Every year, the second week in September is reserved to honor and celebrate Direct Support Professionals. DSPs are the special individuals who carry out Wildwood’s mission through their support of people in community residences, day supports, recreation activities, community habilitation, respite programs and in our transportation department. 

This week is valued by everyone at Wildwood. Families and volunteers provided gift cards for the daily raffle with surprises for local restaurants, retail shops and events. Our CEO, Lou Deepe and our COO, Lisa Getman shared heartfelt messages to start the week and the Communications Department produced a new video that not only thanked our DSPs but also let everyone know how important they are.  CBS6 news featured a segment about the importance of DSPs and highlighted the work they do with video footage from Wildwood. Each supervisor in every location recognized their DSPs in their own unique way and our Facebook DSP week tribute reached over 7,000 people.

DSPs support people in becoming more independent, through enhancing social skills, and  providing a safe and consistent home structure. They keep the people we support safe during transport, and they help them find meaningful employment opportunities. They are friends, family, counselors, confidants and they are always there. 

Although DSP week has concluded, it is important that we continue to show our support and appreciation every single day. And if you know someone who has what it takes to be a good DSP, please send them our way.