Willow&Way
I am an independent facilitator for families in California's Self‑Determination Program (SDP). You decide what support looks like. I help you build the plan and the budget around it, then come alongside you year after year.
Working with families across Southern California.
Ask to join, plan together, begin with the people you choose, and renew each year so it keeps fitting your life.
CheckWhat are the benefits of SDP and how to tell whether it is the right fit for your family
BeginFive minutes of questions, then a link to book a thirty minute call. It is a conversation, not an assessment.
Ask to join, plan together, begin with the people you choose, and renew each year so it keeps fitting your life.
The Self‑Determination Program is a voluntary way to receive your regional center services. You get an individual budget each year and more freedom, control and responsibility in choosing the people and supports that help you reach the goals in your Individual Program Plan (IPP). It often opens up supports you could not get under the traditional system. Instead of choosing only from the regional center's list of vendors, you choose the people and programs that fit your family, including people you already know and trust, and you set the schedule. A financial management service (FMS) pays your staff and your vendors, so you are never the one cutting checks.
Getting there takes a series of steps in a set order, each one waiting on someone at the regional center, and it can take many months. An independent facilitator walks that road with you: writing the plan, building the budget, keeping the steps moving, helping you find staff, programs and resources, and staying on afterward to make sure the budget is being used well and the program keeps working for you.
You already know what your family needs. My work is making sure the program delivers it.
| Who | Their part | Where I come in |
|---|---|---|
| Your family | Decides what support should look like, chooses the people and programs, approves the plan, and supervises staff day to day | I turn your needs and decisions into a plan the regional center can approve, and take the paperwork off your plate |
| The regional center | Confirms eligibility, runs the budget meeting, certifies the budget, reviews the spending plan, and issues the authorizations | I prepare for every meeting, sit beside you and chase what goes quiet afterward |
| The financial management service (FMS) | Hires your staff on paper, runs payroll, pays vendors, tracks spending, and reports to the regional center | I open the account, get staff and vendors set up, and sort out anything that bounces |
| Your staff and vendors | Provide the support, clock their hours or send invoices, and keep their clearances current | I walk each one through onboarding so nobody is stuck at the counter on day one, and I am there for any questions or needs that come up along the way |
Your service coordinator adds you to the program. SDP is open to every regional center client who has been found eligible for a developmental disability under the Lanterman Act, at any age.
The state's overview of the program →Two live online sessions run by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Both parts are required before you begin with an independent facilitator, and they run monthly, so book early.
Orientation calendar and registration →We meet, I listen, and I write the plan: who the participant is, what matters to them, and what supports they actually need. This is the document everything else is built on.
The regional center sets the year's individual budget based on the services you receive today and the unmet needs identified in the plan. I sit in the budget meetings with you and lead the conversation if you want me to.
We turn the budget into a line by line plan: staff hours and rates, programs, camps, mileage, the facilitator's own line. It has to land within a dollar of the certified budget and pass the regional center's review.
The FMS pays your staff and vendors and handles the employer paperwork. I open that thread, get your staff and vendors set up, and chase the background checks that hold up start dates.
Compare financial management services →Services begin on the first of the month, and the first few months are usually the bumpiest: a timesheet approved late, a vendor invoicing the wrong place, a background check that stalls. I handle those. Every three months we sit down together to review what has been spent, talk through anything that needs to change, and check in on how things are going. Between those check ins I am the person you call when a staff member leaves, a program changes price, or you want to move money between lines.
SDP runs in twelve month blocks. Before each one ends, the plan is revisited, the budget is set again, and a new spending plan has to be written and approved so services do not lapse on day one of the new year. Needs change as a child grows, a school year turns over, or an adult settles into a routine, and the renewal is where the plan catches up. I start it months ahead, gather what has changed, and carry it through with you so that each year begins the way the first one did: on time and built around the participant. That is the part of this work I care about most. Not the one time transition, but being the steady person a family can count on year after year.
What are the pros and cons with SDP and how to tell whether it is the right fit for you or the person you love.
SDP is one of three choices. Here they are side by side, so you can see which fits your life.
Your regional center finds and pays providers from its own vendor list. This is how most families get their services.
Least for you to manage. Less say in who provides the support.
