The Georgia Direct Support Professional Certificate Program is a workforce development project initiated through a collaboration of the Georgia Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, and the Georgia Department of Human Resources MHDDAD to develop an easily accessible curriculum that trains a wide variety of support staff in how to meet the needs of people who rely on support services within their homes and communities. The goals of the DSP Certificate Program are to:

1. Enable a community of practice focused on improving competencies in:
  • Person-centered planning and Discovery approaches to job development
  • Systematic instruction (Try Another Way marcgold.com)
  • Community building
  • Positive Behavior Support 
  • Positive approaches to wellness
  • Communication technologies and the presumption of competence
2. Foster a network of community support professionals that share learning about person-centered community approaches
3. Adopt the Community Support Skill Standards and the Direct Support Professional Code of Ethics as Georgia's foundation for workforce development.



Coordination of the DSP Certificate Program has been by the Collective Alternatives organization, Joy Eason Hopkins, President.