Your President

 My name is Don Carrick and I work for Nodaway County Services in Maryville, Missouri as a Team Coordinator. I've been in the human services field for seven years and worked direct support, both part-time and full-time, for the first four. Although I now spend alot of time in the office, it's policy at our agency that all administrative staff do some direct support. In many cases, I'm still working with people I started with seven years ago.

In 1997, I was a founding member of Direct Support Professionals of Missouri (DSPM). We work towards the betterment of the people being supported, through their direct support staff. Our primary role is as a communication base and advocacy force for direct support in the state of Missouri. If you'd like to find out more about our group, please check out our website here.

DSPM is a state affiliate for the National Alliance of Direct Support Professionals (NADSP). We've assisted in the creation of a national Code of Ethics for direct support, along with advocating for direct support on a national level. Please check out their website here.

I'm honored to be the first President of the Direct Support Professionals Division of AAMR. We have, roughly, 1200 members, making us one of the largest divisions in the organization. I would like to see us steer the organization in the right direction on matters concerning direct support, but I cannot do it alone! I need you're help to make this a great division. Please contact me with ideas, questions, concerns, comments and even complaints. I want to know what you need, and what we can do, to make things better for direct support everywhere. Use the information below to contact me and thank you for your time. We can only do this together.

Divisions | Special Interest Groups | Regions & Chapters | Committees | Back to AAIDD Homepage

Copyright ©2008. AAIDD. All rights reserved worldwide.