Barbara Dyer
Barbara Dyer earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in Human Services from Murray State University. Before moving back home to the Pittsburgh area, Barb worked for over 20 years in higher education as a Student Affairs professional where she had responsibilities in the areas of program development, leadership development and training, project management, and quality assurance and assessment.
Barbara has been with Mainstay Life Services since 2010 where she is currently the Director of Quality & Performance Improvement (DQPI). In her role as DQPI, she provides leadership to assess the needs of the organization to enhance the quality of services and supports and improve the capacity of her colleagues for excellence in care through training, coaching, and continuous quality improvement while ensuring compliance with all regulatory requirements. Mainstay is an agency that provides supports to men and women with ID/A in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Additionally, she works with advocates at Mainstay encouraging them to use their voices and be decision makers so they can live their best lives.
Since 2015, Barb has been a crisis prevention/staff effectiveness trainer using the Devereux Safe & Positive Approaches Curriculum. In 2019, she completed a three-day workshop on Social Role Valorization (SRV) theory as well as a five-day workshop on how to use SRV theory to complete PASSING, an assessment tool used to measure how well human services agencies are providing opportunities to enhance the image and competencies of the most vulnerable members in our communities. She is keen on facilitating opportunities for community inclusion and advocacy for all people with disabilities. Barb has served on the PEAL board since 2019.