Quality Life Concepts
Community and Family Services Division
Direct Support Professional I (DSP I)
Reports To: Location Specialist/Manager
Position Status: Full Time or Part Time, Non-exempt
Probationary Period: Six Months
Supervises: None
Direct Support Professionals are responsible for the health and safety of the people we serve, as well as fostering independence and personal choice. A DSP I guides individuals in gaining necessary skills—such as social behavior, interpersonal competence, personal and community safety, life skills, and community involvement—to support greater self-reliance in their day-to-day lives. This role frequently serves as an induction training track or an Awake Night position.
-
High school diploma or GED equivalent.
-
Must be able to successfully pass a comprehensive criminal background check.
-
Must possess basic writing skills and strong attention to detail, particularly when adhering to specific protocols, care instructions, and client-specific rules.
-
Must complete and maintain all agency-required training within designated timelines, including CPR, First Aid, and the College of Direct Supports (CDS) initial certification and orientation within the first 30 days of hire.
-
Must maintain all professional certifications and remain in compliance with training requirements per agency and state policies.
-
Must demonstrate high integrity to ensure clients feel safe, respected, and comfortable when assisting with personal care activities (e.g., bathing, toileting, and hygiene).
-
Must be respectful, trustworthy, and dependable so clients and their families can comfortably rely on their care.
-
Must display strong interpersonal skills, empathy, compassion, and sensitivity to emotional needs when clients are in extreme distress, behavioral crisis, or pain.
-
Must have the ability to accommodate flexible working hours as required by house and client needs.
-
Must have the ability to follow sequential written and verbal directions accurately.
-
Must possess basic computer skills and the ability to comfortably utilize all required documentation software.
-
Must demonstrate problem-solving and sound decision-making skills, particularly during medical or behavioral emergencies.
-
Fulfills all obligations as a Mandatory Reporter of abuse, neglect, or exploitation, completing incident reports immediately as required by law and policy.
-
Establishes and maintains friendly, compassionate, respectful, and professional working relationships with individuals receiving services, family members, and support teams in a manner that reflects our organizational values.
-
Maintains strict compliance with all federal, state, and QLC policies and procedures.
-
Ensures physical safety by facilitating emergency and evacuation planning, regular practice drills, and real-time implementation. Must be able to safely evacuate clients during an active emergency.
-
Manages daily workloads effectively by completing data entry and tasks within required timelines and established guidelines.
-
Demonstrates the ability to perform multiple tasks effectively and efficiently by prioritizing workflows, meeting deadlines, taking pride in organizational efforts, and maintaining regular, reliable attendance.
This is a Non-Driver AND Non-Medication Certification position.
-
No Transfer/Promotion Clause: Employees in the DSP I classification are strictly prohibited from transferring, promoting, or cross-covering into a Direct Support Professional II (DSP II) position without first obtaining and verifying a valid Montana Driver’s License (with full QLC vehicle insurance insurability) AND an active State of Montana Medication Certification.
-
Operational Scope: A DSP I may not transport clients using agency vehicles under any circumstances and may not administer medications unless full delegation or formal certification requirements are legally met and authorized by administration.
-
Personal & General Health Care: Monitors and assists clients with daily personal tasks, including bathing, dressing, hygiene, toileting, behavioral, and medical needs. Promptly reports concerns or changes in skills, habits, behavior, or health to leadership or the assigned DSP II. Ensures general wellness needs are met, tracked, and documented.
-
Community Engagement & Social Networks: Plans and implements client activities such as celebrations, shopping, leisure, community engagement, or other recreational activities according to individual preferences, using alternative transportation methods (walking, public transit, or coordination with driving staff) while strictly adhering to agency requisition and permission processes.
-
Nutritional Support: Responsible for meeting the nutritional needs of people served, including maintaining adequate food inventory, organizing grocery lists, and preparing meals according to specialized, prescriptive menus and dietary protocols.
-
Environmental Upkeep: Completes routine housekeeping tasks—including vacuuming, washing dishes, laundry, and related chores—to maintain strict licensing and agency cleanliness standards.
