Episode 1: Introduction to Wellness Matters for Direct Support

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Chet Tschetter

Hello and welcome to the podcast. Wellness matters for direct support. This is a podcast developed by the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration. Wellness matters for direct support. We'll focus on the importance of health, wellness and self-care for the direct support worker. My name is Chet Tschetter, and I'll be one of the hosts.

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Mark Olson

And my name is Mark Olsen and will be the co-host.

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Chet Tschetter

Mark, let me tell you a little bit about my experience as a direct support professional. I started my career working at a summer camp for people who needed support, and they did that for about three summers before becoming a direct support professional full time. I had the opportunity to support people in their homes as well as through employment as a DSP.

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Chet Tschetter

And I currently am one of the Workforce national Workforce Consultants at Eisai and a part time direct support professional.

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Mark Olson

Funny you should mention the recreation content or contact. I began doing Parks and Recreation supports indirect support and moved into doing direct support itself as a profession. My main focus was with vocational supports, but during the years as many of us do, I worked multiple jobs. So I worked in residential supports as well as is doing vocational supports.

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Mark Olson

My career has taken me many places. I have moved from doing direct support specifically to doing advocacy work. At one point, both individual and at the systems level. I was one of the founders of the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and, have the John F Kennedy Award to junior Award, the John F Kennedy Junior Award to to share with Brian.

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Mark Olson

I need to start that bit over. Sure. I started my career in this field working at, at, why am I having this issue? I started working in progress.

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Chet Tschetter

Look at me and talk.

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Mark Olson

Yeah, there we go. You know, I got really. I started working in Parks and Recreation, and then I found that I really loved working with people with disabilities. When I then moved on to find a full time job, I landed in direct support and did vocational supports for you. Probably about 15 years. I did some support of folks in residential settings as well, because oftentimes people that are providing direct support need to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

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Chet Tschetter

That's true.

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Mark Olson

And that's one of the things about wellness that I think we'll talk about over time is that many of us have done that, and that can affect our wellness. Now, I have also worked in, in advocacy, both in individual advocacy and in systems advocacy, where we are trying to make change and supporting self advocacy and self advocates to affect the changes that they wanted to have in the systems that did provide for them.

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Mark Olson

Currently at work as as, as a curriculum designer, a trainer and person centered practices engagement and wellness at the University of Minnesota Institute and Community Integration. And that is where I'm at at the moment.

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Chet Tschetter

So fantastic. You've really had some great work experience.

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Mark Olson

As of you.

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Chet Tschetter

Thank you. So, Mark, what does wellness mean to you?

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Mark Olson

Well, as to me is really about a balanced life. Making sure that I'm getting what's important to me done so that I feel comfortable. I feel safe. I feel, like I'm doing things that matter to me. Involves that little bit of, of safety and whatnot, too. But that safety piece for me doesn't need to be the lead.

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Mark Olson

It needs to be about the things that are meaningful to me. Right? Case in point, I had a health issue about 15 years ago. Afterwards, I really focused on my wellness more and began doing theater and some other things to make sure that I was getting that balance in my life. So balance is kind of the key to me.

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Mark Olson

What what about your wellness?

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Chet Tschetter

Well, I'll I'll be honest to say that, I really didn't have a balance and didn't think about my wellness early in my career at all. I was just about work, work work work work. And so I didn't really take care of myself. And it wasn't until some life changing situations occurred in my life. About, seven years ago.

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Chet Tschetter

And I decided that was the time I really needed to make some changes. And so, looking for that balance. With not only work life balance, but just taking care of myself and my body and really thinking about what I'm eating and what I'm doing for activities, as well as what I was doing for myself spiritually and mentally to really get kind of everything in balance.

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Chet Tschetter

And I even like sat down and wrote kind of my, I can't remember the name of right now. It was like my kind of like my isn't just my goals, but what's my story? And what are all those different compartments of what I want to accomplish in my life, and how do I find balance within that? And that really kind of helped me focus.

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Chet Tschetter

And I know that through doing that, finding those, those balances, people around me started noticing that it wasn't just how my body was changing, because I was losing some weight and those sorts of things, but they were noticing how that was changing also in, in my personality. And I wasn't as stressed out as I used to be.

