A lack of direct support professional (DSP) training and preparation directly impacts the lives of people with disabilities. For example, research has found that one of the leading reasons people with disabilities are not supported to participate in the life of the community is due to a fear that staff are not prepared to mitigate risks. Drawing attention to these workforce issues, this webinar is comprised of two parts.

In the first part of this webinar, we describe our recent research about the impact ongoing staff development has on the health and safety of people with IDD. The findings suggest that by offering ongoing staff development, agencies can improve their service provision, and the health and safety of the people they support. For this reason, the second part of this webinar discusses best practices in implementing and promoting ongoing staff development at your organization.