previous meeting, this will open up discussion about the next steps.
The intent of this article is just to help you get started with introducing and using a Personal Empowerment Plan. There are a variety of additional approaches, techniques, and interventions you can learn to make the most effective use of this tool in your case management practice. Join us for one of our Strengths Model Case Management workshops if you want to learn more about incorporating this evidence-based practice into the work you do with people.