-
Documentation: Completes daily logs, Individual Notes (ID Notes), objective data tracking, training objectives, incident reports, and other necessary paperwork within required shift timelines.
-
Facilities Care: Reports facility maintenance issues via the appropriate work order system immediately for follow-up and correction to ensure continuous compliance with licensing standards.
-
Program Planning: Participates in the completion of client assessments, long-range goal planning, training program formats, pretests/baselines, task analysis, and Personal Support Plan (PSP) preparation, ensuring accurate data tracking throughout.
-
Professional Development: Attends all scheduled staff meetings, shift handoffs, and mandatory professional training sessions.
-
Operational Flexibility: This position may require overtime as directed by business and staffing needs, compensated at a rate of time and a half for hours worked past 40 in a workweek.
-
Continuous Vigilance: Maintains wide-awake alertness throughout the entirety of the night shift to guarantee the continuous safety, behavioral monitoring, and security of all individuals in the home. Sleeping on shift is strictly prohibited.
-
Bed Checks & Safety Monitoring: Conducts regular, routine bed checks and visual safety monitoring at designated intervals throughout the night to ensure individuals are secure, resting safely, and free from distress or medical issues.
-
Nocturnal Plan of Care Implementation: Directly executes scheduled and unscheduled night-shift requirements dictated by each individual's Personal Support Plan (PSP) or Plan of Care. This includes proactively or responsively assisting individuals to the bathroom for toileting, supporting regular skin-integrity turning schedules, or assisting with overnight mobility needs.
-
Next-Day Meal & Lunch Preparation: Coordinates and executes essential food prep operations for the upcoming calendar day. This includes unpacking and packing individual client lunches, safely thawing designated frozen foods for the next day's dinner according to health standards, and cooking or fixing early breakfast items prior to morning shift handoff.
-
Overnight Environmental Upkeep: Maximizes nighttime hours by completing large-scale household cleanliness operations, including running, folding, and putting away multiple loads of house and client laundry, deep-cleaning shared spaces, vacuuming, and sanitizing kitchen/bathroom facilities to meet licensing requirements.
-
Performs other duties as assigned by leadership.
-
Ability to professionally respond to common inquiries or complaints from consumers, regulatory agencies, family members, or members of the local business community.
-
Ability to effectively, transparently, and respectfully share information with supervisors, co-workers, parents, guardians, relatives, and any other external partners invested in the well-being of the people we serve.
-
Models superior professional courtesy and language across all communication channels—including active listening, verbal exchanges, written documentation, and body language—while conducting agency business.
-
Must strictly understand, respect, and follow the established organizational chain of command.
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
-
Must be capable of managing and thwarting physical aggression directed toward self or others, using graduated guidance and/or emergency physical restraint according to agency-trained, approved techniques.
-
Must be capable of providing direct physical assistance to physically involved individuals (e.g., propelling manual wheelchairs, executing safe transfers from wheelchairs to couches, chairs, beds, vehicles, toilets, etc.).
-
Frequent exposure to communicable diseases, offensive odors, bloodborne pathogens, and behavioral incidents is highly likely in this environment.
-
Regular exposure to aggressive or unpredictable client behavior is a known factor of this role.
-
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to:
-
a. Use hands and fingers to handle, feel, manipulate objects, or type; reach with hands and arms; speak clearly and hear effectively.
-
b. Stand, balance, walk, sit, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl, climb stairs, and maintain standard olfactory acuity (smell).
-
c. Frequently exert up to 10 pounds of force, and regularly lift, carry, push, pull, or move up to 50 pounds independently.
-
d. Read, write, type, and accurately view a digital computer terminal screen.
Quality Life Concepts assures that protected health information is secure and confidential in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and HITECH standards. To assure this, employees are granted access to protected health information (PHI) only to the minimum extent required to perform the essential duties of their position. Employees are expected to maintain strict compliance with all agency, state, and federal confidentiality regulations.
HS diploma/GED required
Must pass a criminal background check
valid driver's license with an insurable driving record
Computer skills
Able to push, pull, bend, stoop, reach, and lift up to 50 pounds
Must be able to work weekends