For certain services, like respite or personal assistance, you hire your own worker for the hours approved, at a set rate. A financial management service pays them.
A middle path. You choose the person for a few services.
You get an individual budget each year and decide how it is spent and who provides your supports, guided by a plan written in your voice.
The most choice and control, and more of the work. That is where I come in.
In all three, you keep your regional center and your service coordinator.
SDP is built around one person: you. The plan is written in your voice, the budget follows your needs, and the supports are the ones that fit your life rather than the ones a vendor list happens to offer. If it feels like the right time, there are two ways forward. You can go through the process on your own, with plenty of free supports to help, or you can hire me to walk alongside you.
A plan written in your voice, a budget that follows your needs, and supports chosen by the people who know you.
If this sounds like a good fit for you or the person you support, the short questions on the Start Here page take about five minutes and end with a link to book a thirty minute call with me. This is a conversation, not an assessment, and there is no commitment.
Not there yet? That is fine. The How SDP Works page explains what SDP involves, and the two links below will get you started with the regional center. If you would like to go through the process on your own, here are the free supports that can help. Leave your email and I will check in with you as things move.
Helpful before you start: State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD) orientation calendar · Department of Developmental Services (DDS) overview of SDP
Hi, I'm Becca! My journey into this work is deeply personal. As a parent of a child with disabilities, I understand firsthand the challenges and victories that come with advocating for the right support. My son has been a regional center client since infancy and is now in the Self‑Determination Program. We went through the transition with an independent facilitator of our own, so I know what this process feels like from the family's side of the table.
I believe every person is created with purpose, with strengths and gifts that are worth building a life around.
SDP gives families the freedom to choose the services that fit their values, goals and vision, and I count it a privilege to walk that road with them.
As a facilitator, I am here to listen, support and advocate — helping individuals and families navigate the process with clarity, compassion and confidence. The families I work with span every stage of life: young children with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and school schedules to plan around, teenagers approaching adulthood, and adults building lives of their own, with or without a conservatorship. I have walked families through first year transitions and yearly renewals, medical and insurance questions, hiring and managing their own staff, and the budget conversations where a plan is won or lost. I look forward to hearing your family's story and what you need.
Certified Independent Facilitator (Guidelight, 2025) · Willow & Way Facilitation is licensed in the City of Irvine · Member of The IF Collective, the statewide community of certified facilitators
Willow: I chose the willow because it is strong and it is flexible. It bends in every wind and does not break. Its roots run deep and wide, holding the bank steady while everything above it moves. Cut it back and it grows again, fuller than before. Every family I have worked with is like that. The participant has strengths that were there long before any plan was written, and the people around them — parents, siblings, grandparents, the aide who stayed — are the roots that hold when the year gets stormy. The regional center process asks a great deal of families; I am here to walk alongside you and become a part of your support team.
Way: It is your path, in your direction, toward a life you can picture more clearly than anyone else can. I do not choose it. What I bring is that I know the ground: which steps come in which order, what the regional center might approve and what it will push back on, where the paperwork goes quiet and how to get it moving. I clear what I can and walk alongside you long enough that the path starts to feel like it was always yours.
Deep roots, open paths.
Deep roots so you can pull from the supports you have in place.
Open paths so you can go where you are meant to go.
The regional center pays during the transition, your budget pays once services start.
In general, independent facilitation is funded by the regional center on the way into SDP, and from the participant's own budget once services start.
Before the start date the regional center pays for the Person Centered Plan (PCP) and a set number of hours of transition support. After the start date, ongoing facilitation is a line we write into the spending plan together — the number of hours is yours to set, and the hourly rate is agreed in our service agreement before any work begins. In very rare cases a family decides to pay for an Independent Facilitator out of pocket; we can talk about that option if it is something you would like.
The hours are yours to set. The rate is agreed before any work begins.
Rates and the current authorized amounts are in the service agreement I send after our first call. Nothing here is a quote.
| Stage | Who pays | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Person centered plan | Regional center | Meetings with your family, writing the plan, revisions until it is right |
| Transition support | Regional center | Budget meetings, the spending plan, FMS setup, staff and vendor onboarding |
| Ongoing facilitation | Your SDP budget | A monthly line in your spending plan at an agreed hourly rate, from your start date on |
Plain answers to the questions I hear most, from the first call to the yearly renewal.
