DSPs In The Spotlight

Text Box: Alex Gibbons works as a community coach for Seven Counties Services, Inc. (SCS). His title is “Senior Therapeutic Aide” and the majority of his time is spent supporting and enriching the lives of 4—7 individuals with disabilities who live in the community. He has over 10 years of professional experience as a DSP, of which 6 have been with SCS. We expect that you will be encouraged as you read the reasons why Alex loves his work.
I have always been passionate about this work because I have several people with disabilities in my family. I grew up helping out my cousins and aunts/uncles with their children, so really, I’ve been a DSP for most of my life. I went to school thinking that I wanted to be a Private Investigator. After receiving a BA in criminal justice, I decided that being a PI is not what I wanted to do. So, I went back to school and received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Human Resources Personnel Management. I turned down many jobs because I love working at SCS. The team, the staff, the people I support, the work I do—I love it. Working as a DSP is what I feel I was made to do. It’s like having a second family practically living with you, except without all the drama of kids taking your stuff and eating your goodies.
I could share countless stories of why I love being a DSP. One of my first experiences as a DSP was taking a client to McDonalds. I was still getting to know this

Text Box: individual, and so I let him order his own food. He proceeded to order 50 Big Mac’s. I was taking another person to a store in the community and this store happened to be selling the same backpack that my client owned. He saw it and thought it was his, so he walked out of the store with it. Alarms went off, store employees were chasing us down, and I had to figure out a way to get the store back their merchandise without upsetting this person. One other time, I was taking a man with autism to the pool to swim. He was so upset that I drove a slightly different way to the pool that he literally tried to take off my rear view mirror. Now, that client I told you about who ordered 50 Big Mac’s, he only orders 2. The man who tried to walk off with the backpack, he trusts me now when I tell him that his backpack is at home. The client with autism, I know what route to take from place A to place B to avoid unnecessarily upsetting him. It’s exciting to see the people I support make progress and grow. It’s fulfilling thinking that I am making a difference in their lives. I’m passionate about helping them reach new goals and overcome whatever obstacles are in their way. The gratification you get from helping someone else, the smiles you put on someone else’s face, all of this is what I was born to do.
This job has opened my eyes to the most important things in life. I’ve learned how to handle stress, how to balance multiple demands, how to adapt to change, and how to fix my attention on the most important things in life and keep those things in perspective. Because I love this job so much, I hope I’m able to retire from working right here. Right now, I can’t think of any other job I would want to do more than being a DSP for SCS.
Article written by Jeff King