Families support person centered care by sharing what matters to the person and helping the team reflect it in everyday decisions. If you are a family member, care worker, manager, trainer, or HR leader, your conversations can connect personal knowledge with consistent support.
What information should families share with care teams?
Families can describe daily routines, food preferences, comforting activities, communication styles, goals, cultural practices, important relationships, and signs that the person is worried or unwell. They can explain how the person shows agreement, refusal, pain, or a need for space. They can also point out changes, such as a person who now needs more time to answer or no longer enjoys a familiar activity.
For example, a daughter might tell a residential team that her father relaxes when staff explain each step before personal care. A support worker can record that preference and use it during the morning routine. A manager can then check in during supervision to see whether the approach is working and whether the person wants anything changed.
How can families help the person feel valued?
Care becomes more meaningful when, through Make Their Day, staff use what they learn to create sincere moments that show the person their choices and presence matter. A carer might play a resident’s favorite song before lunch, notice a small achievement, or offer two genuine choices instead of deciding everything for them. A family member might bring photographs for a memory activity, while a team recognizes that the person prefers quiet, private encouragement rather than public praise.
The gesture should fit the person, arise from genuine attention, and leave them feeling respected. Ask, “What would make this moment better for you?” Then notice the answer in words, expression, behavior, or a decision to join in. Be There helps staff notice those signals, while Choose Your Attitude helps them respond with patience when plans change.
Families and teams can use these steps:
- Share one routine, preference, goal, or relationship that matters.
- Ask, “Where will this appear in the care plan, and how will we know it is helping?”
- Say, “I have noticed a change. Can we review what the person wants now?”
- Agree how the person wants family involved in decisions, updates, and meetings.
- Watch for signs of comfort, distress, engagement, or withdrawal, and record what the person communicates.
When families are heard and the person’s own voice remains central, care becomes more familiar, responsive, and respectful.
Questions like this one, and many more about service culture, are explored in the FISH! Philosophy upgraded trial, which gives your team 30 days of access to the FISH! film and its digital guides.
