r/directsupport

Is this a universal experience?? I’ve been a DSP for almost a year now and i’ve had a few experiences with co workers where i’m thinking to myself, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”.

They don’t say it to their faces but one of my coworkers was frustrated with a client with dementia, walked away and said, “It’s like talking to a fucking rock”. Just recently my co worker said the r-word and it rolled off their tongue so easy.

Frustration happens, but Jesus. Why do these people go into this line of work?

So I work in an group home setting with 3 clients. Two of our clients have 24/7 care but one of our clients has limited hours and only Personal Assistant services. My manager has been scheduling overnight shifts with only one staff member for all 3 clients despite us not logging hours for that 3rd client. We still have to prepare meds for him, cook for him, and are expected to do all the services we would provide for the other clients except charting. I have voiced my concern over safety issues of only having one staff member over night because if we have to take a client to the ER, which has happened before, there will be no one else to stay with the other clients and we aren't allowed to bring them with due to HIPPA. However the more I think about this situation, the more it feels like medicaid fraud. Also I'm only getting payed for one client despite taking care of 3, I know being payed hourly is standard for DSPs, but other positions in my company get payed per client.

So I'm sitting beside my client and she too is seated. Out the side of my eye, she jerks her right knee up into the bottom of the table.

She is still seated upright in her chair and she has her eyes open. Before I could say anything, she falls from her chair onto floor.

First step, I get up and am getting ready to place her on her side.

She had fallen partially on the stabilizer leg of another table which is flush to the floor.

I never made it to my second step because a member of managment came up, took over and told client to sit back in chair.

What I was in the process of doing before management took over:

1. Place her on her side.
2. Gently slide back table stabilizer leg she is partially on

3 Have another staff get me a pillow for her head.

4. Have her start moving once she is fully cognizant.

5. Do the incident report and notify her program manager

Hi everyone, today is my first shift as a DSP! I will be working 4pm-12am at a group home, and I currently have no idea what my clients or coworkers will be like. Do any pros have advice for me?

What do you wish you knew starting this job? I will not be passing meds, just general care for individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.

Thank you so much!

When I was new, a woman kicked out out of the house where she was training me, at 8:00 PM, because she was tired. My end time was 9:00 PM. I told her that I needed the income. She told me to clock out at 9:00 PM, and told me how to do it so that it would not get detected. I clocked out at 8:00 and left. I would rather lose an hour of income than steal from my employer.

Lots of employees did it. They were behaving like children- being naughty and enjoying getting away with it. Now, few employees do it. My employer fires those who they know are commiting this offense.

What are your experiences with time fraud?

One of our clients in the house started having a new behavior about a month ago, but only with one staff member. They began making threatening statements specifically towards this staff each shift that they worked, but would not exhibit this behavior with anyone else, nor did they have changes in behavior with anyone else. The staff has been caught using questionable language and tactics around them before. A lot of us are in agreement this could have stemmed from something this staff has said or done? We can't figure out any other triggers? There are 7 of us including this staff, and the other 6 of us have not been threatened by this consumer. The staff has been banned from working any shifts alone with them, or working with them during double staffing times. Would you also think it was something stemming from staff? I've been here 5 years and this is the first time this has ever happened and my heart is breaking! I just want my consumer to be happy but we're stumped!

Hi all — I'm Sarah, and I work with a team at Georgetown University's Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. Mods please remove if not allowed- I tried to contact about a survey previously- I understand you are busy!

We're trying to understand something that doesn't get talked about enough: what documentation and paperwork are actually like for DSPs day to day. Not the official version — the real one. The stuff that's genuinely useful, the stuff that feels like a box-check, the moments where you knew something mattered but the form didn't have a place for it.

I'd honestly just love to hear people's experiences in the comments, if you're up for sharing. And if anyone would ever be open to a longer (~20 min) chat about it sometime, feel free to say so or send me a message — completely optional, no pressure, nothing being sold.

Mostly I just think DSPs know things about this work that the people designing the forms don't, and I'd like to learn. Thanks for reading.

We have to use our personal vehicles and during the interview, the lady asked if I'd be comfortable transporting clients to shopping trips or doctor's appointments. I said I would. Well, little did I know we actually have to take them anywhere they want to go. LITERALLY. My coworker told me that she has gone 45-60 miles one way to a specific store that a client wanted to go to. Also, this coworker told me that she's had to drive 2 hours to take a client to visit a family member. This is a lot to ask of someone making what we make per hour. It just really doesn't make sense. But, apparently we get in trouble if we question them or refuse to take them. This means you essentially have to make sure you have a full tank of gas each and every time you show up for work. I really don't understand the thought process behind this. How do they expect to keep staff? It just seems so excessive.

When I had my clients, it got to a point where I dreaded coming to work. I would work 7-3 every weekend. It was okay at first but then I was left with 5 individuals who needed a lot of physical help over time and the staffing didn’t change to reflect that. These motherfuckers had something planned EVERY weekend. BOTH days. We always went to church every Sunday (which only 1 really cares, the other could care less whether they go). And they would literally plan stuff even after church and not give us money for food so I had to sit there and figure out the logistics so I can make lunch and attend the event at the same time.

