The DSP Crisis: How to Prevent Burnout

According to a 2017 report by the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) have an average yearly turnover rate of 45%. The Committee concluded that the DSP workforce is in crisis. As an I/DD agency owner, this puts your business in crisis as well.

So what are some ways to offer support? The big picture solution to this is to better value our DSP workforce with a living wage, affordable benefits, and supportive supervision. While we all advocate and work towards these huge system changes – let’s look at some shorter term or smaller things that can also help.