Submitted By: Jessica Haak | Valiant Living
Kaddie Dixon doesn’t look at anything as an insurmountable challenge, but looks at it in the sense of how can she make it happen. Kaddie works as a Direct Support Professional for Valiant Living in South Dakota, which is a non-profit organization committed to assisting people with developmental disabilities to share their talents, skills, and dreams with the entire community.
Through interviews using the Personal Outcome Measures® with one person she supports, Kaddie discovered that the person had a history of swimming and it was a highly favorable activity of his in the past. Despite this, he had not swam in a couple of years.
Once Kaddie learned that the person had this history and interest in swimming, she began working with the person on planning to make it happen. Based on this person-centered discovery, they explored the best time that would work for him to go swimming, while looking at the schedule for their local Community Center. Kaddie was then also able to obtain a free pass to the Community Center, which helped this person out financially as well. Kaddie supported him at the pool and it went wonderfully! He enjoyed swimming and shooting hoops.
He has been able to experience swimming once again, which has had a positive impact on his life. He even met a few people along the way, which is helping him to participate in the life of the community and interact with other members of the community.
Kaddie has not only impacted this person’s life, but impacted the lives of other people she supports. She constantly looks at creative ways to help make outcomes happen. Kaddie has been a highly dedicated staff and has a passion for supporting people to live out their best lives.
2018 Direct Support Professional Recognition Week
This article is part of a campaign during the 2018 Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, to acknowledge Direct Support Professionals who are helping people achieve their individually-defined outcomes, through the use of Personal Outcome Measures®. This campaign was developed through a partnership between CQL | The Council on Quality and Leadership and The National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP).
Kaddie Dixon: Diving Into Outcomes