Meet Our Staff

Richard, DSP

Learn how Richard, a Direct Support Professional (DSP) at our program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, learned the skills that make him a caring and supportive team member.

Richard is one of our DSPs at Mishkon, where he supports people with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other intellectual or developmental disabilities in achieving a full and rich life. Guided by the beliefs and practices of Orthodox Judaism, Mishkon assists with daily living, nursing care, and therapeutic intervention at home or in one of our specialized residences. Keep reading to learn more about Richard.

What made you want to get into this field?

I have a background in healthcare — I was a certified recreational therapist for 10 years. I also grew up as part of a family that had two developmentally disabled aunts, and it was part of my everyday life to treat them as any regular member of the family, so when I got into the health field, a lot of my attributes lent themselves to creativity and compassion. I was also a caregiver for my own mother for two years. When she passed, and I needed to get back into work, I became a home health aide. I wanted to return to caregiving and thought this would be a natural transition. Right around the start of COVID, I became a COVID screener, but I felt like I needed more direct contact with caregiving. When I interviewed with The Jewish Board, two managers spoke to the role really well and piqued my interest, and I thought I’d give it a try; within a week, my clients stole my heart.

What is an average day for you at The Jewish Board?

I really like working with our clients’ strengths. I do decorating workshops around whatever season or holiday; we’ll work on things to address those events and then combine it with some exercise that helps them work on delayed gratification. They’ll start working on one part of a project, and we’ll have to let it dry, then they go back to it. When it’s displayed during that event or holiday, I like to see their pride in having their work displayed and pointing it out to family members and visitors. We’ve started doing this thing called Featured Artist of the Month, and during that month, I collect the stuff they’ve been working on for a couple of weeks, and we display it on the wall with all of their creations and their name.

We’ve also tried to get residents into gardening and nurturing — we got off to a rocky start, but we started doing some planting this summer, and I wanted them to have the role of caring for something and seeing something grow from what they’ve done, and the care they gave to it – that’s not an opportunity they necessarily get, and I wanted to them to experience something like that. We also do the everyday things like taking them shopping with their own money for things they choose on their own. They pay for them, give the money to the cashier, etc. I want to try to give them every experience anyone else would have. It’s important to have and build these social skills and courtesy.

What’s your favorite part about the work you do?

I get very excited about planning activities and events and making the calendar for the month because I include the residents in that. I like to see them get excited and have anticipation about things. I like to see the work that I’m doing making a difference; it’s a very rewarding experience. This is going to sound really cheesy, but I like to try to make staff and residents’ day just a little better every day, so we also have a program where we’ve been decorating the hallway outside of our apartment pretty elaborately. It’s become kind of a thing – there’s this anticipation of what’s gonna be next!

What we do is really hard, and if someone can walk by and see a mural that I’ve done with the guys that has a little quirkiness or fun to it (carousel of horses; flying crop duster planes) and they can smile or they can lighten their day a little bit that’s always really great. I get a lot of feedback from staff that makes both the residents and myself feel good. The murals really help us feel a sense of teamwork in my opinion. I also really like the clinical aspect of what I do. Interpreting goals, trying to achieve them, and responding to how they’re doing.

Which of our core values resonates with you most?

Strive to be Outstanding. I was brought up to have a lot of integrity and try to do my best. I also feel strongly about Engaging Individuals and Families as our Partners because I’m always trying to work alongside the residents and help them know that they contribute to how their day goes and time is spent. I also try to get information about the residents from the family to help me learn the best ways to interact with them.

What’s the last song you listened to?

Hymn For The Weekend by Coldplay.

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