PORT ALBERNI, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Vice President Evie DoCouto, head of the Return to Work Program at
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), has been
appointed chair of the Canadian Society of Professionals in Disability
Management. In this role, she also serves as chair of the Canadian
Certification Council, which awards certificates in disability
management (DM) under the auspices of the International Disability
Management Standards Council (IDMSC) ? a standard of excellence in the
DM field comparable to ISO certification in other sectors.

The professional designations of Certified Disability Management
Professional (CDMP) and Certified Return to Work Coordinator (CRTWC) are
administered in Canada by the National Institute of Disability
Management and Research (NIDMAR).

“As chair, a first step will be to provide strategic direction to
re-establish the Society through recruitment of the board,” Ms. DoCouto
explains, adding, “I’ll be working very closely with NIDMAR to entrench
the curriculum more closely with what we do at the WSIB, and to promote
the CDMP and CRTWC designations in Ontario, Canada, and internationally.”

Members of the Canadian Society of Professionals in Disability
Managements achieve certification through a combination of academic
course work and real-life work experience. Similarly, Ms. DoCouto earned
her academic credentials while continuing a 27-year career with the
WSIB. She holds both a Master of Science from the University of Toronto
and an MBA from Washington State University.

Currently, Ms. DoCouto and the staff of 380 employees in the WSIB’s
Return to Work Program have achieved a 92 percent success rate in
getting people back on the job with no wage loss within one year of
being injured.

However, she notes, “The world of work is changing around us. The nature
of cases 10 years ago looked much different than they do today. Mental
health cases are on the rise. Minimum wage legislation has an impact, as
do demographics, immigration, and an aging work force. All these things
create case complexity and people under these circumstances are more
vulnerable.”

In response, the WSIB has created a renewed return to work strategy that
will be part of a new customer-centric service model, a key pillar of
which is a strengthened, professional work force, ultimately leading to
more employees gaining CDMP and CRTWC certification to aid them in
handling complex cases.

“We will support all our return to work specialists in achieving the
CDMP designation. As a result, our employees are feeling empowered that
they will now have a stronger voice than they’ve had in the past to
impact return to work outcomes,” stresses Ms. DoCouto. “Through my role
as chair of the Society of Professionals in Disability Management, I
hope to encourage other organizations to have their staff attain the
designation as well.”

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