Posted on September 23, 2024

By Mary Kay Rizzolo, President & CEO, CQL

How can we truly celebrate DSPs? How can we show our appreciation for their critical work? National Direct Support Professional (DSP) Recognition Week, which occurs every September, is a wonderful way to start. But the systemic issues that the workforce faces require long-lasting, meaningful solutions. 

We have found organizations all across the country that have identified and implemented programs to confront complex topics affecting DSPs. This includes recruitment, retention, onboarding, wages, career advancement, professional development, and more. Every year, we partner with the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) on a campaign to collect and share these initiatives.

Over the last few years, we’ve gathered more than 40 programs from dozens of organizations spanning 14 states and provinces. The articles lay out the agency’s DSP-related program, describe what’s all involved, list out the action steps, and identify hurdles they’ve encountered. This campaign was established so other organizations can then use that information to implement similar initiatives.

In this September Capstone, we’re showcasing the programs we collected this year. We also highlight a sampling of different initiatives from previous years. Finally, we hear from Joseph Macbeth, President and CEO of NADSP. He shares updates on federal policy that will benefit DSPs and a call-to-action for getting engaged in advocacy!

2024 Programs Impacting DSPs

Our campaign continued in 2024. This year, we received submissions from seven organizations located in New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. They tackle topics like leveraging DSP feedback to drive change, developing robust onboarding, implementing career ladders, conducting in-depth training, and more. 

Penn-Mar Human Services Collects And Acts On DSP Feedback

This was an especially important submission, since it was shared by a DSP. Loretta explained how Penn-Mar Human Services surveys staff and makes changes based on feedback from DSPs. We also received additional insight from Penn-Mar about their efforts to gather DSP perspectives and use that information for transformation.

The Vocational Training Center Offers DSPs a ‘Roadmap To Success’

How can you better prepare newly-hired DSPs? You could replicate the Vocational Training Center’s robust DSP orientation process. Their program combines training, peer support, mentoring, and more, to help DSPs be more effective.

Creating Community & Sparking Action: Welcome House, Inc.’s DSP Council

Welcome House, Inc. is intentional in their efforts to ensure DSPs have a ‘seat at the table.’ That’s why they created the DSP Council, a committee of DSPs who work to improve the DSP experience. The committee’s work has led to the formation of a mentorship program and an awards program. The council has also assisted the agency in improving responsiveness to concerns raised by DSPs.

Career Ladders For DSPs At Person Centered Care Services (PCCS)

Employees appreciate opportunities to advance professionally. Person Centered Care Services (PCCS) recognizes this, and as a result, implemented a DSP career ladder program. It’s a cohort model that incorporates training, competency-based testimonials, and mentoring, for DSPs to progress through multiple levels of NADSP Certification.

Black Hills Works Creates Strong Teams In South Dakota

Another program aimed at supporting new DSPs, comes to us from Black Hills Works. The organization launched the Strong Teams Initiative, a 3-tiered onboarding and training program. It also includes other elements to help DSPs, such as surveying staff, protecting work-life balance, and more.

AHRC NYC Program Embraces Feedback And Growth For DSPs

“SDI has helped me grow to be an even better support staff,” shares a DSP from AHRC New York City. The organization created the Staff Development Initiative (SDI) to gather continuous DSP feedback to identify staff strengths and areas of opportunity for improvement. The program uses SMART goals and empowerment strategies that help inform and direct growth and advancement for DSPs.

The Success Coach Program Supports DSPs At Heritage Christian Services

Finding work-life balance is challenging, particularly with such a demanding job like a DSP. Because of that, Heritage Christian Services uses Success Coaches to help employees navigate issues involving childcare, housing, and counseling referrals – to list a few examples. The program has had a significant impact, with a 90% retention rate of employees who use Success Coaches.

More DSP Workforce Solutions

There are dozens of other DSP programs we’ve highlighted since launching this campaign in 2020. Below you will find just a handful of examples, organized by topic area. We encourage you to check out the full listing of programs on our website, as they provide even more insight into more solutions.

Recruitment Efforts

Recruitment is a big obstacle that organizations face. You could try a high school internship program or benefit from the impact of employee referrals to reach high-quality candidates.

Onboarding & Training

When a DSP starts out, it’s critical to set them up for success. You can make sure the DSPs feel connected to your core values, to better understand ‘the why’ behind their work. A comprehensive training curriculum can also ensure they stay up-to-date on the knowledge and skills they need. 

