CAREGIVER

Job Description

Job Description

A Direct Support Professional or Direct Support Care Professional, cares for individuals experiencing developmental or intellectual disabilities or illnesses. Their main duties include helping patients complete basic housekeeping tasks, transporting patients to appointments or other social outings and keeping patients safe from potential health hazards in their surrounding environment.

Direct Support Professionals work with individuals with mental or developmental disabilities by creating behavior plans, teaching self-care skills, cooking meals and doing laundry. Additional duties may include:

• Assisting clients with daily personal tasks, including bathing and dressing
• Completing housekeeping tasks such as vacuuming, washing dishes and tidying
• Helping plan client appointments and organize a schedule
• Organizing with transportation arrangements to appointments
• Shopping for groceries and preparing meals that meet specific client dietary needs
• Encouraging client engagement in social networks and communities

Direct Support Professionals demonstrate a variety of professional skills and qualifications, which can include:

• Attention to detail, especially when adhering to specific protocols and rules while carefully following instructions to care for the needs of the client
• Integrity to ensure clients feel safe and comfortable when tending to personal activities such as helping them bathe
• Trustworthiness and dependability so clients and their families feel comfortable relying on them
• Interpersonal skills when working with clients, including having compassion and being sensitive to their emotional needs when they are in extreme distress or pain