No. Families can transition into SDP on their own, with people they trust, or with their service coordinator. Plenty do.
If you decide to go on your own, these are free and worth using:
Here is why many choose not to. The transition is a dozen steps in a set order, each with its own form, its own deadline and its own person to chase, and a small mistake on any of them costs weeks: a missing field on a request, a form sent to the wrong regional center, a background check nobody uploaded. Your service coordinator is helpful, but they carry a large caseload and they work for the regional center, so they cannot sit on your side of the table at the budget meeting, and that meeting is where the year's money is decided. An independent facilitator works for you alone. I learn what the regional centers will approve, what they will push back on, and how to ask so the answer is more likely to be a yes.
The question is not whether you can do it. It is whether you would rather spend the next five to ten months learning the system, or spend them with your family while someone who already knows it carries the paperwork.
From the day you tell your regional center you want SDP to the first day of services is usually five to ten months. The steps happen in order, and most of the time is spent waiting on the regional center.
First you attend the required orientation, and dates can be weeks out. Then the regional center certifies your budget, which means pulling the last twelve months of services and meeting with you about any unmet needs. Next come the person centered plan and the spending plan, which the regional center has to review and approve. Finally, the financial management service (FMS) needs your paperwork and your staff’s hiring forms and background checks before anyone can be paid.
A facilitator cannot skip any of these steps, but I can make sure nothing sits. I keep the paperwork moving, follow up when things go quiet, and have the next step ready so you are not waiting longer than you have to.
Yes. Everything you have today stays in place until your SDP start date, so there is no gap in services while you wait.
You also do not have to wait for SDP to start building more support. Some of the services we are working toward can begin while you are in the process. They are paid by you and then reimbursed, which can take some time, but it means the person you support can get more help sooner, and I can help you set that up.
SDP is always your choice. If life gets busy, you can pause the transition and pick it back up later, and your current services keep going either way.
Mostly the Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC) and Inland Regional Center (IRC). Every regional center runs SDP a little differently, and knowing the people and how things work there makes a big difference. If you are with a different center, these directories can help you find a facilitator who knows it well: Acierto IF and the SDP Provider Network.
Anyone with Lanterman Act eligibility, from early childhood through adulthood. I work with families of school age children, teenagers approaching adulthood, and adults living on their own, with and without a conservatorship.
Yes, and it is usually easier. Each child has their own person centered plan, their own budget and their own spending plan, because each plan is built around that child. But the family, the regional center and often the financial management service (FMS) are the same, so a lot of the work overlaps.
In practice, that means we can line up the steps so both transitions move together instead of one after the other. The same staff person can often support both children, with hours tracked separately for each. And you have one facilitator who knows your whole family, instead of explaining your story twice.
Before your start date, the regional center pays me directly. It covers a set amount for writing the person centered plan and a set number of hours to help with the transition.
After your start date, my time comes out of your SDP budget. We add it as a line in your spending plan, at an hourly rate we agree on in writing before any work begins, and the financial management service (FMS) pays me from there.
Either way, you do not get a bill from me. In rare cases a family chooses to pay for an independent facilitator out of pocket instead, and we can talk about that if it is something you would like.
That is something we agree on together, once we know your budget and are building your spending plan. The hours go in as a line in the spending plan, and they can change at renewal.
Every facilitator works a little differently, and every family is different too: how much support the person needs, and how much of the work you want to do on your own. As a starting point, I plan for at least 50 hours a year. That covers a monthly review of spending and staff hours, a check in every three months to make sure the plan is still working, and the yearly renewal, which is the biggest single piece of work in the year.
A quiet year with settled staff stays close to that. A year with new hires, a school change or a mid year budget request needs more, and so does the first year, while everything is getting set up. I will suggest a number based on your plan and tell you what it covers.
Almost everything that comes after it.
Getting started: the budget meeting, building the spending plan and any revisions, choosing a financial management service (FMS), finding staff and getting them set up and through their background checks, and finding programs and resources that fit.
Once services begin: keeping an eye on how the budget is being used, sorting out invoices that bounce, helping with staff changes and new programs, and the yearly renewal.