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Mark Olson

Well, in that case in point, there, I think about what happens around our office. And one of the things that shows me that you've embraced that philosophy is how you've taken the concept of, if I want to feel good about myself, if I want to do something that is going to make me feel like I'm getting balanced and like I'm going to make sure others around me are.

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Mark Olson

So your little habit of, of dropping little, little notes to a lot of folks around in our little cube farm is a wonderful thing, because it always makes my day when I walk in one morning and there's a little note from chat now with their name on it. Just a little note. But, you know, I kind of figured it out.

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Mark Olson

That that kind of just says, you know, you're you're a great person or, you know, you you mean you matter. You mean something. You know, those types of things just really are a benefit to anybody's wellness. When you do something for someone else, but not out of needing needing to do it to get your paycheck, but just doing it because it's human, right.

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Chet Tschetter

And I care about the people I work around. I care a lot about the people that I work with.

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Mark Olson

Yes. And, you know, and yes to both work around, work with work, you know, and care about people in general is kind of a part of of wellness, right. That's what have been one of my things is, you know, I will go out and, if I'm just in the community, I will make the comment about, you know, somebody in the grocery store.

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Mark Olson

I will just make a comment to them about, have a nice day or, you know, how are you doing? Or, you know, if they are if they're struggling, I'll say, how are you doing? And then when they say, I'm not doing or they'll say, I'm great, I'm like, how are you doing? You know, and sometimes I will find somebody that will open up a little bit and just, you know, the fact that somebody has shown an interest, somebody has shown that, hey, your wellness matters to me is, is important to to them.

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Mark Olson

And it makes their day better.

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Chet Tschetter

Absolutely. I also think that for direct support professionals who these days are working for, many are working fairly isolated, to really think about what is it that they need for themselves, to continue to do their job well, because if you don't take the time, as I was saying earlier in my career, I didn't take the time to do that.

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Chet Tschetter

I, I didn't take the time to look for relationships that really nourished me because I was just working. That was my main thing and that was my area of comfort. But as I was able to make those changes and look for relationships, it also changed me and made me a happier person. I had more people around me to kind of check and balance, and, it was really helpful to be able.

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Chet Tschetter

And I would really encourage direct support professionals to look for that opportunity for balancing their life.

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Mark Olson

Right. And, and when I talk, you know, when we talk about that, I think about how I've, I've stayed connected to the field of disability my entire career because as I've gone through it, I've period actually reinvented myself within the career. And that reinvention is also a form of wellness, because I've taken what I've learned and I move to the next step as far as here's where I want to spend my time, here's what I want to spend my energy, here's how I want to support.

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Mark Olson

And in. So initially, I hadn't realized that's what I was doing. A lot of times, wellness, we don't always realize that, hey, I just did that for my own wellness. But that intentionality of of being and focusing on finding those things that help you do your wellness is is really what we want to make this podcast about.

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Chet Tschetter

Absolutely. Thanks, Mark.

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Mark Olson

Yeah.

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Chet Tschetter

You know, Mark, even today we've used a couple different terms. We've used direct support professionals. We've used direct support workers. Who are we really talking about here.

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Mark Olson

Oh, okay. I can I can touch you on this specifically from when we founded the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals and that we went over that term multiple times with everybody at the table and at the table. We had folks who lived with lived experience of folks who were living with disabilities. We had a group of us that were direct support professionals.

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Mark Olson

We had academics. We had people from the industry. As far as leadership of organizations, and we landed on that in the end. And there was some some concern about direct support. Professional, because get this, people who receive supports oftentimes don't want another professional in their life because the professionals they have oftentime don't give them the time of day.

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Mark Olson

And so we had to really tease out the fact that this would be a different type of professional, that the concept of a direct support professional was to increase the quality of support to the person providing you that support. And the people we had at the table understood that concept. After we you know, had a good conversation. Now, that said, it encompasses people that are considered direct support workers, someone that's providing personal cares in a home, someone that's providing, almost any type of support service to someone with a disability or someone who is aging is a direct support professional.

