For years, True Link has been on a mission to empower professionals who support their clients’ independence and well-being. As a part of that mission, True Link offers an annual grant to support those who are actively working to promote standards, collaboration, transparency, and robust systems of oversight in person-centered support. It’s awarded to field-builders — those advancing the field through the implementation and dissemination of best practices that support guardians, trustees, and the vulnerable individuals they work to serve day in and day out. 

For 2022, we are pleased to announce that Angie Cobble has been selected as the recipient of our Grant for Best Practices in Person-Centered Support!

Angie Cobble is an experienced Workforce Development Specialist at Core Services of Northeast Tennessee. After a career as a Direct Support Professional for 13 years and a 30 year career with the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in a variety of roles, Angie brought her wealth of experience to Core Services, where she is focused on implementing person-centered concepts and strategies to better support the people living with intellectual and developmental disabilities the agency serves.

In her role, Angie is committed to promoting person-centered concepts through education, training, meetups, and more aimed at helping both the person supported and their family or conservators understand what decisions people need support with and what decisions they should make on their own. Through one of her recent initiatives, she had implemented a new process for every person supported to receive a “Personal Outcome Measures” interview that includes the person supported, their family or conservators, and paid staff to evaluate and help promote the independence of a person being supported. 

Angie, a certified Person Centered Thinking trainer, also leads Person Centered Planning Meetings, where the agency encourages a person's entire “circle of support” to meet and discuss what is really important to the person supported for a self-defined, satisfying life as well as to help further educate families and conservators.

At Core Services, Angie continually encourages staff to complete specialized trainings focused on person-centered strategies and supported decision making, which allows her agency to maintain consistent, empathetic, and professional staff that is well-equipped to help those they serve enjoy happier lives. Under Angie’s guidance and commitment to person-centered support, she has helped her agency better empower and advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their ability to make choices about their own lives with the support of those around them.

Angie plans to use this grant for Core Services’ Second Annual Imagination Symposium, which is a gathering to better inform persons supported, direct support professionals, other provider agencies, families, and the community about what has and is working when it comes to best practices in person-centered support.

“Across the country, advocates and professionals in the industry work tirelessly, and often thanklessly, to establish systems and improve the rigor of the practice of guardianship, conservatorship, and fiduciary services to make sure the field consistently reflects person-centered care at its best,” said Kai Stinchcombe, Founder, and CEO of True Link. 

With this grant, we hope to amplify the voices of those who are leading the field to achieve its highest aspirations for person-centered support, helping promote transparency and personal decision making, and enhancing the lives of vulnerable individuals every day.

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Are you interested in nominating yourself or someone else for this grant? Be on the lookout as nominations open for our 2023 Grant for Best Practices in Person-Centered Support soon.

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