Direct Support Professional

Make a bigger difference

Direct Support Professional for Per Diem with Sign-on-bonus

At The Jewish Board, we don’t just make a difference – we make a bigger difference as we serve 45,000 New Yorkers every year. Join our dedicated team that’s been helping communities across New York City for almost 150 years and see just how big of a difference you can make.

Direct Support Professionals are caring, positive role models who work one-on-one or in small groups to help our clients build skills so they can lead safe, full, and independent lives.

Reasons you’ll love working with us:

• If you have a particular age range or population, you’re interested in working with, you can find your niche here.  Our clients and staff are as diverse as the city we work in, and include people of all cultures, religions, races, gender expressions, and sexual orientations.

• We’re committed to supporting your career development by encouraging mobility and advancement across different program types and jobs.

• With 70 locations throughout the five boroughs, you can work close to where you live. 

• Generous vacation time and paid holidays will help you achieve a healthy work/life balance.

• We offer an excellent benefits package with affordable, high-quality health and dental insurance with low co-pays.

• You’ll receive ongoing support through high-quality supervision, specialized trainings from our Continuing Education team, and an education benefit.

How you can make a bigger difference: 

Guided by the beliefs and practices of Orthodox Judaism, we provide assistance with daily living, activities, comprehensive nursing care, and therapeutic intervention to people with developmental and intellectual disabilities who either live at home or need the additional support of a residential program. Many individuals will be with us long-term, and we are dedicated to supporting them in leading active and fulfilling lives.

We provide support for people living with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other intellectual or developmental disabilities. The individuals we work with need different levels of support around self-care, learning, mobility, and functioning. Whatever someone’s unique challenges maybe, we support them and help provide the tools for a rich life. Our services are offered regardless of age, gender, race, or religious practice.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

The Direct Support Professional (DSP) supports individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in a residential treatment setting and is responsible for ensuring that those portions of the Life Plan/Individual Program Plan, which deal with day-to-day and independent living skills, are implemented. Acting as a support and providing therapeutic partnering, the DSP is charged with following the Life Plan/Individual Program Plan and the fundamental responsibility of the Individuals health and safety. 

KEY ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Responsible for day by day care of the Individuals in the program including supervision of personal hygiene, social guidance, use of leisure time, and food planning and preparation.

• Develop, supervise and run activity sessions.
• Accompany Individual on trips and outings and supervise activities.
• May be required, to perform SCIP in the event its necessary Employees are required to attend appropriate SCIP training prior to performing such a restraint.
• Drive the Individuals to medical, social or other necessary appointments.
• Accompany Individual on medical appointments as a liaison of the interdisciplinary team, working closely with the medical team to present and receive information to all medical professionals.
• Shares their experience and observation of the Individual under care with the IDT team and immediately brings to the attention of the supervisor any unusual issues.
• Assist/Supervise Individuals with meal preparation including setting dining room table, warming food, portioning for specific Individual and adhering to specifically prescribed modified diets.
• Ensures that Individual are treated with dignity and respect at all times.
• Supports and encourages Individual’s decision making on the appropriate level to further promote independence.
• Responsible to oversee activities of daily living (ADL) and all personal hygiene of the Individual.
• Assist the Residence Manager in the development and implementation of community inclusion activities using individuals and family feedback as a guide.
• Work with Individual in a group setting or on a one to one basis depending on the need of the particular Individual.
• Participates in regular staff meetings and trainings.
• May be asked to travel to offsite meetings and trainings.
• Completes regular and timely documentation of all individuals’ interactions, including progress and informational notes in the respective electronic records.
• Coordinate and collaborate with the interdisciplinary team.
• Complete incident reports as appropriate following an incident.
• Administer medication as needed.
• Comply to the Divisional specific Jewish Orthodox culture and practices.
• Other assigned duties as assigned.

CORE COMPETENCIES for the position include:

• Compassion, empathy, patience, and genuine desire to make a positive impact on individual’s lives.

• Excellent client engagement skills.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Attentiveness to individuals and colleagues.
• Adaptability to address situations.
• Building and Maintaining Positive Relationships.
• Ability to adapt to changing situations and work effectively as part of a team.
• Demonstrating Professionalism.
• Supporting Good Health.
• Supporting Safety.

EDUCATIONAL / TRAINING REQUIRED:

• High School Diploma or equivalent is required.
• Driver’s License is preferred to meet all insurance requirements.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED / LANGUAGE PREFERENCE:

• Experience with similar population in a residential setting is preferred.
• Bilingual a plus.

COMPUTER SKILLS REQUIRED:

• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Word, etc.)
• Aptitude for learning new systems and software applications.

VISUAL AND MANUAL DEXIERITY:

• Travel in the community with Individual utilizing agency vehicle.
• Engage in physical activities with the residence.
• Ability to reach paper and electronic documents.
• Ability to perform data entry into various computer programs as needed.

WORK ENVIRONMENT/PHYSICAL EFFORT:

• To perform the essential functions of this job, the candidate is routinely required to sit (25%of the time) and stand (75% of the time)
• Ability to travel to visit individual in apartments or to escort Individual in the community.
• Ability to lift 25 pounds to assist Individual and to manager stairs in walk-up buildings as needed.
• The role includes assisting individuals with mobility, lifting and supporting daily activities.
• Capable of lifting and/or assisting in lifting individuals who may have limited mobility or require assistance with transfer.

If you join us, you’ll have these great benefits:

• Generous vacation time, in addition to paid agency holidays and sick days
• Affordable and high-quality medical/dental/vision plans 
• Tuition assistance and educational loan forgiveness
• Free continuing education opportunities 
• 403(b) retirement benefits and a pension
• Flexible spending accounts for health and transportation 
• 24/7 Accessible Employee Assistance Program  
• Life and disability insurance 
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion working groups that are available for you to join, including Confronting Structural Racism (COR), Coalition Against Anti-Semitism (CAAS), and the LGBTQ Steering Committee

Who we are:

The Jewish Board delivers innovative, high-quality, and compassionate mental health and social services to over 45,000 New Yorkers each year. We are unique in serving everyone from infants and their families to children, teens, and adults. We are proud to employ and serve people of all religions, races, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions, and sexual orientations. We are committed to building diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams to help support our mission, and we strongly encourage candidates from historically marginalized backgrounds to apply to work with us.

More on Equal Opportunity:

We respect diversity and accordingly are an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, disability, sex, gender, gender identity or expression (including transgender status), sexual orientation, marital status, partnership status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

This applies with respect to recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, training, compensation, termination, assignments, benefits, employee activities, access to facilities and programs, and all other terms and condition of employment as well as general treatment during employment.

 We will endeavor to make a reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of qualified employees with disabilities, without regard to any protected classifications, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of our business. Any employees who need assistance to perform their job duties because of a physical or mental condition should contact human resources.