Healthy Meal Planning Training for DSPs and the Individuals They Support 

Session Description:

We recognize nutrition is the foundation of good health and is the source of sufficient energy to power through our days, yet we often don't give sufficient time or attention to planning and preparing healthy meals. The typical American diet is recognized as too high in sugar, sodium, and carbs, and too lacking in fruits, vegetables, and lean protein.

We ask our Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) to assist individuals to prepare healthy meals, but we don't often give DSPs the instructions they need in order to accomplish that task. The result is that DSPs can only implement their own personal meal practices, and if those practices are not in line with federal healthy eating standards, individuals do not have access to the benefits of a healthy diet.

The result is that individuals are often eating the same things repeatedly, meals are not balanced, individuals do not have access to the best possible health, and they don't experience the full enjoyment and benefit of healthy foods.

In this hands-on, train-the-trainer style workshop participants will learn:

•          The basics of healthy meal planning - how to create a diverse menu, shop, and prepare meals based on an individual's preferences and a budget

•          How give the individuals you serve the maximum level of ownership possible over their own meal planning and preparation, and subsequently their health

•          How to accommodate busy schedules into the meal planning process

•          How to develop expectations for staff around meal planning and incorporate those expectations into your agency's internal QA process

•          And more...

Speaker: 

Sara Sherman, Sara Sherman International, LLC

Sara has been organizing people and work for decades. Her intuitive business sense is on target, and she gets to the root of agency issues quickly. Sara excels at assessing workflows, streamlining communication, defining outcomes, solving the right problems, and developing the plans needed to reach company goals.    

Sara holds a bachelor's degree in Public Relations and a master's in Public Administration. Sara has served individuals with disabilities and other vulnerable populations in the areas of residential services, community employment, case management, housing, program management, investigations, services and supports, vocational rehabilitation, state policy development, compliance audits, and more.