When Joseph finished high school, he worked with two of ABLE2’s planning facilitators to develop a two-year plan to secure a good future life including a strong community of support.

Seven people were invited to a PATH (Planning Alternative Tomorrows with Hope) meeting. Some were life-long friends or long-term work colleagues, and others newer friends and work colleagues. Each person was invited because they knew Joseph well and could provide a variety of perspectives.

Joseph and his parents prepared for the meeting by making a visual plan, using pictures as a jump-off point, of what was important to him and his hopes for the future. This plan was shared ahead of time with the family and friends who were taking part in the PATH.

At the start of the planning meeting, Joseph welcome everyone and talked about his life as it was right then. The meeting then moved on to talk about how to help Joseph achieve the goals he had identified, this included committing to connecting him to others who could help him on his journey.

Key to the process was family access to the PATH workbook and a facilitator who knew Joseph. These factors helped all the participants in the meeting.

Joseph and his family were very happy with the whole process. “We look forward to building on this foundation and drawing on a new community of support and ideas for Joseph. Feedback from the participants was that they enjoyed meeting others who know Joseph, that they found ways they could help that they did not realise previously and that they were willing to take positive action to help Joseph”.