Then Saturdays, we rarely even got a break. They would plan for us to go to a community event. Mind you these outings are never local ☠️ always in various communities 30 minutes away. I’m already introverted but this job took the little bit of social energy I had. I didn’t want to hang out on weekends. I barely even wanted to hang out on weekdays bc of school and my second job. Once I quit, it’s like I finally saw a light. My social life instantly returned as soon as I quit

My casemanager quit, and ive been considering applying for the job, just wondering if anyone on here has done it, we do have casemanagers that have done that but im in my 60's, i don't plan on retiring anytime soon, i ran a home daycare for 32 years so I don't have experience in managing a business but I never had employee. Thoughts?

hi guys, i’m looking for some advice. i’ve been a DSP for a few years now in a predominantly white area and state. i’ve never had this issue until recently. i have a client who uses racially insensitive language often. she refers to people of color as “colored people” and today when she was describing her friend she used the word “mulatto”. i’m biracial so i found this extremely offensive and attempted to educate her on why we shouldn’t say thoes terms and told her the correct language to use. my question is do i bring this up to my team leaders? i’m a little nervous it will be brushed off because everyone at my work is white. i’m the only minority. idk yall gimme your best advice please 😭

I just got a new job offer as an RBT and I put my two weeks in to my agency. I’ve been a DSP since March, and it’s been a crazy ride. The job has seriously deteriorated my mental health, and it’s finally time for me to move on.

I got so tired of the disrespect and how ungrateful my clients were. I was there to support my clients and encourage independence, but instead I was demanded to do this and didn’t even receive a thank you (these were clients that do not need 24/7 care as well). When I would encourage them to do things independently, I got cussed out and I was just expected to take it (by my supervisors).

The first thing that made me realize that I needed to leave was when my company welcomed back a client that threatened my life. I was told they were not going to provide services for him anymore as he threatened to kill me. This made me realize that they do not care about the well being of their employees.

We use personal vehicles, and oh my god, in these last 6 months I’ve put 5k miles on my car and barely get reimbursed for it. Because of this job, the car I got just last year, is going to go much quicker than it should.

I was encouraged to give out my personal number so I was constantly being texted by clients outside of working hours about the most random crap. I sent out a message to all my clients asking for them to stop messaging me on my off hours, and got an email from my supervisor saying they were offended and that was out of line.

My final breaking point was a couple weeks ago. My client told me straight up that she says sexual things around me because I’m younger than her, and has a power over me, and she can get a reaction out of me.

I’m finally free, and I couldn’t be more ready. I loved parts of this job, but the bad outweighed the good. It was a very rewarding job, but I’m so burnt out.

I am leaving DSP for CNA soon. I decided that tuition reimbursement was not worth tolerating the nonsense from individuals and staff alike.

I have had to go to another house near to receive paper to fax because the person at the house wasn't tech savvy, they hire anyone off the street. Staff steal the items of other staff occasionally, they steal the individuals food often, they sleep for hours and the status quo is to avoid digging your feet into any real work.

I'm the youngest In my house so staff try to offload their tech issues onto me, they don't even try. They also hire staff that can't read or write English properly so they'll try to get me to print out the answers to various required trainings. No "please" btw just "print me the answers"

To top it off, it's a high needs house, people leave the house all the time due to the individuals needs nevels

We won't even touch on the incessant gossip.

I don't think CNA is all rainbows by any means. but for higher pay and less "personal" work I think it's a good shift. I enjoyed the downtime of this job but I think I'm leaving around my one year anniversary.

This may be just a vent of mine, but I'm 33M and have been in the field for the past six years. Before becoming a DSP/CRMA/MHRT - I was a lobster fisherman, a commercial fishing pier foreman, a clerk, and many other odd jobs sprinkled in there. Maybe it's just because of my overwhelming positive mindset, or even my extremely optimistic outlook, but being in this field is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I was a shell of myself, just stopped drinking and doing drugs, partying, recently divorced, etc. These people that I supported didn't give a single shit about who I was before, what mask I wore, or that I was new to it. The company I worked for offered a live-in position while I was homeless, and I genuinely felt as if I lived with the individuals for at least 3 to 4 days out of the week, where I didn't have to worry about having a roof over my head.

Sure, behaviors, management, state laws, and other variables can be extremely daunting, but they are such a miniscule part of what the job is and who these people actually are. I've been screamed at, grabbed aggressively, spit on, cleaned feces and urine, done things that were outside the scope of what the job is, but it is absolutely nothing compared to the happy times, the relaxed times, the times where someone who was hurt and constantly bailed out on as a kid or teenager learned to trust me.

Gaining their trust was the first opening of my eyes that I had in a long time, that I was still worthy of that admiration and I can change. Since then I got a place that I've held for 6 years now (the longest sinc adolescence), took care of my physical and mental well-being, and I returned to college. Without all of this structure and learning how to find myself, along with the people I've supported teaching me more about myself that I never knew, has been an absolute blessing more than I could have ever imagined when I started this thinking "I'll be here until I get a place then I'll dip."

These jobs are different, these jobs are difficult, and I tip my cap to anyone who has the fortitude to just try it. It's not the worst thing in the world, and the flexibility is pretty fantastic considering I work three 12's and have four days off to recoup. Please, just remember that anyone's life you walk into, even if briefly, tell them that you're going to leave if you are, closure is something we all need at one point or another and in a field that's a revolving door for these people often forgotten or pushed aside by society, any closure for them about someone leaving is positive.

Much love to all of you, and if you ever need to vent please feel free to reach out, I'm in this with you.