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DSD Service System · Practice
Who direct support professionals are and what the work actually asks of them, why turnover is the central quality problem in the service system, what coaching does that directing does not, and how to supervise in a way people stay for.
50–55 minutes · 5 lessons · Voluntary learning
See direct support as the skilled work it is, and what that means for how it is supervised.
Understand why turnover in direct support is the central quality problem, and which causes a supervisor can affect.
Learn what coaching does that directing does not, and when each is the right tool.
Hold a supervision conversation structured to develop judgment rather than check compliance.
Review one team for the things that make people stay, and change one of them.
Ask one direct support professional on your team what would make them stay another year, and do one thing about the answer.
Almost everything the Division funds is delivered by a direct support professional: the person who is there at six in the morning, who knows how someone likes their coffee, who notices the change nobody else sees. The work is skilled, poorly paid, and turned over at rates that make continuity of support the exception. This module is for the people who supervise that workforce. It covers what the work actually asks, why turnover is the central quality problem, what coaching does that directing does not, how to hold a supervision conversation that develops rather than checks, and how to review one team for the things that make people stay. Nothing here is scored, ranked or collected.
The file does not know anything. Everything that made the support good was in the worker's head, and it left with them.
Supervise direct support as the skilled work it is, coach the judgment it runs on, and change the things within your control that decide whether people stay.
Run the retention review on your team and change one thing this month.
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
State information on the direct support workforce, including initiatives and standards.
Competency standards, code of ethics and resources for direct support professionals and those who supervise them.
Research on the direct support workforce, turnover, and supervision practice.
National research and policy work on the direct care workforce, including retention, supervision and job quality.
Federal agency supporting community living, including work on strengthening the direct care workforce.
State council offering guidance and technical assistance on disability access and policy in Minnesota.