Providing Mentorship

Connecting new hires with seasoned colleagues is another way to help DSPs. Agencies can pair new hires with veteran support staff, so DSPs have the guidance straight from the experts. Along with that, you could pair DSPs with members of your leadership team who can assist them in achieving professional goals.

DSP Feedback

The key here is not only gathering feedback from DSPs, but especially turning that insight into action. Organizations could establish a DSP Advisory Group to explore the desires, hopes, and challenges of DSPs, and then identify responsive solutions. Along with surveying, individual, regular check-ins with DSPs can also help agencies learn more about the perspectives of new staff.

Recognizing DSPs

Most agencies have some sort of program to regularly acknowledge DSPs, but be sure to have fun with yours! You could use a creative theme for your program with a memorable mascot. It’s also more exciting if staff are actively engaged in the recognition, and able to acknowledge their colleagues. 

Career Advancement

Employees value the opportunity to grow professionally. Organizations can embrace that by implementing a career path for DSPs to include promotions, financial incentives, and more. One approach we’ve seen from many organizations is to integrate a nationally-recognized certification program, such as the one offered by NADSP.

Direct Support Professionals and Systems Change Engagement

By Joseph M. Macbeth, President & Chief Executive Officer, National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, Inc. (NADSP)

As has been said many times before, the direct support workforce “crisis” is not something new, but it has most certainly been illuminated by the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, the I/DD system has failed to address the challenges of recruiting, retaining, and developing a robust and competent direct support workforce.  

The demographics supporting our workforce have remained unchanged for years. According to the most recent State of the Workforce Survey results from National Core Indicators, nearly 70% of direct support professionals are women and most of them are women of color or from other minority communities. Despite the tireless efforts from advocates from the provider community, wages have remained stagnant and employers find it difficult to compete with other industries that offer similar, or better wages for jobs with far less responsibilities and lower expectations than we ask of our direct support professionals.

In every state, direct support professional wages are negotiated during their budget cycles. During these negotiations, it’s common that stakeholders from across the I/DD community speak on behalf of the direct support workforce for wage increases, access to better and more affordable healthcare benefits, and cost of living adjustments. It seems that year after year, we practice the same advocacy approaches that yield little gain, and at some point, we need to take some corrective action.

Given the workforce demographics and long-term failures to address direct support wages, an argument can be made that this has become a social justice issue. We know from history that all successful social justice movements have been led by the people at the center of impact, as they are the most powerful advocates for change.

Advocacy Straight From Direct Support Professionals

By building an effective campaign with direct support professional advocates at its center, we will bring firsthand experience and personal narratives to the table, lending authenticity and credibility to system change efforts. The lived experiences from direct support professionals will carry significant weight in shaping public perception and influencing policymakers. They will foster empathy and connection among lawmakers and the broader public by humanizing our long-term workforce challenges. Through sharing their stories and perspectives, direct support professionals will create emotional connections that motivate action and solidarity, and their untapped expertise will come from navigating the complexities of their experiences, making them invaluable resources for crafting effective system change strategies and solutions.

The I/DD system needs direct support professionals to be engaged in their own advocacy efforts. We’ve relied on others to do it for us for far too long with only marginal gains. Earlier this year, the NADSP hosted our third National Advocacy Symposium where hundreds of direct support professionals from across the country met, virtually, with their Members of Congress. For the third year in a row, our highest policy priority was to advocate with legislators to support the bill that would require the Office of Management and Budget to consider establishing a separate category within the Standard Occupational Classification system for direct support professionals during their typical review processes. 

Progress On Federal Policy Initiatives

I’m happy to share that our efforts helped push the Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals Act through the US Senate and should be passed by the House shortly. Beyond that, the Office of Management and Budget also opened public comments for new occupational classifications, and we estimate that more than 10,000 direct support professionals submitted comments. This is very promising, but only the beginning.

Creating a grassroots movement of direct support professional advocates will not be easy, and the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals will take the lead on building this movement, but we can’t do it alone. It will require time, financial resources, and long-term cooperation from stakeholders from across the I/DD system. I believe that direct support professionals can learn from the incredible successes of the self-advocacy movement; “there should be nothing about us, without us”.

Please help us build it.