Her Story
About Melissa
Melissa Montgomery serves as Program Manager for 8 waiver homes in Lafayette Indiana, where she manages supervisors and staff to ensure the smooth operation of facilities supporting individuals with varying levels of intellectual disabilities. She began her career 10 years ago as a part-time DSP and progressed to managing group homes, leveraging her work experience and INARF-accredited training to advance without a college degree, which she started but did not complete in a different field. Montgomery is also a former CASA volunteer who plans to return to that role. She emphasizes patience, understanding, and respect in her work, viewing the individuals she supports as family rather than just clients. Her notable personal journey includes overcoming mental health challenges that led her to this rewarding yet challenging field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Melissa
01What do you attribute your success to?
My drive, my work ethic, my ability to be able to understand the individuals on a more personalized basis. I don't look at this as just a job. These guys are my family. And that's the way it needs to be, because a lot of these individuals, their families will place them in a home and just pretty much forget about them.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
This field would be the most rewarding, but yet challenging field that you could go into. You do have to have the heart for caring for these individuals, and the ability to respect them and their home, and be able to walk away. You can't hold anything personal, because 2 seconds later, they're going to want to be your best friend, and you have to be that best friend.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The changes that the government wants to keep trying to make to Medicaid waivers. Making sure that with all of the changes in the government, our individuals are going to be able to continue receiving services.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Patience. The understanding. That's a big one, is just the patience and understanding from where they come from. And treat them as people just the same as what anybody else is. Everybody's different, and they're different in their own unique ways.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.