A Recommendation from a Colleague Prompts an Inspired Career Change
After 14 years as an intensive needs paraeducator at a public school, Kim Thibodeau was ready for a change. A fellow paraprofessional who left the school for a job at Cravings “raved about it.” Kim figured the evolution from education to human services and from teaching children to working with adults would be a natural one. “Everyone needs consistency, guidance, friendship and support,” she explained.
Kim left a secure job in the classroom to take a relief position not even knowing if she would be hired permanently. She was drawn by the warm welcome she received from staff in her interview including a conversation with Program Manager Dawn Lemay-Dube who initially hired her to work in the kitchen. But what really sealed the deal was meeting the individuals who, she said, “played a huge part in my decision.”
Recently, Kim made what Dawn describes as “a seamless transition” to a DSP position where she works with Senior Artisan Renee Brunelle in the art studio and takes individuals into the community. They attend a social hour and All Abilities Club at the local library, have coffee with friends, visit the Humane Society and pet stores, and learn how to do personal banking, shop with self-checkout, pump gas for the Cravings van and clean, shred paper and care for plants at the Nashua office.
Activities like these are just part of Kim’s “day job.” On her own time, she has taken her “new friends” out to movies, dinner, shopping, basketball games, and other outings. Kim has attended Special Olympics tournaments and provided transportation when individuals or their family members were in a bind—all, Dawn notes, without “expecting praise or rewards.”
Whenever Kim plans a project, she customizes it based on the personal preferences of individuals, plans a group activity they can enjoy together and reports about it to families on the Cravings’ Facebook page.
“Kim takes their personal interests into account, and gives them opportunities they would not get otherwise,” Dawn says. “She sincerely loves our individuals and believes they deserve the best!”
In just her first six months, Kim has become an integral part of the Cravings staff. She has surprised Dawn and her co-workers with gift baskets filled with little items with each person in mind “just because” and will run errands with individuals that she turns into learning experiences.
“We are so fortunate to have her,” Dawn says. Talking with Kim, it’s clear that gratitude cuts both ways. She speaks of her new job as if she is the luckiest person in the world. And then, Kim wraps up the conversation so that she can get back to the individuals. “I have clients (friends),” she notes, “to hang out with.”