For her, DSP job is calling, with listening at the forefront

Julie Lindblom, a direct support professional with MRCI in Mankato has an infectious passion for the field that’s unmistakable.

She started serving individuals with disabilities at age 50. Sensing the call to the field, Lindblom has a knack for sharing it and welcoming others into the fold.

She worked in a center-based operation in Mankato before the COVID-19 disruption, but now travels around the community each day with a core group of four individuals. Lindblom knows them well.

The DSP had worked in corporate America for 20 years until 2009, and worked a second job at an assisted living facility for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. But it was a Tuesday night at her part-time entertainment center job that a life changing idea came from a customer.

“She was like, ‘You need to go to MRCI. They are waiting for somebody like you,” recalls Lindblom. Time passed and the woman came in again and said she was retiring and would refer Lindblom for a job, and she would have an interview.

Nine years later, she said she’s realized how important the simple things in life are, and the joy that can be received. “I think we all want to be heard, but maybe we aren’t able to be heard in the same way.”

She worked in a center serving clients for a number of years before losing her job due to COVID-19. A year later, she was called back to serve as a DSP for the newly community-based service. Lindblom was paired with two individuals she worked with in-center. She knows their likes and dislikes, which is a big advantage when planning community days going forward.
“Simply sitting down and asking them: What what is it that you like to do? What would you like to go see? That's the most exciting part for me,” she said.

Her group has visited the State Capitol, Como Zoo, at a good shelter and many places in and around Mankato. “We call them adventures.”

Lindblom has a way to encourage her clients to interact well with new people they meet. She gauges each person’s ability and urges them to converse with others a short distance away from the group. Building confidence is a high goal.

With confidence comes independence. One client she’s been training, while at a coffee shop, noticed a mistake with her order and brought it up with the barista. “I was so proud of her,” said Lindblom. “If you could, for one moment, see the absolute pride and know how excited they are to be able to do it themselves. I could talk forever about how wonderful it is.”

What’s the proper way to approach someone who is already in a conversation? How should someone behave in a restaurant? These questions and others are answered by the DSP, who caters to each person’s unique personality and abilities.

Others pick up on her expertise, especially client families, saying that this is what she was meant to do. “Every single day, there is some type of term of endearment,” she said.

Lindblom is honored that families would allow her to spend so much time with their son or daughter. Individuals “come out of their shells,” saying and doing new things, and families notice.

Clients give her feedback and she does the same.

She urges people interested in DSP work to tag along with her group or others in the field to get a taste of what it’s like. There’s a realization, she said, that she is serving someone who is near and dear to a family member’s heart.“I want them to know that when they’re hanging with me, they’re heard.”

[Check out Minnesota direct support professional careers online and sign up for more stories like these by texting MOHR to 22828]