 Green Mountain supports services to empower neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Major support also includes Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Ala Israel. All people know limits. Welcome to this edition of Abledon On Air, the one and only program that for the past eight seasons has been focusing on the needs, concerns, and achievements of the definitely able. I'm Lauren Seiler and Arlene is not here today and with me to discuss direct support professionals and all of that is our sponsor, Green Mountain Support Services, Joshua Smith of Green Mountain Support Services. Thank you for joining us. Yeah, thank you again Laurence for having me come in. And what is a direct support professional and what do they do? Okay, yeah, so a direct support professional is the staff, it's the person that provides that direct support, well because it's a direct support professional, provides that direct support to the person that we provide services for, whether it be someone with an intellectual disability, a brain injury, or just a physical disability. And what they do is, their job is as unique and different as the people we provide services for. So there's not, the only thing they all have in common is that they make sure that the person they're providing services for has access to the same things in their neighborhood and community as anybody else would. For example? Well for example, if someone has a job and needs the help of a direct support professional, if someone is going shopping, anything that anyone would do that you and I would do in the community and somebody would still need help to access that through direct support professional, that's what they would do. Now what is some do's and don'ts of a direct support professional? Ultimately what they do is that keeping in mind too is that a direct support professional's job, as I say, is to be there and to advocate and to make sure that person can access. They are very much like, I'd put it this way, is think about it, and this is what Joseph McBeth, who is the Executive Director of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, he makes a good analogy where a direct support professional is like the Sherpa helping somebody climb Mount Everest. You know, when somebody succeeds in climbing up Mount Everest, the Sherpas are not in the picture. They are behind that. They are there to make sure the person is able to succeed in their goals, in their hopes, in their dreams. That's what a direct support professional does. A direct support professional is not a babysitter. A direct support professional is someone who is there to advocate, to assist, and to ensure that people are making good decisions. So are they there to protect the person from harm? Well, I think everybody around should be protecting people from each other from harm. So it's the same thing when you walk out into the street. If I walk out into the street and I trip and fall, the community around is going to help me get back up on my feet again. I don't have a direct support professional who is going to help me get up. But a part of that is theirs to make sure they can advocate for the person and support them. They are not a bodyguard. Their role is to work with people because the people we work with are adults. And adults by law are able to make adult decisions. Unless it says in your ISP or your file that you have a judgment issue. We have what's called, what we call it is that there is important to and important for. It's a person-centered thinking skill that talks about what's important to somebody and what's important for somebody. And we always talk about what's important for somebody is health and safety. So for instance, if somebody needs help that might have mobility issues, that they help that person physically to get around and about making sure that they're safe. And what's important to somebody is also what their role is to make sure that they work with, that they're following what they want to do in life. Having that access to what it is to be a part of a community. Now what is the NADSP organization all about? Well the NADSP is the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals. And what they do is they are the premier. They are the number one agency in the United States and in Canada and looking at other nations. What they do is they are the singular voice of advocacy for direct support professionals. Direct support professionals do the role to be advocates and support people with disabilities in the community. And the NADSP's role is to advocate for direct support professionals. So what they do is they really push and one of the things they're really pushing right now is ensuring that direct support professionals have an occupational code, which means a Department of Labor recognized occupational code. Everybody, lawyers, doctors, nurses, all kinds of positions, teachers have an occupational code, a federal occupational code. Once you have that in place, that gives people the power to train and to give people that opportunity to say these are the skills you need to be a direct support professional. What you need to be a nurse or need to be a doctor, any of this. That there's an established code of what this job is. As a DSP, the DSPs don't have an occupational code. And so what the NADSP is one of the things they're also promoting is lending credence to the professionalism of what a DSP is. And that's something that no other agencies are really working on nationally except the NADSP. And the one piece to it as well is that they are able to, that there's so much power in a name. There's so much power to words. And the very fact, if there's any agencies that watch this as well as around here, is that there is power in words. And the very fact that some agencies are not calling them direct support professionals is actually harming the entire industry, the human service agency system. Because you go on indeed.com or you go on Craigslist or you go on places in the classifies and looking for jobs. People call them different things, community support workers. They call them the community support specialist, direct specialist support or whatever you want to call them. The point is that they have a name. They're called direct support professionals. And every agency has to in order to make sure that they have a voice and making sure that people are actually, that DSPs are being treated with their own occupational code and treated equally. They have