Walkable communities on the rise
July 15, 2024
FOND DU LAC – SSM Health is giving $10,000 to The Arc Fond du Lac – a human service organization empowering adults and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities to become independent and integrated into the community – to help introduce a 12-month health and wellness program for its more than 70 direct support professionals who help individuals with disabilities to participate in their communities, including employment.
Direct support professionals, The Arc Fond du Lac Executive Director Dawn Scannell said, care for those they are serving and their role can be emotionally taxing.
“They navigate the harsh realities people face living with disabilities, as well as the social stigmas surrounding them,” Scannell said. “They face the risk of having their own psychological well-being impacted.”
The wellness program will focus on burnout, compassion fatigue, personal finances, stress, time management, resilience, mental health, work-life balance and physical health.
Training classes will provide direct support professionals with resources for mental and physical health information, create monthly wellness challenges and hold quarterly wellness meetings to discuss progress and offer other support and encouragement.
The Arc Fond du Lac provides services to more than 250 individuals and families each year in Fond du Lac, Dodge and Winnebago counties.
Participants range in age from five years to end of life.
To learn more, visit arcfdl.org.
