Elsevier and the United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) have reached an agreement to offer the DirectCourse/College of Direct Support (CDS) online education and training to the network’s nearly 100 affiliates.

The UCP network supports nearly 200,000 individuals with cerebral palsy
and a spectrum of developmental disabilities , and has hundreds of
employees across the United States, Canada, and even Australia.

For years the CDS has been an exhibitor at UCP’s annual conferences, and a few of their larger affiliates, including UCP of South Florida, had already signed up to use CDS to train their DSPs. The online, long-distance learning impressed the Florida affiliate as well as the UCP, and plans were made for a large-scale agreement that would offer the CDS curriculum to all of UCP’s affiliates at a discount.

UCP’s affiliates vary in size and the CDS curriculum is an effective tool for any organization. The online training is ideal for smaller organizations that may not have the resources for specific, on-site training. Larger organizations benefit greatly from the convenience of online training, giving multiple employees from many locations standardized instruction online.

“The College of Direct Support is perfect for our organizations,” says Anita Porco, Vice-President of Affiliate Network at UCP. “These courses offer another way for organizations to build relationships with their employees, retain staff, and build careers.” Porco notes that UCP is known for having dedicated employees who love what they do, and who remain with the organization for years. “Our challenge is how to give our employees more than just a salary. Offering training such as this helps them to improve and become better care workers, and better care givers.”

For more information on CDS, please visit: http://directcourseonline.com/directsupport/

United Cerebral Palsy: http://www.ucp.org/