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 also puts your business in crisis.

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.