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This document has been archived because some of the information it contains may be out of date. (6/09)
A New Perspective on Training at Dungarvin
by Sandy Henry, Orville Williamschen, and Dawn Smith
Dungarvin, Inc., represents a wide range of services across an equally wide range of geography. As owners and managers of 12 corporations in 12 states, Dungarvin provides residential, case management, Medicaid waiver, day habilitation, and supported employment services, employing 1700 direct service staff nationwide. With such a large and diverse workforce, orientation and training of direct support staff is already an enormous task. To transform current practices and develop a new competency-based training program is monumental, even overwhelming. Everyone in the organization has to change the way we think, talk, and act about training.
The traditional model of training direct support staff is through an initial orientation and periodic inservices. This model meets regulatory requirements, but often fails to motivate staff or really address what direct support staff need to know. Employees often leave orientation and training not understanding how to apply classroom learning to real work situations. Or, if they are experienced workers, they may leave bored and frustrated because they have not learned new or valuable information.
This is an especially critical issue at Dungarvin, which offers a wide variety of services in many different locales. Some states have an employment pool with many experienced direct support people; others have fewer experienced employees. We need to meet the needs of a staff with diverse skills and experiences, assure that they are always learning and growing professionally, and make a direct connection between training and better services to consumers. For these reasons, Dungarvin is moving toward competency-based training.
When we decided to make this company-wide shift to competency-based training, we set up a national committee of members from four states with representation from different levels of management. This committee used the results of focus groups of direct support staff, on-site observations, and a needs assessment survey to determine what their direct support staff do, what they need to be good at their jobs, what they liked and didn’t like about the current training model, and the necessary skills, knowledge, and attitudes of our direct support staff. The organization also established a mission and charge for the national committee and drew up a one-year work plan. Each member of the committee shared his or her specific knowledge, experience, and ideas regarding what competencies were required of Dungarvin employees during orientation. We started with the Community Support Skill Standards (CSSS) and worked from there.
The CSSS is a set of competencies developed by the Human Services Research Institute in Massachusetts. It is designed to help organizations reconstruct their training programs and develop curricula that are relevant to a variety of direct service roles. The CSSS has 12 areas of competence, including well-established areas such as community living skills and support; education, training, and self-development; crisis intervention; and vocational, educational, and career support. But it also goes beyond the immediate “helping” attitude of traditional training programs, and includes standards for areas such as participant empowerment, communication, community networking, and advocacy.
In using the CSSS as a tool, the committee identified those standards that were needed by all Dungarvin direct support staff during the orientation period. Once the base competency areas and skill standards were established, the committee developed more specific performance indicators for each skill standard. These were reviewed and refined by Dungarvin managers across the country. The committee then identified how the various competencies would be measured using assessment strategies such as direct observation by peers or supervisors, written documentation or testing, employee self-reporting or verbal discussion. These assessments may enable some staff to test out of areas of training where they are already competent, while others may receive additional training until they achieve competence.
The committee is currently reviewing existing curricula and hopes to find a mix of appropriate curricula already available, developing only limited additional curricula. We have pilot-tested the competency measurement and evaluation tool in four states, are making revisions, and expect the system to be completed soon. All states will then add to the national standards and curricula for unique services in their areas.
The mission of Dungarvin, Inc., is “Respecting and responding to the choices of people with developmental disabilities.” Living by this mission also means that as an organization we must also respect and respond to the needs of our direct support workers.
Sandy Henry is Senior Director, Orville Williamschen is Regional Director, and Dawn Smith is Director with Dungarvin, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota. They may be reached at 612/699-6050.
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Resources: Web Sites Related to Direct Support Workforce Development
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Citation: Gaylord, V., Hewitt, A., & Larson, S. (1998). Impact: Feature Issue on Direct Support Workforce Development, 10(4) [online]. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, Institute on Community Integration. Available from http://ici.umn.edu/products/impact/104/. __________ Hard copies of Impact are available from the Publications Office of the Institute on Community Integration. The first copy of this issue is free; additional copies are $4 each. You can request copies by phone at 612-624-4512 or E-mail at icipub@umn.edu, or you can fax or mail us an order form. See our listing of other issues of Impact for more information. The print design version (PDF, 448K, 28 pp.) of this issue of Impact is also available for free, complete with the color layout and photographs. This version looks the most like the newsletter as it was printed. The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity employer and educator.
