Kansans Mobilizing for Direct Support Workforce Change

Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 10 am to 3 pm
American Red Cross Building
1900 East Douglas
Wichita, KS 67214

Participants: Barb Bishop – The Arc of Douglas County, Jill Dalrymple – KETCH, Sherry Dryden- DSNWK, Pat Foster–Arrowhead West, James Harris– DSNWK, Dan Hermreck – TARC, Pattie Knauff- KETCH, Judy Leiker- Starkey, Kathy Olson – KUCDD, Kelly Smith – SACK

Several members were unable to attend due to contract negotiations, medical concerns, and family matters.

Introductions and Welcome to New Members

James Harris, training director and Sherry Dryden, human resources director joined us from DSNWK.; Gary Merklein has retired and James and Sherry have agreed to serve on our committee. Gary has been instrumental in developing the Ad Astra Apprenticeship Program and supporting the College of Direct Support.

Update on Recent Workforce Events

CDS Administrator’s forum – New Orleans- ANCOR Conference - Judy Leiker

Judy reported that it was an interesting session, with lots of information and sharing among administrators including:

A spot on the national CDS website has been created for DSPs to network with one another through blogging (i.e., to share their stories, discuss CDS. The highpoints and stressors of their jobs etc.) http://www.collegeofdirectsupport.blogspot.com/

If using the “Surveyor” feature, information can be re-set by MC Strategies if doing annual surveys. To keep information comparable from year to year, the survey can be cloned.

Ideas for Implementation, Incentives, and Recognition

• CDS administrators should assign the CFSM course “Developing an Intervention Plan” to all company administrators and HR staff. Assign board members the “Introduction to Developmental Disabilities” and “Cultural Competence” courses.
• Have a graduation ceremony periodically for those completing assigned courses. Give “graduates” a gift from the CDS store to recognize them as professionals, give them a set of personalized business cards with their new title of DSP listed.
• To increase buy-in for CDS, start at the top of your organization and require; everyone in upper management to complete CDS and CFSM courses; before assigning them to DSPs.
• For managers and supervisors completing CFSM courses, specify deadlines for completing each course. Then, have a meeting after each deadline to discuss what was learned, how the learning can be applied, etc.
• Hold weekly discussion groups for DSPs (required or voluntary) to address how learning is applied on the job. Assign written portfolio assignment to be completed and brought to each meeting.
• Create a “Wall of Stars” in your training room or other highly visible area. Post stars with employees’ names on them as lessons are completed.

Basic and Advanced Tools

• Using Classroom Management, you can create an all-inclusive transcript of each learner’s training.
• Change Manager can be used to send suggestions directly to MC Strategies. It was discussed at the forum that you only need to note the suggestion itself, that the lesson and page number is automatically noted for the receiver. We need to check if all Kansas administrators have this feature.
• Use the Annotation button to link content. Linked information currently has to be housed on your server: MC Strategies cannot support it (unless it is an audio clip under two minutes long). When putting together content to be linked to a lesson, use PowerPoint. Don’t use pauses, and stay away from the edges of the page. Once the information is sent to Kathy (and then sent to Donna or Annie) a URL will be issued. If you are using linked content, be sure to emphasize to your learners that they need to click on the Annotation button to access the linked content.
• If using lessons for annual training, old data can be archived. Contact Kathy and request she get Donna or Annie to make the process quicker and easier.

National Symposium on Strengthening the HCBS Direct Service Workforce on May 8-9, 2008 in Baltimore, MD. Kathy Stiffler

The symposium was great. There were presentations and discussions about all aspects of retaining DSPs from how to provide health coverage and worker's compensation strategies to recruitment, peer support and apprenticeship.

A group of us met with Laura Ginsburg (Office of Apprenticeship, US Department of Labor) on apprenticeship and how to get it to catch on across the country. We really didn't get far at all on this topic, but agreed to get together again, either by phone or web conferencing. There were many policy makers at the conference as well as providers, and consumers.

Pricilla Walker, Seressa McCracken and I (Kathy Stiffler) were on a panel that discussed credentialing and apprenticeship. The conference was 1 and 1/2 days long.

Ad Astra Ceremony May 2nd.

Congratulations to the individuals who completed the Apprenticeship program: Francis Bargas, Dytra Hales, Patrica Harriman. Pricilla Walker. A ceremony and reception was held at the Topeka Public Library to honor these four. A certificate signed by the governor and an award trophy from ISS was presented to each person completing the Apprentice program. ISS has more individuals actively working on the apprenticeship program.

NADSP Credential Program at TARC
DSPs are registered. Dan said that candidates received an attractive registration packet from NADSP. They are completing courses ahead of schedule. Dan showed some excellent examples of portfolios completed by participants. Persons served are definitely benefiting from the portfolio activities.

