Helping someone, especially seniors, remain safe and comfortable in their long-term home is the stated objective of CAPS professionals, regardless of their age or needs or what renovations their home may require.
Getting Your CAPS Designation
Most every industry or area of specialization has a designation, certification, or other educational programs through which they award a title of competency, represented by a series of initials that a person uses after their name to signify that they have completed the training or qualified for the designation.
That’s what those of us who have earned the Certified Aging In Place Specialist – CAPS – designation are doing. We are telling the world – at least those in our sphere of contact – that we have completed specialized training to work with and help people remain safely in their homes as they continue to live in them long-term. Moreover, the CAPS certification is a little different than other designations and programs in the realm of public opinion, acceptance, and recognition.
There are dozens of certifications and training programs that a professional in real estate, construction, sales, healthcare, non-profits, or aging in place (among others) can strive for and attain. Many of them, while important and meaningful, aren’t immediately recognizable by the public until they have a need to engage someone with those credentials. With the CAPS, there are many national professional organizations (NAHB, AARP, AIA, AOTA, APTA, AIBD, ASHI, NKBA, ASID) that encourage their members to attain the CAPS certification, offer continuing education credits for coursework, and promote the designation and training to their members, and by extension, members’ families, clients, associates, and friends.
Two Purposes For Getting Your CAPS
First, to help consumers in the marketplace stay in their homes of choice rather than needing to move is why having the CAPS is beneficial. Many consumers are aware of what the CAPS training represents. They may not know the exact definition of it and what is required to earn it, but they know that it is something they want in a person who helps them create a solution to allow them to continue living in the home that they love. We are seeing more instances of consumers looking for and requesting CAPS trained professionals to work with them in their homes to help solve their issues.
When homeowners want someone to look at their home and help it become safer, more accessible, more functional, and just a more enjoyable place for them to remain, they begin – to the extent they can locate one in their area – by reaching out to a CAPS trained professional.
Second, some people are earning their CAPS designation for their own personal use. They want the understanding and knowledge to be able to help themselves, their families, and close friends age in place well in their homes. They may not desire to use the credentials to serve anyone other than people they already know, but they still find the training valuable.
A Continuing Need
As strong as the Certified Aging In Place Specialist (CAPS) designation is in preparing us to enter people’s homes, meet with them, look at the physical condition and parameters of their homes, evaluate their own functional needs, and suggest a renovation program (within their budget), we have to make sure that the people we are meeting and preparing to work with understand the value, tools, and experience we bring to them. CAPS must be more than just a set of letters or initials next to our name. It has to connect with the consumer we want to work with in such a way as to let them know that we have the training, knowledge, experience, resources, and network to serve them in a way that non-CAPS professionals are not prepared to do.