Thirtieth Anniversary Issue on Progress and Priorities in Direct Support

Describe your role as a DSP.

Direct support professional and rehabilitation counseling in itself is very interesting because what we deal with is we work with individuals supporting them through their daily living. Over the past four years, I have been working in certain residential settings, school settings, and currently I work in the day habilitation center where individuals come from their residences and we program with them, we work with them through the different activities that they're interested in, their passion. One such individual is this guy who likes to make puppets and he likes to make rings. So one of the things I love with that is, we are training him about how to use his money so he has access to his pocket money. How does he want to use his pocket money to buy metal cobs, gum and turn that to make the rings. So, in supporting him through doing that, I'm just like guiding him, offering him certain suggestions and really empowering him to make the choices that he needs to make along the path that he wants to take.

How have you grown since you started working as a DSP?

When I first started working in this setting, at first I had a lot of challenges. I could approach an individual and they would be like, “I don't understand what you're saying.” Or, sometimes you come with an approach and they literally don't get it, right? Because they want it a different way. But then one of the things I have learned is to be able to recognize is, what are some limitations that I have? And that was really huge, that kind of self-awareness that I really don't think I can handle this yet.

And then that empowers me to reach out to colleagues. And I really found that the team that we have at Devereux was really good because there were mentors who really taught me the ropes and said, “Hey, I think with him you just need to give him a little space, right?” Or, “Oh, I think Denis, let me take it from here.” And when I was able to receive that at the beginning of my career journey, I'm now able to offer that to people who come in. That is growth for me.

What is needed in the future of direct support?

I'm also currently doing clinical and mental health counseling and I realized that there is a lot of need, especially with clients who are verbal, but also those who really cannot speak. There's a lot of need for emotional regulation and sometimes as direct support professional, we may not have enough skills to deal with that. So one of the things that I am doing right now that really I think is going to be useful, and I would like to share with other direct support professionals is, you know, career progression, getting back to school. Sometimes it could be a certification course. Sometimes it could be a credentialing course, but it's not just learning that, but it's gaining a lot of skills and then you have the place to practice those skills within professional boundaries again. So, as a final thought, I would just say that direct support professionals shouldn't look at their job as just a very static place, but it's a field to grow, to try new things and to really discover more of what they can offer and receive as well.