Consultant Name: Kelli Schmidt
Company Name: Progressive Community Services, Inc.
Phone Number: 608-442-6005
Email: kellis@pcsdane.org
Work History
Job Title: IRIS Consultant
Care Responsibilities: As a Support Broker, I have been responsible for a part-time case load of 14 adults with a variety of developmental disabilities. My primary duties include facilitating regular multi-disciplinary team meetings, completing annual Community Integration Program paperwork to ensure funding to provide residential and vocational services to my clients in the community, as well as completing Long-Term Care Functional Screen assessments for the State of Wisconsin. The most critical component of my job has been to get to know my clients well in order to understand their wants and needs for their life, and to then help them progress towards and achieve those goals.
Educational Background
Name of Institution: UW-Madison
Major/Degree: Master’s Degree in Social Work
Credentials
Name of Certification/Accreditation: M.S.S.W
Certifying Agency: State of Wisconsin
Date Certification was Obtained: 5/2004
Specialties
I have been working with people with disabilities for the past twenty years. I have had a variety of roles, from respite care provider for families with children with disabilities, residential direct care staff, and later Program Director for an agency providing residential support to adults with disabilities living in the community. I have spent the past thirteen years working as a Support Broker in Dane County. Areas of expertise include work with frail elders, those with intellectual disabilities, autism/sensory disorders and blindness. I have training as an Abuse and Neglect Investigator as well as in the areas of Dementia/Alzheimer’s Disease and Grief and Loss.
County/Region I’m familiar with
Dane County
Languages or Communication Skills
English
I’m comfortable with pets in the home
Yes
More about me
My decision to work with people with developmental disabilities can be attributed to my mom, who worked for most of my childhood at a non-profit agency in Madison, Wisconsin that provides respite care to families with children who have disabilities. She helped me get my first job working with kids with disabilities, and I was hooked. I quickly learned to appreciate the uniqueness and special qualities of each person, regardless of disability, and realized at a young age that everyone deserves to live a full and complete life. As a Social Worker, I place importance on the strengths that each of my clients brings to the table, and use those strengths to help them realize their full potential.
In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my husband and two children. We love visiting our family cabin in northern Wisconsin, watching the Green Bay Packers and going for bike rides together. I also enjoy hiking, reading, sewing and making jewelry. My happy place is anywhere on the water, as long as I am in my kayak.