More than 12,000 people in New Hampshire experience an intellectual or developmental disability and need the direct assistance of another person to live a fulfilling life. Depending on their challenges, the help they need might range from structured instruction on how to perform job tasks, or help with feeding, dressing, medication management and other activities of daily living.

Our state’s system of ten nonprofit regional area agencies helps people with disabilities and their families lead fulfilling lives. We and our partner agencies employ thousands of people in direct care positions to provide the one-on-one support that helps citizens with disabilities reach their potential to become valued and participating members of their communities.

Today, we want to honor the essential workers we employ who are quietly making a profound and positive effect on so many individuals and families, in so many communities – and perhaps, even without you thinking of it, you.

Our employees who provide one-on-one support are known as Direct Support Professionals. They come from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds and range in age from 17 to 75.

Their work is complex and goes well beyond caregiving, requiring skills including independent problem solving, decision making, behavioral assessment and prevention, medication administration, health and allied health treatment, teaching new skills, crisis prevention and intervention and more. They serve as coaches, mentors and friends.

People with disabilities may have to work harder to achieve different things and the job of a Direct Support Professional helps them reach their goals. While they may not be highly compensated, there’s magic in the work they do. The reward they receive from their service is tremendous – and humbling.

Direct Support Professionals work in family or individual homes, intermediate care facilities, residential group homes, community job sites, vocational and day programs, and other locations. Their work is determined by the unique needs and preferences of the individuals they support and they are held to high ethical and professional standards.

You may have seen one at work, perhaps coaching a member of the janitorial staff at your local YMCA or working with a new employee at your local supermarket. These professionals are called job coaches.

The scope of jobs that people with intellectual or developmental disabilities hold is much wider than what people believe. With help getting their foot in the door with a job coach they have the chance to become a contributing member of the community, have responsibility, be part of a team, earn a paycheck and enjoy independence. Just like you and me.

Living a good life and accomplishing goals means different things to different people. A job might not be within reach of everyone, but some other objective might be.

One area agency client, a woman who uses a power wheel chair, had never been to the beach and had never felt the ocean. She very much wanted to do that.

The staff members who supported her were not sure how they were going to get her in the water because of the power wheel chair, but decided to give it a try and drove her to the beach.

In talking with the lifeguards, they discovered that they had an accessible wheel chair on site. The next thing they knew a group of life guards got together, assisted the woman into the chair and wheeled her out into the ocean to feel the salt water for the first time.

As our staff member said, “Something extraordinary happened that day. Every person who was there was changed for the better.”

While not every day is like that, that staff member has now been with her agency for 16 years. She began her career in direct support and is now the senior director of residential and nursing services.

There are many opportunities for career advancement in this field. In fact, I’m CEO of Pathways of the River Valley, the area agency serving Sullivan and lower Grafton counties, and I began my career as a direct support professional.

If you read this and are someone with a kind heart who wants to help others, a job in direct support might be rewarding for you too.

You could be a retired fighter pilot and be a great Direct Support Professional. We’ve hired teachers, retired dentists, business people and moms with kids who need a flexible schedule. You do have to be willing to learn.

When you help others, you help yourself. You learn a significant amount about yourself and bring a lot of joy to your own life when you are doing that for other people. You also often see the best in humanity when you bring someone out in the community who has significant challenges.

It’s rewarding to help someone have a good life. There’s magic in the work we do.

Mark Mills is CEO of Pathways of the River Valley and a member of the board of Community Support Network, the association of New Hampshire’s ten area agencies located throughout the state which help people with developmental disabilities and their families lead fulfilling lives. Gateways Community Services is the local agency serving greater Nashua area.

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