Congratulations to Sarabeth Lawrence, Continuum of Colorado’s Direct Support Professional (DSP) of the year! Sarabeth has been an Activity Services Facilitator with Continuum for 3 years and was recently promoted to Day Activities Lead. Sarabeth was named this year’s winner at our Annual DSP Recognition Banquet last Thursday.
Here is Sarabeth’s winning nomination: Sarabeth has made a huge impact on the lives of people that attend our Day Activities Programs. It is almost as if the pandemic was the catalyst Sarabeth needed to highlight her amazing talents in her role as an Activity Services Facilitator (recently promoted to lead for her dedication and leadership skills as well). Her creativity in providing out-of-the-box thinking and person-centered activities is beyond amazing. While many were struggling to come up with ideas for switching gears from in-person activities to virtual, Sarabeth was already preparing sing-a-longs, puppet shows, and creating Continuum’s first-ever cookbook.
Sarabeth shared her puppeteering skills with our individuals during virtual activities. She started with doing a few puppet shows over Zoom which were a huge hit for all participants. She created her own puppets to make the show more diverse and quickly created a show to incorporate the individuals in creating a puppet theater. They individualized the theater by choosing the colors, the fabrics to be used, etc. Sarabeth then constructed the theater out of an old cabinet she found at a thrift store. She created the theater according to the individuals’ specifications. She now does a weekly puppet show that focuses on learning skills like community safety, socialization, and healthy eating. Which leads us to the cookbook she and the individuals created! Sarabeth, with much collaboration, input, and favorite recipes from the individuals put together Continuum of Colorado’s very first Day Program Quarantine Cookbook. There are well over 50 pages of simple recipes to chase away those Quarantine blues!
Don’t let her expertise and creativity with virtual activities fool you! Now that we are not under lockdown, you will often find Sarabeth taking a group of ladies into the community every day. She has developed a book club where they go to different little libraries throughout the community to read and discuss various books. There are so many examples it is hard to pick just a few!
For your person-centered activities and peer leadership, you are our Top DSP of the Year 2021! Congratulations, Sarabeth!