to first start with making sure people are calling them the same. People don't call nurses different names. They're called nurses. They're called RNs. There were LPNs, there's different types of nursing. But if you're a registered nurse, you're a registered nurse. Other hospitals don't call them something else, LPNs. They're called LPNs no matter where you go. The point is that direct support professionals, DSPs need to be called DSPs in every single agency in every single place where there's a direct support professional working that agencies should not and should not be calling them something else because it hurts the entire system when we try to advocate for higher wages and for higher pay and for more training. It hurts the entire industry if other agencies are not calling them direct support professionals. Speaking about harming the industry, I understand that there's a movie, a documentary that the University of Minnesota did. It's called Invaluable. Let's take a look at the invaluable trailer presented by the University of Minnesota. Let's take a look at this. Thank you. Walter, he's very outgoing and he loves to get out into the community and socialize and we go shopping. And he loves rock and roll. Walter has many gifts and Walter has cerebral palsy. He needs support in getting around and meeting people in his community and he also needs assistance at home with things like fixing meals and getting dressed, budgeting and shopping. Through state and federal programs, Walter and others with intellectual and developmental disabilities have professional staff to provide critically needed support. I tell you what, seeing his confidence and his self-esteem really sore has been just fabulous. Can you explain a little bit about Invaluable? Yes, so I would be happy to say that we, that Greenmail Support Services in partnership with some of the other agencies within the state is having Jerry Smith, the director and producer of Invaluable. He's coming here to Vermont on November 20th, 21st and 22nd and he's doing a tour throughout Vermont to show this documentary. So it's, and as I tell people, it's like this documentary is about DSPs. It's not for DSPs. The documentary is for self-advocates. People who, for parents and guardians who, it's for agency, human service agency staff. It's for legislators. It's for everybody who is directly affected by the DSP workforce crisis. That the DSPs, as the role of a DSP, it is the highest growing job, the employment sector in the United States right now. Because we're in an aging population and people who are aging will also need direct support professionals. So it's not just with people with intellectual disabilities. It's for people with traumatic brain injuries. It's for people who are growing older who need physical assistance in accessing the community. And there is a crisis. We now have more job vacancies of direct support professionals than we do have people who want to be direct support professionals. Question. The direct support professionals, there's training going on out there. What are some do and don'ts, in your opinion, of what a direct support professional should do? As I was saying earlier, a direct support professional's job is to assist the person to access their community. And I want to be clear, too, is that we use the word community as a catch-all for going out into the world, going out in the neighborhood. Community isn't a place. Community isn't a physical location. Community is a group of people you connect to. For instance, people have a church community. People have a sports community. People have a library community. People have whatever their community is based off of what their interests are and the people they want to connect with. And we as individuals get to choose who our community is. For instance, I have a community of people that work in the non-profit sector. That's a community. I like to draw and I do art projects on the side. So I have an art community. It's not a physical place I go to. It's a group of people that I connect with. And so as a direct support professional, their job is to make sure that the person that they're providing services for is able to access their community. And as I say, that community is not a physical location. It can be any place. So when people say, let's go out into the community, that's a hollow way of saying it. Let's go to that quilting club. Let's go to work because work also is a community. Well, let's go bowling or something. Bowling is an activity. And unless you're actually a part of a bowling league or a part of a community, a bowling community, it's busy time. And that's not what direct support professionals do. Their job isn't just to fill the days. Their job is to make sure that the person they're providing services for is missed, making sure that they have natural and sincere friendships. For example, a client that they're an individual that I don't like isn't it? We're a client. But if an individual wants to gather with some friends, but still needs a direct support professional, today I want to go to the Chinese buffet. Can the direct support professional take them or go with them? Yeah. And as I say, the person is in charge in that sense. And their job also as a direct support professional is to be there almost depending on, as I say, so individualized. Some people who might have a disability in their 20s might not have the social acumen to understand how to talk to people outside in the neighborhood, outside in the world. So they might be able to help them try to find connections and let them... Maybe of a person, for example, if my wife and I need a direct support professional and say, okay, we want to go on a trip with our family to Israel. Can you help us? You don't necessarily have to go on that trip with us if you need to, but can you help us book a trip in a travel agency? But it would depend on what the need... You're not paying for it, but... No, it would depend on... For that example is that if you have the ability to not know how to do that or how to do that, what a direct support professional would probably do is help you connect with a travel agency to say, sit down with you, maybe go into the travel agency and say, hey, I'm working with Larry, Lawrence and Arlene trying to book a flight. And so they might be able to help you advocate for that. They might help you put you in a sing. Their job isn't to live your life for you. Their job is to make sure that you can access the