About Cindy
Cindy Trepanier: Person Centered Practice Speaker, Educator, and Consultant
My work takes place alongside individuals, families, professionals, and organizations through demanding life experiences, including disability, changing health, caregiving, grief, and with individuals and families nearing end-of-life care.
Meet Cindy
I am Cindy Trepanier, founder of The Person Centered Practice, and I bring more than thirty years of experience in disability services and person centered planning. I support people with disabilities, their families, and the professionals who walk alongside them, working from a single premise: see the person before the circumstance. The diagnosis, the history, and the file all matter. They simply come second.
I am a Rehabilitation Practitioner, End-of-Life Doula, and Advanced Grief and Loss Specialist. I hold certifications in Grief, Loss, and Trauma in Decolonized Practices and in Suicide in Decolonized Practice, I am an Abuse Prevention Response Protocol Trainer, and I have completed person centered planning training with Helen Sanderson & Associates. I also serve as a surveyor with the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.
My decision to offer speaking engagements, training, workshops, and consultation across three programs — Seeing the Person Before the Circumstance, Person Centered End-of-Life Care, and Building Person Centered Organizations — is a natural progression in my pursuit to support further learning across agencies and human service sectors.
Across all aspects of this work, one thing has held true. Every person deserves to be seen, heard, valued, and respected.
The Person Centered Practice was built on this premise.
How This Began
I did not set out to build a philosophy. I set out to understand people.
Early in my career, working in disability services, the most important lessons learned were not in the training manuals. They came from listening to individuals and families whose voices were rarely the loudest in the room.
I noticed how often the conversation centered on the diagnosis, the limitation, or the system. Files described what a person could not do before they described who the person was. Decisions were often made before anyone had asked the person what they hoped for or what they wanted their life to look like.
None of this came from people who did not care. It came from people carrying too much, inside systems that were not built to slow down. That distinction matters, and it has shaped everything about how I do this work.
What those years taught me became the foundation of my practice: personhood comes before circumstance, and the question that opens every piece of work I do is a simple one.
Who is this person, and what matters most to them?
Over three decades that question has traveled with me: alongside individuals living with disability, families navigating caregiving and grief, professionals working to strengthen their practice, leaders building organizational culture, and people walking someone they love to the end of their life.
My One Page Profile
A One Page Profile is one of the foundational tools of person centered practice. It introduces a person by what matters most to them, what the people around them appreciate about them, and how they are best supported.
Before I ask an organization to use person centered tools, I use them myself. What follows is mine.
Speaker · Educator · Consultant
What People Appreciate About Me
- I operate from a person centered philosophy.
- I actively listen to ensure that individuals feel heard.
- I ask questions that empower others to uncover their own strengths.
- I believe that everyone possesses value, purpose, and something significant to contribute.
- I foster connections and create safe environments for meaningful conversations.
- I am committed to continuous learning, because I strive to improve.
- I respectfully challenge systems when they no longer serve individuals effectively.
What Matters Most to Me
- My family is my number one priority.
- Exercise. It keeps my head clear and focused.
- Treating others with respect.
- Advocating for others.
- Meaningful conversation.
- The work I do matters to me. I am passionate in my beliefs.
How to Best Support Me
- Give me time to process thoughts. I do not like being put on the spot.
- Give me honest and relevant feedback. Self-reflection is important to me.
- I prefer quiet spaces to work.
- Time by myself recharges my batteries.
I Work Best When
- We embrace innovative ideas and diverse perspectives.
- You share your experiences and stories. They often provide the greatest learning.
- You are honest, even when your perspective differs from mine.
- You respect that I value collaboration over hierarchy.
- You ask questions and challenge ideas respectfully.
- We focus on solutions rather than blame.
- We keep the person at the center of every conversation and decision.
Professional Experience
Over the past thirty years, my work has included direct support, behavior consultation, leadership, family support, program development, professional training, and organizational consultation.
I collaborate with organizations to strengthen professional practice, support teams navigating complex and painful situations, and help leaders build cultures where personhood stays at the center of everyday decisions.
I have expanded my work to include speaking, training, and organizational consultation across Canada and the United States.
Education Credentials & Training
Thirty years of person centered practice, supported by:
- Rehabilitation Practitioner
- CARF Accredited Survey Specialist
Certifications
- End-of-Life Doula
- Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist
- Abuse Prevention Response Protocol Train the Trainer
- Basic Skills Trainer Train the Trainer
- Positive Behaviour Supports Train the Trainer
- Giwiidabindimin: Responding to Grief, Loss and Trauma with Decolonized Practices
- Giwiidosendamin: Responding to Addictions and Suicide with Decolonized Practices
In addition, I hold training in Person Centered Reviews, Person Centered Thinking, and Person Centered Facilitation.
Professional knowledge is essential. It is not sufficient. Meaningful practice includes ongoing learning, education, and conversations with all people, in all aspects of the person’s plan.
Start Here
Bring Person Centered Practice to Your Team
Tell me about the people you support, what you hope they’ll take away, and together we can explore how I can support your goals.