Rehabilitation counseling

Rehabilitation Counseling is focused on helping people who have disabilities achieve their personal, career, and independent living goals through a counseling process. Rehabilitation Counselors can be found in private practice, in rehabilitation facilities, hospitals, universities, schools, government agencies, insurance companies and other organizations where people are being treated for congenital or acquired disabilities. While most rehabilitation counselors focus on vocational services, in some states they qualify as both a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), enabling them to focus on psychotherapy. Over time, with the changes in social work being more psychotherapy-oriented, rehabilitation counselors take on more and more community engagement work, especially as it relates to special populations.

Historically, rehabilitation counselors primarily served working-age adults with disabilities. Today, the need for rehabilitation counseling services extends to persons of all age groups who have disabilities. Rehabilitation counselors also may provide general and specialized counseling to people with disabilities in public human service programs and private practice settings. Initially, rehabilitation professionals were recruited from a variety of human service disciplines, including public health nursing, social work, and school counseling. Although educational programs began to appear in the 1940s, it was not until the availability of federal funding for rehabilitation counseling programs in 1954 that the profession began to grow and establish its own identity.

The predominant need for rehabilitation counselors is within federal/state funded vocational rehabilitation programs. The Veteran's Administration has its own vocational rehabilitation program. Federal/State Vocational Rehabilitation Programs are funded and regulated by Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), a division of the U.S Department of Education. Although policies vary from state to state, rehabilitation counselors who work in the federal/state systems typically must hold a masters degree in rehabilitation counseling, special education or a related field. Counselors in the federal/state Vocational Rehabilitation programs are required to be certified or be eligible to sit for the certification examination. People accepting employment in the federal/state Vocational Rehabilitation programs do so with the agreement they will meet these qualifications by a specified date to maintain employment.