same things everybody else has an inalienable right to access. In terms of the movie and variable, let's talk about that a little bit more. The direct support professional job hasn't been the easiest of jobs, as far as pay, because people are trying to make this a full-time job situation. Why is the direct support professional looked down upon sometimes because of the job and what the job entails? A couple of things. If I'm saying one. Right, I say a couple of things. One, I think our culture doesn't recognize the importance of a direct support professional. So if you go to other countries and their cultures, somebody who works with someone who does a direct support professional job in other cultures is considered in high regard. Like Israel, for example. Well, in any places. I lived in Africa for close to 15 years. The work of supporting people is considered a legitimate professional career. And so the fact is like one, as I said, there's no federal occupational code for direct support professionals as one is a big mark. That's not good. The second thing is that all across the board or federally, federally, there's nothing. The second thing is that there is that there is and because once you have an occupational code, then you can have training curriculals put in by colleges and universities to say this is this is what you need to be a direct support professional. And then once that's in place. Well, New York recognizes it as an occupational code because, for example, I have a friend of mine who teaches at Bronx Community College, teaches people who have to become staff and group homes. There's training involved to do the job, but there's not a federal occupational code means that if I go to CCV and take a class and something to be a DSP, that does not going to translate to going to Nebraska. They're not going to recognize that. But if you're a nurse, if a nurse gets trained in CCV and gets trained in a class, it'll be recognized wherever you go because it is a federally recognized job. So that's the piece. And the other point is that it's consistently underpaid, the position's underpaid. And people don't create career ladders within the direct support professional realm. And these are these things of why we need to promote direct support professionals as a career choice. And because a lot of people say, hey, if I'm going to be a direct support professional, the next ladder up would be a case manager or something like that. But being a direct support professional and being a case manager, completely different jobs. They don't translate. They can't translate the work that you do as a direct support professional. Just because you're a good direct support professional does not mean you're going to be a good case manager. Two completely jobs. You can move up in the agency. But you move up in the agency, but that doesn't mean that you're, it's like going to a restaurant and saying, oh, you're a really good waiter. We're going to make you a cook now. It's two completely different things. It's the same restaurant, but it's two completely different jobs to say that if you're a good DSP, you're going to be a good case manager is not the case. If you're saying you're a good case manager doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be a good DSP. Two completely separate jobs. Now, before we take another break, why has DSP profession been very low paid? Because obviously people don't become a millionaire from it. Right. And it shouldn't be because you look at that. So for instance, LPNs we talked about earlier, you can go to school for an LPN. You can do this because they have a federal occupational code. They're recognized as a job. So if you do that, someone who basically does an LPN's job basically as a DSP to do that work and then you get paid more for that. Why isn't the DSP's job is because you can get paid minimum wage for it because there's no career ladder for it. And people think it's just an entry level position. It's not. The work that we do as direct support professionals and that we like to say is that when you look at it, there are, if you're lucky enough, there are three jobs. There's three jobs that you will see in your life that you'll be directly connected to that you'll see. Nursing. Nursing. Doctors. Mm-hmm. Teachers. Yeah. And direct support professionals. Direct support professionals. And chefs. You know. But I'm talking about... Because does DSP... Everywhere in the world. Can a DSP cook a meal for somebody? Everywhere in the world. Everywhere in the world. I'm talking about from Uganda to Japan to Bulgaria to the United States. Three jobs that people always get that they'll always see in their lives is going to be a teacher, a doctor, and a direct support professional. Mm-hmm. The very fact that direct support professionals are not treated the same level as anything else is insidious to have in the United States. Certain agencies... I'm not mentioning them. But certain agencies have in their job descriptions personal care attendants. What is the difference between... And we have a couple of minutes left. Yeah. What is the difference between a personal care attendant and a DSP? Is there any correlation between... I'm just asking. Yeah. Any correlation between the two. It's what I was saying earlier. People that other agencies cannot be calling them different things. They're direct support professionals. They're all direct support professionals. So when an agency calls them something else besides a direct support professional, it hurts the entire human service industry. They have to be calling a direct support professional. Excuse me while we take another break. Green Mountain Support Services did a public service announcement about their agency. Let's take a break and look at that public service announcement. 