Genuinely challenging the system

Aisling Duffy, chief executive of Certitude shares her thoughts on what's next for personalisation.

In my opinion the strength of Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) is its partnership approach, people working together as positive exemplars of personalised, community based support. Individuals, families, providers, local and central government, commissioners, regulators and other improvement agencies coming together as equal partners to demand, shape and celebrate genuine choice and control for people with disabilities.

Such a collaborative approach really matters and never more so than at a time when money is tighter and there is a natural propensity to 'batten down the hatches' and hold firm to our bit of the system that validates discrete roles and organisations. Collaboration the TLAP way is characterised by genuinely challenging the whole system, holding each other to account to be as ambitious as possible in the drive to personalisation and offering practical and expert support to deliver on agreed priorities. This is what makes TLAP special - therefore I believe that a top priority for TLAP going forward must be to remain as focussed and committed to the 'how' of facilitating change, as it does on the what.