After working with ETC every weekday since 2007, Senior Day Support Professional Judith Benjamin might be expected to keep weekends for herself. Instead, since June, she has spent her Saturdays at venues such as Dave and Buster’s, Boston Bowl, Castle Island, and Honey Pot Hill Orchard.
Judith’s outings are part of an effort to help ETC trainees socialize and relax with each other after a long week, while treating their family members to respite, or a break from responsibilities as caregivers. ETC Program Manager Gina Shulimson heard of the need from the parent of an individual. “She was the first one to say, ‘I can’t be the entertainment for weekends all the time,’ Gina explained, “and I think all the parents feel that way.”
The idea for Saturday outings was inspired by this parent’s suggestions and enabled by funding from TILL’s Respite Innovation Grant. The only missing piece was a leader who knew the individuals, their interests and their families and who would be willing to extend their workweek to facilitate the activities. That’s where Judith stepped in.
Over her 17 years at ETC, Judith has held practically every role, from DSP to community service to fitness and dance guru, thanks to the ETC Fitness Studio and dance team she founded, which have become a mainstay for individuals and a focus of her “day job.” Judith gladly took on this weekend role, to the delight of the individuals at ETC. And it’s not just the participants who value the Saturday activities.
“I receive so many text messages from parents who come outside to say how thankful they are,” Judith says.
Gina, who describes the whole endeavor as “serendipitous,” credits a lot of its success to Judith. “I think she’s one of the best behavioral people I’ve seen,” Gina observes, “because she really knows how to talk to people and get them to do things without getting angry and just sort of hitting the right tone.”
She was particularly impressed with the way Judith managed to break through with an individual who was depressed for months after losing her mother and didn’t want to do anything. Judith asked this woman to make a list of friends who she might enjoy socializing with and another with activities she would like to try. Judith then invited everyone on the list and told her, “Guess what—I think you’re on for this Saturday.” Another Saturday, the woman asked Judith if she could add her name to the list for a bowling trip.
“It’s like a victory when the person says, ‘Oh yes, I did try and I had fun,’” Judith said.
Before TILL and ETC, Gina worked as an elementary school teacher but her success working with adult individuals just came naturally.
As a member of the professional development program TILL Edge, Judith has had the opportunity to learn the administrative side of programming from Gina, but like her mentor, Judith always wants to maintain a close connection to individuals. So, she literally shrugs off any suggestion that giving up her Saturdays is a sacrifice. In fact, Judith goes so far as to turn the tables.
“If they are giving their Saturdays,” she says of the individuals, “they need to be happy and have fun.”