802-888-7602 Welcome back. And part of that direct support... So we were talking about... And this is the other point, too, is that shared living providers in Vermont, as you saw in that public service announcement, shared living providers are a type of DSP. In any other state, they would be considered residential staff, residential DSPs. The work we do, the shared living providers, is completely different than the hourly wage you have for direct support professionals. Which is what? What is the... A shared living provider is someone who opens up their home for someone with a disability to live with them. So they get a stipend for the agency, from the agency. Yes. And so the piece of that is that the work they do is the work of a direct support professional. And that also is consistently underfunded in those positions. And that's something that we have to... And Vermont's really good at it. I got to give Vermont the credit at dessert. Vermont is really good at providing the support that their direct support professionals need and their shared living providers need, compared to other states. But comparing it to other professions, it still lacks. But compared to other states, they're really well. But getting back to what the documentary is about. The documentary is really focusing nationally the workforce crisis we're having for direct support professionals. And that rings very true in Vermont, where in Vermont... Also... Well, in Vermont we have where there's not a lot of people who want to be shared living providers because they don't know about it. There's not a lot of people who know about direct support professionals. Why is it that... Why is it that sometimes people don't want to work directly with people with special needs? Is it because of the pay, or is it... No, I don't... All the amount of work people have? It's not the pay so much as that people don't know the position exists. Because as I say, other agencies do not call them direct support professionals. So it's so hard for people to say, oh, that's the same job here at Washington County Mental Health. As it is at Howard Center, as it is in United Counseling Service, as it is in Upper Valley Services. The agency... So many agencies are not calling them direct support professionals. It's hard for people to recognize that job as a... If you look at something that says teacher, everybody knows what a teacher is. Bus driver. I know exactly what a bus driver is. I look at something that says community support specialist. Wait, how is that different than a direct support professional? Or how is that different than a personal care attendant? When agencies call them different things, it confuses the general public. And it's so hard for people to kind of grasp that. What are some of the future goals of... Coming in the coming year, what are some of the future goals of Green Mount Support Services? Well, so one of them is just really... In 2020, it's just really making sure that we really work with other agencies to make sure that they're calling direct support professionals. It gives us that singular voice of advocacy and support to make sure that happens. As far as European... What are some of the misconceptions... I mean, some people don't want to work in the field of special needs for various reasons. What are some of the misconceptions around DSPs and then misconceptions around working with people with special needs? I think the misconceptions is that a lot of people think we work with patients. We don't work with patients, we work with people because patients infer that somebody is sick. People with disabilities are not sick. They're just wanting to access the same things everybody else gets to access. So the work we do, as I say, is based out in the neighborhoods, and it's also based on making sure people can access and advocate for the things that we, as general public, just naturally... It's easy for us to access. So that's a major point of what direct support professionals and shared living providers do. Can you give them the address or website of NADSP and then... Yes, so NADSP.org. You find all that stuff. And NADSP.org is also promoting what's called an eBadge Academy, which is what we talked about earlier, is a credentialing process that can be recognized nationally for people. So what they're doing is NADSP is helping to do the work that other local schools aren't doing, is creating a credentialing program for people that people want to be a direct support professional, and creating a tiered system for them. And you're at your phone number for Creemont Sports Services? It's 802-888-7602, and you can find this at gmssi.org. And if it's okay, Lawrence, I'd like to plug where are invaluable, where, and we can probably put it up on the screen as well, show you where the list of where invaluable is going to be playing here in Vermont. And on November 20th, it's going to be playing at Main Street Landing, the film house in Burlington at 6 p.m. on November 20th. November 21st is going to be at the Savoy Theatre, just right down the street, on Main Street in here in Montpelier at 1 p.m. That night is going to be, so November 21st in the evening, it's going to be at the Tuttle Hall Theatre in Rutland at 6 p.m. and November 22nd is going to be... So the 21st, the director will be there? Yep, he'll be there at 1 p.m. at the Savoy Theatre. And on November 22nd, it'll be playing at the CCV campus in Bennington at 3 p.m. So there's four places that anybody here who is affected by direct support professional workforce crisis, who is a direct support professional, and as I was going to say for the direct support professionals that are watching this, this documentary is about you, it's not for you, because you are the audience, you are already a captive audience, because you already know about the crisis of being a direct support professional. So it's for people who are self-advocates, it's for human service agency employees, state employees, for guardians, for self-advocates. It's an incredibly important documentary to watch. And as we say, the director is going to be here, he's flying in from Minnesota to be a part of this, and we've got to thank the Howard Center, we've got to thank Champlain Community Services, we want to thank Washington County Mental Health, and I want to thank United Counseling Services, we want to thank other services, and CSAC out of Rutland for putting this on for us as well. Well, thank you for joining us on this edition of Abledon On Air, and we'll be sure to be there for the invaluable presentation. We would like to thank Joshua Smith, Grimoire Support Services Executive Director, and a sponsor of Abledon On Air, as well as Washington County Mental Health and Israel. Again, thank you for joining us on this edition of Abledon On Air. I'm Loren Seiler, Arlene could not be here today. See you next time on the next edition of Abledon On Air. I'm Loren Seiler, see you next time. Grimoire Support Services to empower neighbors with disabilities to be home in the community. Major support also includes Washington County Mental Health, where hope and support come together. Ala Israel, all people know limits.