posted
by Guest Author on Monday, June 3, 2019
Blog sent to us from Wilson Oburra, Direct Support Professional 4, who has been with the EPI family since 2010. Wilson was recently nominated for American Network of Community Options and Resources' (ANCOR) DSP of the Year.
Whether we spend the rest of our lives in a private home or in a group home, we all want to be valued as human beings, to experience relationships, to be independent, and to have a purpose in life. A Direct Support Professional (DSP) is a mentor, who also provides essential services and support. Essentially, a DSP helps a person retain his or her dignity by facilitating experiences that may be profound, simple, and/or complex.
One of my most profound experiences as a DSP involved helping someone maintain a positive relationship with his child's mother. She was expecting then, and he wanted to be able to attend the birth of his child at the hospital. At that time, I was the only person who was in a position to give him a ride there. It moved me deeply that I got the opportunity to help him in such a profound way by performing an ordinary action.
Being a DSP has helped me grow in responsibility and empathy so that I can serve people in a nurturing, understanding, and empowering environment. I have also become better organized as a consequence of holding the position. On-the-job training in subjects such as First Aid, automated external defibrillator (AED), and CPR has given me understanding, a skill set, and confidence that I can apply in various areas of my life.