Updated December 31, 2008
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We've come a long way from the days when the warehousing of people with intellectual disabilities was painfully routine.

Today, Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) partner with people who rely on community-based human services to live self-directed lives with dignity and pride. DSPs help people with intellectual disabilities realize their dreams and enjoy the daily liberties and human rights that others take for granted.

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Professional Advancement through Training and Education in Human Services
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Direct Support Professionals
are Changing Lives
PATHS means better support for Ohioans
with intellectual disabilities
PATHS' mission is clear: to create a competency-based and credentialed career path for Direct Support Professionals (DSP). And its vision is a future in which Ohio has a stable and sufficient pool of highly skilled professionals who are willing and able to support people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities.

PATHS is grounded in the principles of self-direction and
self-determination — and a belief that all Ohioans with disabilities should have access to high-quality, community-based supports that are provided by skilled professionals who are committed to their physical, social and emotional well-being and personal security.

PATHS recognizes that the needs and interests of people with developmental disabilities will be jeopardized if the availability of a stable, quality direct support workforce is not assured. Therefore, its trainees are drawn from three sources: (1) workers currently employed by public- or private-sector agencies, (2) independent providers employed by families and people with disabilities; and (3) individuals who are interested in launching a career as a Direct Support Professional.

BREAKING NEWS

December 2009
Director John Martin congratulates 16 recent PATHS graduates in Lucas County

Click here for full story.

December 2009
Congratulations to the PATHS CIP Graduates from Dayton, Ohio who graduated on 12/11/09

Click here for a picture of the graduates.


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PATHS is a program of the Ohio Alliance of Direct Support Professionals

 
Click here to see
"Changing Lives"
a PATHS
PowerPoint
presentation