Create Careers, Not Jobs.

When discussing roles such as the Direct Support Professional (DSP), Behavioral Health Technician (BHT), or other roles of a similar context, it’s important to discuss the future of the position, as well as the future for people in these positions. 

The future of the positions themselves comes down to funding and growth opportunities of these positions. This includes from federal, state, and local funding sources as well as from an organizational level of paying wages to their employees and their capacity in having enough paid staff to provide the services that are needed for individuals with developmental disabilities. 

The conversation in question is how to create career opportunities in comparison to filling job positions. 

Funding Programs

The trickiest part of this conversation is the funding of the services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Generally, there is always more funding needed in providing high quality direct services for individuals with developmental disabilities. As mentioned before, the funding comes down to Medicaid and how much each state receives from medicaid, as well as how the state or local government allocates their service agreements with service providers. 

Organizational Capacity Building

Some organizations have larger revenue streams and more systemic structures than others. Some organizations have worse effects of staffing shortages than others. Some organizations are nonprofits while others may be for profit. All of these added demographics within the encompassing idea of building formidable careers for support staff members are important to consider. This is because there is no one answer in terms to how we turn job postings into a career with more promising growth.  

To contribute further, when organizations are looking to expand their services, or capacity of current services, there needs to be more appeal in gaining qualified and necessary employees to do so. This again, is not a way of checking off boxes, but to foster organizational growth from a human capital perspective. There are general questions that organizations should be asking themselves if they aren’t already: How do we want to celebrate our staffing successes? How do we want to offer opportunities of growth within our organization, whether or not we are expanding our capacity and capabilities? How can we adequately meet the individual’s goals of growth, based on our support, with the purpose of enrichment? How can we create a high quality system of acquiring and maintaining staff in a purposeful way for both the individuals served as well as the staff? These questions are important to consider because many individuals and families are unfortunately stuck on waitlists to get the services that they need. 

Additional Opportunities

In addition to upward career development, another component within this context would be to invite leading DSPs, BHTs, or similar roles within the organization to apply for The Board of Directors for the organization, or even invite them to simply attend a meeting and offer them an opportunity for feedback. When I became a Board Member for Customized Options, I was the only member on the Board with DSP experience in that organization, which The Board has found to be valuable. That being said, not every direct service provider is a nonprofit, so this aspect ultimately varies on the organization and whether or not they are already utilizing direct staff opinions within their Board. 

Beyond a Checklist

As always, when it comes to the various positions that require a necessity to someone else’s life, it needs to be seriously considered how we approach these various positions. As the Endrew F v. County of Douglas School District court case discusses the importance of fulfillment of growth of individuals in their predetermined goals on their IEPs or 504 Plans in comparison to a simple checklist of to-do’s, this expectation within special education should also be applicable for direct service providers. Although legal bindings may not stretch as far as direct service providers in this specific case, it still exemplifies the importance of providing thorough care to individuals with developmental disabilities, and that each individual’s unique needs should be addressed further than a checklist of tasks to cross off. This comes down to who is being hired as DSPs or similar roles and how they are being compensated and retained. 

Conclusion

In total, the DSP, or similar positions, is a crucial position in the field that serves individuals with developmental disabilities, yet it often remains an under compensated job that lacks opportunities for career growth. This dilemma is a billion dollar question to solve, as the turnover in direct support employees has costed over $1 billion over the last 15 years. More importantly, there are thousands of individuals with developmental disabilities who are stuck on waitlsts to get the support that they need.