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Mark Olson

But it may not be the term that's used where they're working.

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Chet Tschetter

Right, in that particular industry. So I could be caring for someone in my family and being paid for that, and I might consider myself a direct support worker versus a direct support.

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Mark Olson

Right? Right, right. That's, you know, a consumer. There are many kinds of funding out there. And so there's consumer related grants and different types of funding streams where family members are working as the direct support person. Right. And, you know, that is is is another one. So it's just realize that when we use those terms kind of interchange verbally, it does mean the whole it means everybody that provides that care to an individual, that support to an individual to live the life that they want to live.

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Mark Olson

And that can go from, you know, it just sorry, hit the mic. That can go from infancy to, to a person's passing. It's it's all a part of the human condition and the fact that we need to support each individual in a way that works for them.

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Chet Tschetter

Right.

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Mark Olson

Thank you. Well, one of the things I'm going to I'm going to ask you a question now, when we talk about direct support professionals, people who are providing direct support, and we talk about that life, that we're supporting a person to live the life that they want to live. Sometimes we do that at the expense of ourselves, and that can affect our wellness.

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Mark Olson

Have you worked at places, or have you worked with people who are really good at supporting you? Are there things that you see in the industry that you feel would would better support that frontline worker or that frontline supervisor to be able to? Shall I say, to be able to provide better support to the person because they're feeling more support?

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Chet Tschetter

So it sounds like how to advocate for yourself so that you can do a good job when you do show up for your shift. Absolutely, yeah. You know, one of the things I notice, is maybe a little bit more generational. I started direct support being, doing direct support work back in the mid 80s, shall we say.

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Chet Tschetter

And, so I come from early 80s.

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Mark Olson

For me.

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Chet Tschetter

I come from that generation of you go to work, you do your job, you keep your head down and you don't say anything. But I think that's different today. And people will, especially the millennial millennial generation, they're willing to say, I'm not willing to do all that. I like to do my job because it's important and because of the mission.

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Chet Tschetter

But I also need a balance in my life. And so that's one thing I really appreciate. That's one thing I really appreciate about, people today. And I've learned from that. I've grown from that, that I'm willing to ask for myself and that were in the past I probably want to have. How about.

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Mark Olson

You? Well, that intergenerational thing that sings to me as well, because I've learned a lot from, from from younger direct support professionals or direct support workers. And I'm hopeful that they've learned some things for me as well. And I think that that's another open dialog piece that can help everybody with their wellness. Because if you're learning from each other and you're trying to you know, I struggle with the balance because partially generational, partially for me, because, hey, gender is a thing that that can also come into play here.

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Mark Olson

You know, I was, you know, as the as the male, the first male on the family boy, I was expected to be the go getter. Well, you know, maybe that's not my personality, but I went and that was the persona I kept trying to do. And I spent a lot of time doing that. And working, working, working and not taking care of my own personal health needs.

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Mark Olson

So I like that about folks. Even some Gen Xers that I've met have done that. And I don't know why generational theory came in, but we'll go with it. Generational, you know, pieces can be a really good way of starting the conversation. Other things, it's like, did you work in any organizations that were supportive of you or not supportive?

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Mark Olson

I mean, that's another thing that oftentimes you run into the ones that are maybe not quite as supportive as you'd like.

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Chet Tschetter

I don't know if I can say too much on that mark, but, having worked for more than one provider. Yes, there really is a difference. I worked with one provider that was very felt like the organization was run by a family, and as a staff person, you were brought into their family and they really cared about you as a person.

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Chet Tschetter

I'm still in touch with them, even though I haven't worked for them for probably 25 years. But I could go back there today and just they would still care. They do still care about my mail, about me as a person. And so that really does make a difference. How about you? What's been your experience?

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Mark Olson

Well, I it's it's varied. I've had, have had a couple of situations where it's been a little bit like that, but I've also had had the experience of working for a very large organization that maybe didn't have that family focus, but what they offered was the support in, in, you know, really solid vacation time that I could take.

