The first week of May marked National Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, we honored our incredible school and residential staff with special events each day, including yard games, a Kona ice truck, candy bar, and cupcake party.

Throughout the week, we featured interviews with staff members on our social media pages. Check out interview highlights below, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @guildhumanservices for full staff profiles:

The Guild for Human Services, which educates, encourages, and empowers individuals with intellectual disabilities, is premiering its documentary, The World Got Smaller: The Spirit of The Guild during COVID-19 on March 16th at 1 PM EST online. The short film provides a first-hand look at how the pandemic curtailed the community life of individuals with intellectual disabilities. The film is being released to commemorate the second anniversary of the State of Emergency declared in Massachusetts and the subsequent closing of schools.

Each Wednesday night last fall, a group of six Guild adult residents cleared out their schedules and logged onto Zoom at 5 p.m. sharp. They would spend the next hour in lively discussion talking about relationships with employers, family members, romantic partners, and themselves. The group was part of The Guild’s Healthy Relationships course, designed by Elevatus Training.

Leading up to the premiere of The World Got Smaller: The Spirit of The Guild During COVID-19, we'll be featuring students, residents, staff, and parents interviewed in the film on our blog. This week, we sat down with Nathalie Etame, Residential Manager of Sudbury House.

The language we use to describe ourselves and others has lasting implications. Language preferences are personal, especially as terminology evolves within the disability movement to accurately reflect individuals’ unique strengths and challenges. Recently, some have shifted away from the term ‘nonverbal’ in favor of ‘nonspeaking’ to describe individuals who use modalities other than speech to communicate.

This month, we’d like to congratulate Guild staff member Benji Menard on his recent promotion to Pine House Manager. Benji has been with The Guild for five years, having served as Overnight Residential Staff, Residential Assistant, and Assistant Residential Manager with Dogwood House, and most recently as the Lead Residential Assistant with the Woburn I adult house. We sat down with Benji to learn more about his journey with The Guild:  

Whether we’re in the middle of the action, hanging out on the sidelines, or watching from home with friends, sports foster community-building and a healthy sense of competition. The connection between sports and positive life outcomes has been well documented.

As part of Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, each day last week we highlighted a different DSP and asked them a series of questions. Read on to get to know two more members of our incredible DSP staff!:

Abenaa Kwabena, Residential Assistant - Framingham House

When did you start working at The Guild?

Meet our DSPs!

In honor of Direct Support Professional Recognition Week, we're featuring DSPs throughout the week so you can get to know The Guild’s incredible staff members! Read on to learn more about two of our outstanding DSPs:

Norman Rutinwa, Teaching Assistant

In April, four Guild staff shared their experiences as immigrants to the United States in Suitcase Stories: Voices of the Guild. One of those storytellers is Mustapha Abdulai, who currently works at The Guild as the Director of Adult Residential Services. We recently caught up with Mustapha to learn more about his background.