Rehabilitation Counseling

What It Is

Rehabilitation counselors assist people with physical, mental, developmental, cognitive, and emotional disabilities to achieve their personal, career and independent living goals in the most integrated setting possible. They engage in a counseling process with those they assist, which includes communication, goal setting, and beneficial growth or change through self-advocacy, psychological, vocational, social and behavioral interventions. Rehabilitation counselors utilize many different techniques and modalities, including assessment, diagnosis and treatment planning, counseling, case management, and advocacy to modify environmental and attitudinal barriers, placement-related services, and utilization of rehabilitation technology.

Rehabilitation counseling is distinguished from other helping professions by several key factors:

Specialized Training that Focuses on:

  • developing counseling abilities at the student level
  • understanding various disabilities and disabling conditions
  • assisting individuals with disabilities
  • assessing and intervening to facilitate a return to work

Philosophy and Approach to Counseling that:

  • strongly promotes the dignity and worth of all people
  • values the rights of individuals with disabilities to live independent, integrated lives
  • considers advocacy to be an essential part of the job
  • strongly commits to the concepts of holistic counseling, full inclusion, and empowerment
  • engages in a co-collaboration between counselor and client

Areas of Specialty

Specialized areas within rehabilitation counseling include, but are not limited to:

  • Academia/Education
  • Corrections
  • Employee Assistance Programming
  • Job Development/Job Placement
  • Life Care Planning
  • Marriage & Family Counseling
  • Mental Health Counseling
  • Organizational Consulting
  • Return-To-Work Coordination
  • School, Education, and Career Counseling
  • Substance Abuse Counseling
  • Veterans
  • Vocational Evaluation
  • Vocational Experts
  • Vocational Rehabilitation
  • Workers’ Compensation