On June 7, SPEAK held its first DSP Resource Fair that was planned and presented by DSP’s. Day Spring, Dreams with Wings, Harbor House, Mattingly Center, Seven Counties, Zoom Group were all represented by DSPs. There was also a special presentation by Paws with Purpose. Topics included: Developing a Focused Career for Those We Support by Using Business Principles (Bill Carrico and Kaye Dalton-Harbor House); Building Camaraderie and Team Work Through Your Everyday Communication (Vicki Walker and Dee Troub); Healthy Relationships (Mike Reilly- Day Spring); Bringing the Community to You (Erica Dueser- Harbor House); Meaningful Offsite Activities (Joyce Wilson- Dreams with Wings); Programming For Those With Higher and Lower Levels of Need (Ashley Noe and Sandy Bealmear- Zoom Group); Real Consumer Input in the Creation of Program Planning- Mattingly Center for Continuing Education).
    Over 23 people attended this learning opportunity from 13 area agencies. The feedback was outstanding. Everyone expressed a strong desire to do it again but make it bigger and better!
    The Resource Fair is just another opportunity for DSP’s to learn and share with one another.

Reprinted with permission from LINKS Volume 37, No. 4, April, 2007, published by the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR). ANCOR is a national network of providers offering quality supports to people with disabilities.  

    There is no better spokesperson for the challenges facing Direct Support Professionals than the DSPs themselves; that’s what the You Need to Know Me initiative is all about.  To that end, ANCOR’s National Advocacy Campaign is challenging ANCOR members to send their Direct Support Professionals to Washington, DC, so that DSPs, families, people with disabilities, providers and advocates can go to Capital Hill to deliver a unified message about the direct support workforce crisis and the dire need to pass legislation to help stabilize this critical workforce.
    Originally announced in March at ANCOR’s Management Practices Conference in San Diego, the DSPs to DC event will be held in concert with ANCOR’s 2007 Government Activities Seminar, September 9-11 in Washington, DC. Participating DSPs will be able to attend a continuing education track on Monday, September 10 and will receive advocacy training the morning of Tuesday, September 11 before going to Capitol Hill for a rally and meetings with their members of Congress that afternoon. There will be no registration fee for participating DSPs; but ANCOR members will be responsible for their own registration and DSP’s travel and lodging costs.
    The NAC leadership has aggressively committed the ANCOR network to delivering a minimum of 100 Direct Support Professionals to Washington, DC, and ANCOR is working with its national partners to mobilize additional DSPs from their respective networks.
    This is a tremendous opportunity to build broader awareness on Capital Hill and in the media about the direct support workforce crisis. Can we count on you to participate?
    Additional details for this DSP event will be forthcoming, but you can contact ANCOR advocacy consultant Daryn Dermeritt, ddemeritt@fieldgoals.net, today to make your pledge to send DSPs to DC in September. Whether you send one DSP or 20, it will make a difference!

Reprinted with permission from ANCOR LINKS Volume 37, No. 4 April, 2007.

    Pat Willis came to the Mattingly Center on a temporary basis (through an agency) to help out when our agency was short-staffed. It was not long after she arrived that she became an employee of the Mattingly Center. So why did Pat make the switch in job positions? Please read on.
    This is about “my girl” Lisa. When I first met  Lisa (a participant at the Mattingly Center), I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get along with her. But I soon found out how wrong I was. After a short time working at the Mattingly Center, I would find Lisa stopping me in the main lobby each day, asking me, “Pat, did you fill out a job application yet?” I’d say, “No, not yet,” because I hadn’t been at the Mattingly Center long enough. But Lisa watched and saw how I got along with everybody and saw how everybody felt about me.
    One day, Lisa pulled me to the side and said, “Pat, come on in with us at the Mattingly Center! Don’t you know you can wear your own clothes if you work here! And don’t you get tired of wearing your uniforms– those ugly uniforms? Come on, you can wear your own clothes if you join us.”    
    So I thought about it everyday. I finally said, “Okay, I will. Why not? I love working here anyway.” But I worried if the people might not really want me to work here. I was wrong again and Lisa let me know it too.
    Lisa has really changed my mind about how I felt for all of the participants here. I remember once I asked Lisa if I could help her with her coat and she politely said, “No, I can do this myself.” I’ve learned from Lisa that nobody here wants any pity and don’t ever act like you feel sorry for them because they are just human being like everyone else, with the same thoughts and feelings.
    I have not felt this happy on a job before and I look forward to waking up and coming into work every morning and talking with all of the participants. Lisa is the one who got the ball rolling for me with filling out the application and turning it into the office. Doing that made Lisa happy and it has made me happy. She has really and truly changed my life. I am so very happy about working at the Mattingly Center with Lisa, the staff, and all of the other participants.

Article written by: Pat Willis (DSP at the Mattingly Center)