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Mark Olson

And they actually wanted me to take it, which a lot of times, especially, since Covid hit isn't happening as much because there's such a shortage of people to provide supports. You know, there was that vacation to take. There were some other benefits that they had that I was able to access that many times today. Aren't aren't accessible in the field at the level that they should be.

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Mark Olson

So that was a wellness component that you sometimes don't look at because it's a behind the scenes, what sometimes is called a total compensation piece and that there's vacation time and sick time and or PTO as many use. And there's maybe, so some programs that you can tap into if you're having some, some struggles.

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Mark Olson

EP's, I think they're called and, you know, just ways of getting, getting support. So the, the larger organization had its wins, but it had its weaknesses, as I'm sure the small ones, due to.

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Chet Tschetter

Absolutely. You know, one of the things I'm really looking forward to in this podcast, as we keep moving on, is that we're going to be able to start talking about those strategies and talk with some experts. They're going to be able to give us some resources and just have a nice conversation with them about some suggestions and tips that they have for direct support workers.

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Mark Olson

Now, the chat, I want to ask you to do one thing because I see you have the paper there. I would like you to. We did this survey a while back in collaboration with a couple of organizations. One of them was the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals, and this survey was of direct support folks across the nation.

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Mark Olson

And it was really about, you know, how they were coping with the Covid pandemic because, frankly, people were getting hit very hard by the Covid pandemic. So I would love it if you would pick one statistic off of that today. And with the podcast, we can certainly give people access to the report that I think that that's something we can just give because it's one of our products out of ISI.

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Mark Olson

But I would love to have you just one statistic that stuck out to you, right?

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Chet Tschetter

Thanks, Mark. I'm going to we started the podcast kind of talking about work life balance. And so the one that I'm going to talk about is and this is from, the two year Covid 19, survey that we did here at the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration. And the question was when they when respondents were asked to gauge the quality of their life work balance compared to the beginning of the pandemic.

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Chet Tschetter

36% said it was worse and 11% said it was. I'm going to say that again. A total of 47% said that their work life balance was worse since the pandemic. And that's that's incredible because it was probably bad to start with. I shouldn't say that that's not necessarily true.

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Mark Olson

It may not necessarily be true, but it there's probably, just a kernel of truth to it, at least.

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Chet Tschetter

I don't have the stats. A lot of the data on it, but there probably is some. Absolutely. A few said it was better, like about 20% said it was better, but the majority thought, yeah, it's worse than they used to be. And when we looked at the data that showed that staff members were picking up a lot of extra shifts, and we know that, you know, through through stories that there were some staff members who spent weeks, staying at, a residence of someone when they had Covid, and not going home at all.

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Chet Tschetter

That, that life work balance really got, messed up at that point.

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Mark Olson

Okay. Well, well, thank you for that. And I you know, I think that we probably used up our time for today. So I'm going to take us out. Okay. And, and, and I would just like to remind folks that, you know, we are accessible if you go to ICU, man, or just put that in the search engine, you can find the center that is this putting putting this together for us.

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Mark Olson

So we're working with and you could, could, you know, find us there. But then we have a lot of great topics lined up. And look forward to talking with you again. If you have ideas for topics you would like us to discuss. Send an email to DSP wellness at n.edu. Once again, DSP wellness at

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Mark Olson

Instead you and join us next time when we talk about wellness and what it means for DSPs, the daily demands of being a direct support person can often lead to stress and burnout. And when a DSP is stressed, they're likely to make errors. Errors that can be costly not only to the organization you that you work for, but to the person you support and to you.

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Mark Olson

Join us. Mark Olson and.

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Chet Tschetter

Chet Tschetter.

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Mark Olson

As we bring you new podcast that dive into how self care for DSPs is important. You can download and listen to Wellness Matters for direct support wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is produced by the University of Minnesota's Institute on Community Integration, and it is by and for direct support professionals. Chet, do you have anything else that you would like to add?

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Chet Tschetter

Well thank you, Mark. This has just been a really fun conversation and they can't wait for our next, editions of front from an initiative. I can't wait for our next, podcast. We hope that you'll come back and join us at Wellness Matters for direct support, because it really does. Thank you.

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Mark Olson

Thank you.