The
Value of Finding a Mentor
Looking back on my
childhood, what stands out most, besides the many happy and sometimes horrendous
memories of those turbulent years, are those extra-special people who invested
themselves in my life. Those who guided me through difficulties and gave hope
when I felt despair. Those who wept with me when I was sad and rejoiced with me
in my triumphs. Those who made themselves available to me whenever I needed a
friend and guide.
Two of those people were my youth pastor, Bill Overstreet, for seventh-ninth grade, and my Sunday School teacher, Jan Langford, for my junior and senior years of high school. They were the adults who recognized me not only as a kid who needed some guidance, but also as a young man with certain gifts and abilities. Their influence over me and valuing of my strengths has, in many ways, changed the course of my life.
No matter how much we accomplish or learn, we should never stop looking to others for guidance. We always need a little help in life, someone to point us to the right path or remind us of the light at the end of the tunnel, someone to cheer us on when we start to disbelieve ourselves. These people are mentors, and they are often a pivotal force in a person’s life.
Mentoring in the Direct Support Profession An important part of SPEAK includes a mentor/apprenticeship program. Established in January 2005, the program provides structured professional and social support to DSPs in their apprenticeship period (first six months of employment). Every agency participating in SPEAK is committed to ensuring that all of their DSP apprentices have a mentor. We are convinced that newly hired DSPs who receive mentoring not only will develop the skills and competencies needed to be successful in their work, but they also will have less job-related stress and higher job satisfaction, and more likely will be retained longer than DSPs who do not have a mentor. The additional benefit is in the higher quality of supports that provider agencies then are able to give to the individuals dependent upon those supports.
For a DSP, the real world involves a mixture of extremely good and sometimes very bad days. On the good days, a mentor is able to celebrate accomplishments and spur the apprentice on to continue making progress. On the days when this work leaves a DSP hanging by a thread, a mentor, a friend, another person to walk with them down the treacherous roads that they traverse might just be the thread that keeps them hanging on. If you are an apprentice, make sure you take full advantage of this valuable relationship. Soak up as much as you can from your mentor. Go to him or her with all your questions, all your ideas, all your concerns, all your dreams and allow them to shed light into your journey.
If you are a mentor, never underestimate the influence you have on those you counsel. Provide feedback, celebrate successes, share your experiential wisdom, and offer the support that you would want if you were an apprentice.
If you desire to be a mentor, let your supervisor know and work hard at being the kind of DSP that your agency would want others to follow.
With these supports and values in place, we have good reason to believe that the supports given to the consumers in this region will be some of the best supports that our world has to offer. Let us each work hard to this end. Article written by: Jeff King
National Outlook
DSP Bill
Reintroduced in House Representatives Lee Terry
(R-NE) and Lois Capps (D-CA) have introduced the
Direct Support
Professionals Fairness and Security Act of 2005
(HR1264). The legislation is designed to promote adequate wages necessary to
attract, train, and retain the direct support workforce supporting people with
disabilities that live and work in their communities. The bill, which was also
introduced last spring, grew out of an advocacy campaign spearheaded by the
American Network of Community Option and Resources (ANCOR).
The legislation would amend Medicaid law to provide states with the option to
use additional federal funds to help address the direct support professional
workforce crisis. The bill would provide additional temporary federal funding
to states to reimburse private provider for increased wages and mandated
wage-related costs for specific direct support professionals. States that submit
a five-year plan for wage increases and commit to continuing the increased wages
after five years would also receive enhanced Federal medical assistance
percentage (FMAP) for five years to increase wages with no additional state
dollars required to match the additional federal funds. The program would
provide $3 million in federal funding for state planning grants to help states
develop their wage enhancement state plan. The legislation also Requires the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study on recruitment and
retention. To see the bill or track it’s progress, go to http://thomas.loc.gov
and enter bill number HR 1264. Written by : Dan Berland; Vol.II No.5 NASDDDS,
Perspectives.
Survey Reveals the Training Needs of DSPs
No matter what a
persons profession is, training is important. Through training, employees gain
better understanding of their profession: learn new skills; develop professional
relationships; grow confident in their work abilities; and sharpen skills
necessary to be excellent in their work. Unfortunately, the field of Direct
Supports has traditionally provided far too few opportunities for DSPs to
receive professional training. That being the case,
SPEAK is committed to providing high quality
training for DSPs.
The SPEAK Lecture Series offers DSPs various trainings, ranging from personal
growth and development (e.g. how to take care of yourself while you are taking
care of others) to work skill development (e.g. addressing challenging
behaviors). SPEAK offers these trainings twice monthly to all DSPs employed by
one of our partners. We offer one training in the morning and one in the
evening each month.
Skill training(s) offered through the Lecture Series is based on the skill
standards for Direct Service Workers in the Human Services titled
The Community
Support Skill Standards: Tools for Managing Change and Achieving Outcomes
developed by the Human Services Research Institute.
The Council on Mental Retardation Leadership Institute coordinates and often provides this unique Lecture Series, and develops topics based on the Community Support Skill Standards training needs survey distributed to DSPs employed by our participating agencies. This survey helps ensure that the trainings we offer are relevant and of interest to DSPs in this region. The results of these questionnaires show the following topics to be of high interest:
· Use of effective problem-solving strategies
· Understanding the characteristics of various disabilities, diseases and conditions
· Maintaining positive working relationships with other service organizations
· Assisting in communication with family members
· Using appropriate modes of communication with individuals supported
· Addressing challenging behaviors appropriately
· Responding appropriately to crisis situations
· Responding to stressful situations in professional manner
· Assisting individual in planning for transition in life stages
· Promoting community integration/inclusion
We plan to offer trainings in these various areas in the near future. If there are other training needs that you would like to see offered, please tell us. If you have not been able to participate in any of our trainings thus far, please make an effort to attend. These trainings are for your benefit and we want you all to take advantage of these opportunities. For more information on the SPEAK Lecture Series contact Beth Richardson at (502)587-6500 or check the SPEAK website at www.dspspeak.org