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PSRS All-Stars

These PSRS employees have been selected for their excellent work, dedication to our clients and families, as well as their strong advocacy for client rights, protections and quality supports. PSRS thanks these staff for the amazing impact they make every day.


ANCOR 2021 DSP of the Year & Outstanding DSP 2020

Congratulations to Adam Sterritt, ANCOR 2021 DSP of the Year & Outstanding Direct Support Professional 2020 Award Winner

Adam is the proud recipient of two big awards!  PSRS thanks Adam for his dedication to making a positive impact in the lives of people with disabilities.  We are honored to have him as part of our team, and as a role model for other direct support professionals and managers.

ANCOR 2021 DSP of the Year

Adam was chosen to receive this award out of all nominees in the entire state of Washington!  He was nominated specifically for his support of a young man who preferred to stay home and play video games all day. Through his creativity and perseverance, Adam was able to get him out of the house and active in the community. Read more below and here, on the official ANCOR awards page (flip to page 72).

Outstanding Direct Support Professional 2020

The Community Residential Services Association (CRSA) accepts nominations from supported living agencies across the state each year for support professionals who have demonstrated skill, professionalism, creativity, and have made a positive impact in the lives of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. PSRS is proud to announce that John 'Adam' Sterritt is the recipient of CRSA's Outstanding Direct Support Professional Award this year!  

Adam has been an amazing DSP throughout his 2.5 year career at PSRS. He actively immersed himself in his role as a Community Support Specialist (CSS), getting to know the individual he was supporting and finding new ways to better integrate needed supports.  Reminders to shower, clean up after himself, and effectively manage money was part of the daily experience.  Adam would encourage this person to accomplish tasks that needed to be done each day and set aside the “fun” activities as a bonus after other less preferred tasks were done.  When the individual wanted to spend the day playing video games and shopping for more video games, Adam was successfully able to provide alternative things to do out in the community and at home.

Adam became integral in developing new staff to work with and support this individual.  The newer staff were able to better understand the needs this person has and, therefore, were able to mitigate concerns before they happened.

PSRS asked Adam to support another person who had some interesting challenges and of course he accepted. Adam has shown that he is willing and capable of managing various situations that come up in this person’s life.  He has provided education and communication during these challenging times trying mitigate exposure to the coronavirus.  Although this individual did not want to wear his mask when out in public, Adam was able to model and explain the importance of doing so.  Wearing a mask is now readily accepted.  Additionally, Adam has been a huge help in teaching the individual he supports how to use Zoom so he can communicate with his job coach, family, and friends.

As Adam's managers have stated, he is the definition of professionalism.


Emerging Leader Nominee 2020

Congratulations to Ashely Allen, Emerging Leader Award Nominee 2020

The Community Residential Services Association (CRSA) accepts nominations from supported living agencies across the state each year for support professionals who have demonstrated critical judgment, initiative, competence with ever-increasing levels of responsibility, who seek out opportunities for learning and growth, and effectively advocacy for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. PSRS is proud to announce Ashely Allen as PSRS's nominee for CRSA's Emerging Leader Award this year!  

Ashley Allen has consistently demonstrated dedication to those she supports since her first few days on the job as a Community Support Specialist (CSS).  Throughout her first three years with PSRS, she constantly organized medical appointments, shopping trips, outings, and visits with family and friends. In addition, she focused on teaching and encouraging those she supported to stay organized, manage their home, and assisted with communication and relationship building between the individuals who lived there.  

Another challenge Ashley embraced was supporting and advocating for an individual who expressed desire to transition their gender.  As this was a new direction in this person’s life, Ashley was a strong advocate for supporting her to reach out to various community supports and to help find resources to assist them to be more comfortable with this life change.  They made appointments to talk with community advocates, medical professionals, counselors, and the PSRS Administrative team. 

In July of 2018, Ashley became the Site Leader in the home where she worked - she accepted additional responsibilities to ensure staff became familiar with support plans, medical needs, social needs, and other idiosyncrasies within the household.  She is a natural leader, however, managing her co-workers created a new challenge for Ashley. As a Site Leader, she found that being a role model for other staff allowed her to teach while supporting the residents.

Soon after accepting her position as a Site Leader, Ashley set her sights on becoming a Program Coordinator (PC). After pondering this for many months, a PC role became available and she applied.  In February of 2020, Ashley was promoted to PC position.  Little did she know, at the beginning phases of the pandemic that we all are living with, the role of a PC would become even more challenging than in years past.  She took on this challenge with vigor - as new procedures and practices were developed internally at PSRS to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus, Ashley helps ensure her clients maintain needed medical supports and taught them how to use virtual tools/apps to communicate with their friends, family, and healthcare providers.  Ashley ensures her staff team is trained and knowledgeable about coronavirus and manages daily health checks and reports.

Ashley has developed and grown her skills and knowledge throughout her five years of service with PSRS.  Her commitment to individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is deeply ingrained - she shows this each day through her advocacy and support.  We are lucky to have Ashley as part of our team - her ongoing leadership and influence within PSRS continues to grow and shine.


CRSA’s DSP = PSRS H-A-P-P-Y

Venetia Moore who received the CRSA Award in 2017

Congratulations to Venetia Moore, recipient of the 2017 Community Residential Services Association (CRSA) Outstanding Direct Support Professional Award!  PSRS is proud to recognize Venetia’s amazing career of commitment and dedication to enhancing the lives of people with disabilities in the community.

PSRS has been privileged to have Venetia on our team, providing direct support to individuals for over 22 years.  She has been working in community based services for over 34 years, devoting a large part of her life to ensuring people who experience developmental/intellectual disabilities have opportunities, inclusion, independence, and quality supports to ensure their health and safety.

Venetia is passionate about the work she does; she understands that it is about the people she supports and what they want for their lives.  Respectfully tenacious in her advocacy, she always has one objective – to make sure all individuals supported by PSRS are getting the opportunities, experiences, skills development, and care they need and deserve.

Venetia has worked with many individuals over the years – those who require consistent behavioral supports, have intense medical/mental health needs, as well as people with communication barriers and unique challenges in the community.  She currently works with one young man who, with her support, is really overcoming obstacles.  While Venetia knows sign language, she had to learn his specialized vocabulary to successfully communicate with him, and help him do so with others.  A stabilizing force within his life, his successes can be attributed to her unwavering commitment and patience.

Venetia is a role model for supported living, and for how we would like to see all people with disabilities treated in our communities.  She truly represents PSRS values – we are very fortunate to have her on our team!     


PSRS Hero

Debbie Dillard smiling standing with a woman she regularly supports (also smiling)

PSRS is proud to announce that Debbie Dillard was selected as the 2016 Washington State Direct Support Professional (DSP) of the year! Out of many candidates being considered, both the Community Residential Services Association (CRSA) and the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) selected Debbie for this award to recognize her great work and contributions to ID/DD individuals. Debbie makes a huge difference for our clients every day and is an amazing advocate for all of the clients and families she supports. Congratulations Debbie – you deserve it! THANK YOU!

Visit the ANCOR website to read about Debbie’s nomination.