From Here: Discouraged
To There: Encouraged
Perspective
Discouragement in direct support rarely arrives all at once, it creeps in, day by day. You’re constantly meeting the needs of others, while your own often go unmet.
In this field, it’s easy to forget: you need support too. Ignoring discouragement doesn’t make it go away. It builds a wall between you and the people you support, your team, and even your sense of purpose.
Encouragement isn’t pretending things are fine. It’s reconnecting with your why: the belief that everyone deserves to have their needs met…INCLUDING YOU.
The Weight of Discouragement
For Direct Support Professionals (DSPs), discouragement can feel like:
- Exhaustion without recognition
- Frustration with people supported or team members
- Emotional shutdown just to get through the day
- Feeling invisible
- Being underpaid and undervalued
For Leaders, it can look like:
- Low morale, high turnover
- Disengaged or defensive staff
- Pushback on feedback or change
- Burnout from constant crisis management
- A culture of silence instead of collaboration
The more we ignore discouragement, the more it blocks innovation, connection, and progress.
Understanding Each Other’s Challenges
When we’re overwhelmed, we stop seeing teammates and start seeing obstacles. But if we step back, we can see what others are carrying and that shift in perspective changes everything.
What DSPs Wish Supervisors Knew
Common struggles include:
- Emotional fatigue from managing trauma, dysregulation, and crisis moments back-to-back
- Going the extra mile without acknowledgment
- Not enough time or staffing to deliver truly person-centered care
- Getting stuck between system demands and individual needs
- Living with the tension of low pay and high expectations
DSPs are not asking for special treatment, just respect, honesty, and a seat at the table.
What Leaders Wish DSPs Knew
Supervisors aren’t just “relaxing upstairs in their fancy office” they’re in the thick of it, trying to make nearly impossible math work.
Their challenges include:
- Stretching razor-thin budgets just to make payroll
- Navigating constant regulation changes without drowning staff in red tape
- Filling shifts at the last minute, often at personal cost
- Wanting to raise pay but having no funding flexibility
- Managing blame from all directions while holding things together
Most leaders aren’t checked out, they’re maxed out! What they need most is a team that brings empathy and shared accountability.
Common Ground: Meeting Needs, Together
Here’s the bridge:
- DSPs want to be seen, supported, and respected. (sometimes when we experience burnout we feel unsupported by our supervisors….)
- Leaders want to sustain services, support staff, and stay mission-focused.
- Everyone is working to meet needs with limited time, energy, and resources.
Sometimes it feels like two teams: frontline vs. leadership. But we’re one team, with one mission. If we can really see each other we can foster honest conversations, and ask:
How do we make this sustainable for all of us?
Skills
Creating a culture of encouragement isn’t passive. It’s built with intentional habits—small, daily choices that add up over time.
For Direct Support Professionals
- End-of-Shift Reflection: Ask yourself, “When today did I help someone feel safe, seen, or successful?”
- Set Boundaries Without Guilt: “I need a moment to reset” is powerful. A regulated DSP supports people better than an exhausted one.
- Encourage a Peer Daily: A quick message—“You handled that really well”—goes further than you think.
For Leaders
- Recognition Rituals: Weekly shout-outs, post-it notes, or a quick “bright spot” email—tiny gestures make a big impact.
- Model Self-Care: When leaders honor their limits, it gives others permission to do the same.
- Ask Better Questions: Replace “Why didn’t this get done?” with “What do you need from me to do your best work?”
Motivation
When you’re stuck in survival mode, motivation fades. Growth and connection feel out of reach.
If that’s you—you’re not alone. But here’s the shift: don’t aim for thriving yet. Aim for strategic survival.
Plant seeds of encouragement. Motivation grows where people feel like they matter.
Encouragement is not fluff—it’s fuel. It restores the belief that this work matters, even when it’s messy, hard, or exhausting.
Motivation returns in moments:
- A thank-you you didn’t expect
- Seeing someone gain new choices or confidence because of your support
- A leader saying, “I see what you’re carrying, and I appreciate you”
Whether you’re struggling or steady, remember:
You are not alone. Your work matters.
Habit Cues
Encouragement isn’t a grand gesture—it’s built into the habits we repeat every day.
➤ Common Cues & Shifts
- Cue: A person supported lashes out
Default Habit: Withdraw or snap
Encouragement Habit: Pause. Think: “What need isn’t being met?” - Cue: A coworker misses something
Default Habit: Complain or gossip
Encouragement Habit: Ask, “Are you okay?” Remember support builds teamwork and blame break it - Cue: You feel overwhelmed
Default Habit: Push through in silence
Encouragement Habit: Pause. Breathe. Ask for a reset. Refuel before you run dry.
Why We Press On
To everyone reading this—whether you’re exhausted, questioning your role, or hanging on by a thread—this is for you.
You are part of something bigger than policies and procedures.
You are part of a civil rights movement—one that is still unfolding today. A movement to liberate people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) from systems of exclusion, low expectations, and invisibility.
This work is not just about support.
It is about freedom.
It is about equity.
It is about justice.
Every time you help someone make a choice that reflects their voice…
Every time you hold space for someone to be fully themselves
Every time you choose to stay curious instead of frustrated…
You are tearing down the remnants of a system that once told people with IDD, “You don’t belong.”
You are building something better.
People with IDD deserve:
- New opportunities that weren’t available yesterday.
- Real relationships built on mutual respect.
- Lives of joy, meaning, and self-direction.
And those opportunities don’t come from a program or policy.
They come from you.
From every DSP who shows up with heart.
From every leader that balances people and spreadsheets.
From every moment where human dignity is prioritized over convenience or control.
So if you’re discouraged, hear this:
Don’t quit. Not today. Not when we’re still in the middle of this movement. Not when the people we support are still waiting to be seen, heard, and included in the fullness of life.
The work is hard. But the vision is revolutionary.
You’re not just supporting people, you’re part of a liberation movement that is changing lives
Hold the line. Refill when needed. Rest, reset, but don’t give up.
You are needed. You are powerful. And this mission is worth it.
The One Thing
Wherever you are on this journey from here to there, from discouraged to Encouraged. Together and on a daily basis let’s continue to say to ourselves..
“Today, I choose, in my role, to assist people in getting their needs met.”
And I have needs that need met, and that’s ok!
