Janet Medina has been a DSP at Little City for 18 years, and she is still not quite sure how it happened. She first got into the I/DD field because a college friend guided her in that direction, but the job was nothing like she thought it would be.
“I got tricked,” Janet said with a laugh. “I was never expecting this to be my career but now I can’t imagine doing anything else. I am going to do this until I retire. These are my people.”
Janet is far from the only person to get into DSP work without knowing what to expect, and sometimes it does turn out to be a wrong fit. She has seen plenty of people come and go over her 18 years and said the job can cause burnout, frustration, or even complacency if the person isn’t in it for the right reason.
“You have to love what you do, and you have to love the people or all you’re doing is getting a paycheck, and this is a hard job to do just for a paycheck,” she said. “The people are what keep me coming back. Building relationships with them is the only way I know how to do this job.”
The key to Janet’s longevity has been finding that balance of changing with the times but not changing what matters most. She has seen plenty of change since she first started with the former Countryside Association in 2008. From merging with Little City to moving the day program from Waukegan to the current Grayslake location, Janet said the people who rely on her need the same things regardless of the environment or name. So, whether they are on a community outing or spending the day in the classroom, Janet is happy to do her job.
“I never worried about the space I was in or what building,” she said. “As long as my people are here, I know what to do.”