Reports and Summaries of CDS use

Number of Lessons Completed by Top 10 Users

20 Foster Parents have completed 251 lessons.

A Copy of the May 1st College of Direct Support report was distributed. Contact Kathy kolson@ku.edu for a copy of the entire monthly report.

Number of Learners and Lessons Completed
As of the First of Each Month
2007-2008

*ISS removed learners who had completed all lessons and their reports from their database.
** Starkey removed learners who were inactive from their data base.

Use of CDS continues to expand. We need to encourage users to provide some follow-up to users. The Apprentices and NADSP credentialing candidates are blossoming with their involvement in discussion groups and completion of portfolios. Other follow-up including written comments and discussions have also helped to put the learning into action.

Barb is interested in working to see how CDS could meet needs of limited license; providers.

CDS Certificate template is complete. A logo has been added.

The template can be customized for individual award ceremonies. It is offered as a courtesy to providers who want to recognize DSPs. The certificates for each lesson remain on the website. Training identified on individual certificates should be verified by referring to the appropriate CDS reports available to administrators on the web site.

Upcoming events

InterHab Workforce Development Summit June 25-26

This summit will be held at the Holiday Inn Select. The general format will be the same as last year. InterHab does not have the registration materials available yet. Pattie said the committee will finalize some details this Friday.

KMFC will be hosting a presentation - Marketing Your Organization
Any and all members who have brochures or marketing information are encouraged to contribute to the presentation. Some of the materials will be based on the Marketing Toolkit previously distributed to members so examples of brochures or cards would be appreciated. Dan, Pattie, and Judy will contribute some materials. Sherry is in new to the HR postion at DSNWK and has some great ideas to share.

Supervisor Workshops – Mini-Removing the Revolving Door for Supervisors

Kathy Stiffler and the Alliance were interested in hosting some sessions for frontline supervisors, providing them with the opportunity to review some material from the Removing the Revolving Door Training. These workshops would be no longer than a day, regional, and provide the opportunity to network. Members noted that one topic for supervisors is discipline (how to discipline in a timely and appropriate manner). Kathy was unable to attend today’s meeting. Members noted that the InterHab Workforce Development Summitt was designed to meet the needs of frontline supervisors. There may not be a statewide need for regional meetings. Anyone can register for the Summit. The group fully supports the additional workshops if Alliance and others see this meeting a need. The Kathy’s will explore this option.

CDS Administrator Share Shops

These should be held in September.
Hosted by:

KETCH
TARC
KUCDD
Somewhere in Western Kansas (?)
Sessions should be approximately ½ day
Lunch should be provided if we can afford it.

Content of Share shop

• Networking is important.
• We want to have basic implementation information for those unfamiliar with CDS. Successful strategies for involving learners, how to reward learners, selecting and/or tailoring learning to meet specific needs, success stories, the need to reinforce training with feedback.
• We want to include some newer technical information for experience users. The ability for hands on demonstration should be possible.
• Possible advanced topics of interest
• Linking Content
• Surveys
• Catching cheaters
• Miscellaneous features
• Lightbulb features
• Generating whole lists
• Shared Learners
• Archives and other reports
• DSP Blog on national site
• We may want to have a mini-session (an additional hour) for limited license providers at the Topeka site.

We discussed whether or not a Webinar would be an effective training strategy for Administrators. Members believed that the face-to-face informal networking is one of the most valuable aspects that would be lost in a Webinar.; However, with the rising cost of travel, perhaps this option should be considered in the future.

Legislative Issues – Funding

A valiant effort was made this year, but not much success with efforts to increase rates. For more information see http://www.khi.org/s/index.cfm?aid=1365.

As far as we (and Amy Swanson) know, funding for the College of Direct Support is secure for another year!

Career Ladders and Lattices for DSPs

Discussion put on hold until Bonnie Duden could be present (she is currently on her honeymoon).; Kathy noted that she has seen examples of career ladders that are less focused on the horizontal and lateral movement and more on the constellation of related careers. This might reflect the state of the direct support profession. We will revisit this issue at our next meeting.

Other

Dan reminded us that the InterHab annual conference will have a call for papers prior to our next meeting. We should present something. We need to encourage people to move toward certification/credentialing. Showcasing how DSPs who have completed Apprenticeship or NADSP credentialing have improved their ability to support persons served may be the best approach. We could expand this to highlight others who have made changes as a result of CDS also. The Annual Conference will be held in Topeka this year so DSPs from TARC and ISS may be available to participate.

Kathy reported that she is currently working with NADD (National Alliance for the Dually Diagnosed) to explore certification for DSPs in this specialty area. The group is just beginning to meet but is anticipated that the specialty would be something that could be added to existing DSP certification/apprenticeship programs.

Next Meeting: Topeka at TARC- Wednesday, August 27th from 10-3. Catered barbeque was suggested for lunch.

Working lunch catered by Italian Garden was enjoyed. Thanks to Pattie and Kelly for the suggestion.