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IDD Leader
For IDD Providers: Tired of the revolving door of staff? Join host Nate Beers as he and other industry leaders share loads of actionable advice on how you can retain and grow your DSP workforce. Just because there's a nationwide DSP workforce crisis doesn't mean that your organization has to churn through staff. Listen to innovative solutions to increase your staff retention and give your organization a competitive advantage so that at the end of the day you provide the best quality care for those you serve.
More effective supervisors. Stronger workforce. Lower turnover.
IDD Leader
Ep. 84 - Thirty-six DSPs Waiting in Line for More Training w/ JW Gibbs
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Most workforce programs fail because they stop at 90 days.
The problem compounds from there.
The organizations seeing retention rates up to 90% aren't doing more of the same — they're doing something structurally different. JW Gibbs runs a Department of Labor registered DSP apprenticeship program in Missouri through UMass Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion.
In Part 2, the conversation gets specific: the inner workings of how the program runs, how to get it into your state, and what happens inside an organization when staff start lining up for their slot.
One DSP with ten years of experience in behavioral homes said it reduced his escalations by 50–60%. His COO's instruction to skeptics: come to a graduation and decide for yourself.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — What a CPO needs to know before calling JW
3:30 — Why standard onboarding stops short — and where the system breaks down
8:05 — The BCBA parallel: why credentialed expertise requires hours, not just coursework
11:22 — What a parent of a person with IDD notices that training doesn't teach
13:01 — A COO who didn't believe it — and what changed his mind
17:05 — It's not just for new staff: investing in your 10-year employee
20:13 — 36 people on a waiting list for a training slot — what that signals about culture
22:16 — The biggest misconception providers have walking in
25:02 — No direct cost to providers — and what that means for ROI
27:24 — How to bring this to your state (and what JW's team actually does)
33:00 — The one thing that derails implementation before it starts
37:10 — Training that has to show up in real situations to count
Connect with JW:
📧 jwgibbs47@gmail.com
💼 linkedin.com/in/jwgibbs-collaborative
Quick Question:
Do your frontline supervisors sometimes unintentionally contribute to staff turnover? It happens so easily because... Most supervisors were never trained to lead. Get The 7 Quiet Danger Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Teams and learn how high-retention agencies spot — and fix — these issues fast. https://iddleader.com/burnout