Direct Support Professional (DSP) — Full Time

Direct Support Professional (DSP) — Full Time

Hope House | Liberty Hill, Texas | Nonprofit

$17.00/hour starting • Raises at 6 & 12 months • Shift differentials • Paid training

LOCATION MATTERS: Hope House has several homes in Liberty Hill, all within about six miles of one another. Use our central campus—1705 County Road 285, Liberty Hill, TX 78642—to check your commute before applying. This is fully on-site work.

You don't have to be a DSP yet.

Some of our best employees came to Hope House with no direct-care experience.

We can teach you the work. What is harder to teach is patience, curiosity, reliability, good judgment, and the willingness to really get to know another person.

The people who live at Hope House have significant intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some don't use words to communicate. Some need help with nearly every part of daily life.

Your job isn't simply to take care of them. Your job is to get to know them.

Learn what makes someone laugh. Learn how they tell you something is wrong. Learn the routines and relationships that matter to them. Help them do more of what brings them joy and live as fully as possible in their own home.

What does the job actually involve?

Most of the job is ordinary life—meals, routines, activities, laughter, outings, taking care of a home, and spending time together.

It also includes:

• Bathing, toileting, dressing, eating and mobility

• Medication and health-related routines

• Meal preparation and household responsibilities

• Learning how each person communicates

• Following individual support and safety plans

• Documentation

• Supporting people through difficult moments

Personal care is personal. We expect it to be provided respectfully and with dignity.

Some days can be hard.

Some residents sometimes express anger, frustration, fear or distress physically. That can include pushing, slapping, grabbing, or flailing arms and legs. Bumps and bruises can happen in this work.

Those moments matter, but they are not the whole person and they are not the whole job.

We expect you to stay calm, not take behavior personally, try to understand what the person may be communicating, follow their support plan, and ask for help when you need it.

We'll train you to do that.

Who does well here?

We're more interested in your temperament than your résumé.

You may be a good fit if you:

• Show up when people are counting on you

• Stay calm when things get difficult

• Pay attention before making assumptions

• Are comfortable providing personal care

• Ask questions when you don't know

• Accept coaching and keep learning

• Communicate directly and respectfully

• Enjoy ordinary moments with people

• Come back after a hard day ready to try again

Experience with intellectual disabilities or autism is welcome. It is not required.

Pay & Schedule

$17.00/hour starting pay

$17.50 after 6 months

$18.00 after 12 months

+$1/hour overnight differential

+$2/hour weekend differential

Differentials do not stack.

Full-time positions are available across all shifts:

6 AM–2 PM | 2 PM–10 PM | 10 PM–6 AM

Most full-time schedules include at least one weekend shift.

Why Hope House?

Hope House is a nonprofit. Our resources go back into our people, homes, staff and community—not into profit. For nearly 60 years, extraordinary community support has helped make unusually long commitments possible.

The first person welcomed to Hope House still lives here nearly 60 years later. Our current DSPs have been here an average of about nine years.

We maintain higher staff-to-resident ratios than many similar programs. We believe DSPs deserve good training, strong staffing, straight communication, support when things get difficult, and leaders who listen.

And there is room to grow. Three of our current House Managers advanced from new hire to House Manager within two years. We're expanding, and we'll need more leaders.

We're not asking you to promise us forever. But if this is the right fit, we'd like you to think in terms of at least two years—not just your next job.

Benefits

Eligible employees receive:

• Health, dental, vision and life insurance

• Health coverage beginning the first of the month following 60 days of employment

• Paid training

• PTO accruing immediately at 1.54 hours per paycheck—40 hours during your first year

• 80 hours of PTO during your second year

• 3% IRA match beginning after two years

Basic Requirements

• Reliable transportation to our Liberty Hill locations

• Required background and drug screening

• Ability to perform the essential physical duties of the job

• Must meet the age and education requirements for the home where assigned

Some positions require employees to be 21+ with a high school diploma or equivalent. Other positions are available beginning at 18, with applicable education or competency requirements.

If you're 18–20, don't assume you can't apply.

One more thing.

You come to Hope House because you're being paid to support someone else.

Spend enough time here, and you may discover that the relationship doesn't run in only one direction.

Someone who experiences the world very differently from you may make you laugh at something you've stopped noticing. They may teach you to slow down. You may begin to recognize joy in places you used to pass right by.

We can't promise that will happen.

But after nearly 60 years of Hope House, we've seen it happen a lot.

Interested?

We'd rather tell you the truth about the job now than surprise you after you're hired.

After you apply, we'll send you a short Job Reality Check covering the work, pay, commute, schedule, personal care and behavioral support.

It isn't a trick. It's a chance for you to look at the real job and decide whether you want to continue.

If you do, we'd like to meet you.