Independent Facilitator · Self-Determination Program · Los Altos, CA
The Self-Determination Program puts you in charge of your services, providers, and budget. As your Independent Facilitator, we help you build the plan, get services started, and adjust as life changes.
What an Independent Facilitator does
SDP puts you in charge. That also means more paperwork, more decisions, and more people to coordinate. We take on the work you choose to share, so the focus stays on the life you want.
We get to know the person at the center of the plan: strengths, interests, goals, and which supports are appropriate. Your plan will be finalized once all edits and feedback have been reviewed.
We review and discuss your budget: how it gets set, what it covers, and how to use it. With a focus on meeting all needs, we will help you prepare questions for your regional center.
We turn your goals into services, rates, and hours that fit within your budget. Every choice stays true to what you want.
We help you choose a Financial Management Service (FMS) based on your needs and the services previously identified. This includes finding, interviewing, and choosing providers, and looking for community and generic resources.
We prepare with you before IPP and planning meetings and help you speak up for what you need with your service coordinator. If you'd like, we'll join you at your IPP meetings.
We meet with you monthly to review how services are going and help you adjust the plan as needed.
How it works
Every family's path is a little different. This is the usual order of steps once you decide to try SDP.
We talk about where you are with SDP, what you hope for your future, and the role Owl Advisors could play in your journey.
Together we discuss strengths, preferences, and areas of growth to map goals, and identify supports that will help you live your life.
We review the budget with you, help you identify areas of need, and help you understand the process.
We use the budget and services to help you choose who delivers your services, when, and how.
We help you choose an FMS, find providers, and review invoices.
We will attend annual IPP meetings if you want. We also meet on a regular basis to review the budget and goals and to discuss needs.
Have questions about SDP? Start with a free call.
Book a free callMeet your facilitator
Jen spent nearly 20 years as a special education teacher, writing IEPs, leading team meetings, and making sure students got the supports they needed. Independent facilitation draws on those same skills, now centered on your goals for life beyond school.
She has also worked at an adult services agency, so she knows how services are delivered after school ends and what makes a provider a good fit.
As a parent of children with IEPs, Jen also knows what these meetings feel like from the family's side of the table.
Skills that carry over
Also offered
A knowledgeable partner for school and home.
Services that can be written into a Self-Determination spending plan.
For families who use a different Independent Facilitator. SDP rules keep facilitation separate from the services in your plan, so Owl Advisors cannot provide these services to anyone we facilitate for.
From families we've worked with
“Jen and her team helped us clarify what we wanted for our child — and how to ask the school team for exactly that.”
“Our child now receives the services needed to attend general-ed classes — and make new friends.”
“In-home training and support opened up so many new opportunities for us as a family.”
Questions
No. Facilitation is optional. Some families work with their regional center service coordinator alone. Many choose a facilitator because they want more hands-on help with planning, providers, and paperwork.
The cost of an Independent Facilitator, if any, is paid from the participant's individual budget, through your Financial Management Service like your other services.
No. Your service coordinator stays part of your team. We work alongside them and help you get the most out of that relationship.
Not if we are your facilitator. An Independent Facilitator cannot also provide services in the same person's plan. Our upcoming social/recreation, adaptive skills, and job coaching services will be offered only to families who use a different facilitator.
Tell us a little about your family. We'll take it from there.
