i've made a figure holding a staff. and i've set the staves parent as the right hand so that it moves with it. is it also possible to attach the left hand to the staff as well? similar to how one would hold a baseball bat? or maybe two handing a sword hilt? mucho thanks in advance!

It won't work very well, but set the left hand's parent as the staff.

tried... and since the right hands parent is the staff it gets all messed up.

turn the IK on for the arms, then perent both hands to the staff, move the staff to move the arms may need to do some minor tweeking to the arms, depending on the movement

That I did with good result was to parent the staf to the left arm, then turn IK on for the right arm and parent it to the staff. I think it depend on the object you use. You sving a staff, also for broms, shovels and spears, for a rifle or other tings you wold use to position I would have used IK on both hands.