The plan is the beginning of the work, not the end of it.
I completed Guidelight’s Essential Independent Facilitator Training, and I keep learning from there. I read every DDS directive as it is issued and keep a running file of what each regional center is actually approving and refusing. I am a member of The IF Collective, where facilitators across the state compare notes daily, and I follow the local self determination advisory committees.
Rules in this program change several times a year. My job is to know about those changes early and what they mean for your plan, so nothing catches you by surprise.
Yes. Some families come to me partway through the year with a plan that is not working, a facilitator who has stopped answering, or a renewal coming up soon.
Changing facilitators is your choice. We let your service coordinator know, update the facilitator line in your spending plan, and I get set up with your financial management service (FMS). Then we start with what you have. I review your plan, your budget and how it is being spent, and we fix what needs fixing first.
If your renewal is close, reach out as early as you can. I start renewals months ahead, and the more time we have, the stronger the next year’s plan will be.
The FMS is the company that handles the money side of your budget. It pays your staff and vendors, handles payroll taxes and workers’ compensation, and tracks what has been spent. Its fee is paid by the regional center, not out of your budget.
You choose your FMS and the model that fits your plan:
Most of my clients are with Accura FMS on the co‑employer model. To compare financial management services side by side, Acierto FMS is a free tool that shows each one’s models, fees and services. I will walk you through the differences and help you set it up.
Yes, and it is one of the best parts of SDP. A family member, a neighbor, a college student, a former aide from school: people who already know the person you support can become paid staff.
They become employees through your financial management service (FMS). Most new hires complete fingerprinting (Live Scan) for a background check, plus a few hiring forms for pay and taxes. Fingerprinting is the slowest step and can take up to four weeks to clear, so I have new staff start it first. We set their hourly rate together in the spending plan, and the FMS pays them from there.
One rule from the Department of Developmental Services (DDS): a person who is legally responsible for the participant cannot be paid for care they would normally provide. That generally means parents of a minor and spouses. Once the participant is an adult, a parent can be paid staff, even if they are also the conservator. The details are in the DDS Self‑Determination Program FAQ, under Spending Plan.
Here is what budgets usually include. Each support ties back to the goals in your Individual Program Plan (IPP), the ones you set with your regional center, and I help you show in the plan why it is needed.
| Almost every plan | For adults, we can also talk about | Depends on your regional center |
|---|---|---|
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One rule shapes all of it: the regional center is the payer of last resort. If insurance, the school district, Medi‑Cal or another public program could cover something, you will need to ask there first, and sometimes show a denial. The budget also cannot pay for rent, groceries or ordinary family expenses. We go through your specific list together when we build the spending plan.
Programs, camps, classes and organizations that families in SDP use. I build this list from the plans I write, the people I meet and the facilitators I network with, and from you, my clients, and the amazing resources you have found.
The list covers Orange County and the Inland Empire, plus statewide resources, and I add to it every month.
A listing is not an endorsement, and prices and schedules change. Whether a program can be paid from an SDP budget depends on the plan, the goal it is tied to and the regional center's review, so check with your facilitator or coordinator before you sign up. Know a good one that is missing? Tell me.
Five minutes of questions, then a link to book a thirty minute call. Tell me a little about your family and which step in the process you are in. This will allow me to come to the call already knowing the basics. We will talk through what you are hoping for, where you are in the process, and whether I am the right fit to walk it with you.
It is a conversation, not an assessment.
A few questions so our first conversation is about your family and not about paperwork. When you send it, you will get a link to book a thirty minute call with me. Everything you write here comes only to me.
None of this is required to book. The participant does not need to be on the call; this one is for you.
I have your answers. Choose a time below for a thirty minute phone call; it is a conversation, not an assessment.
Everything in SDP runs through the regional center, so that comes first. If you have applied, come back once eligibility is decided. If you have not, find your regional center and call their intake line. I have your details and will be glad to talk then.
I may not be the right facilitator for your center yet, and I would rather say so than learn a new one on your time. Facilitators in your area are listed on the SDP Provider Network, and your service coordinator can give you names.
Two things to do first, both free: tell your service coordinator by email that you want to enroll in SDP, and sign up for orientation with the State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD). When both are underway, fill this in again and I will pick it up from there.