What Does A Certified Rehabilitation Counselor Do?

Regardless of the type of disability they may have, disabled individuals may often feel isolated from the rest of the world. They also have to deal with a lot of uncertainty that many able-bodied people can’t comprehend.

Thankfully, a certified rehabilitation counselor can help this segment of the population find a meaningful place in society, helping them overcome the barriers of their physical limitations and drastically increasing their quality of life.

But what is rehabilitation counseling and how exactly does a certified rehabilitation counselor help disabled individuals become more independent?

What Is Rehabilitation Counseling?

In simple terms, rehabilitation counseling is a profession that assesses the needs of individuals with different kinds of disabilities. The process doesn’t end with an assessment, as a certified rehabilitation counselor also provides services that meet the needs of disabled persons and assists them in achieving more independent lives.

Some of these services may include: 

1. Treatment planning

2. Mental health counseling

3. Job-placement services 

4. Vocational guidance

5. Consultations regarding assistive technologies

6. Career counseling

7. Service coordination

8. Life care planning

9. Case management

10. Housing accommodations

11. Community life

Depending on the extent of the disabilities, the entire process may last as short as a week and up to a month, but in some cases, rehabilitation counseling may be required for several years.

Who Are Rehabilitation Counselors?

Due to the comprehensive nature of this service, a certified rehabilitation counselor must possess a wide scope of knowledge. Typically, this entails a background in counseling, both theory and technique. On top of that, they have to be familiar with the medical and psychosocial aspects of different disabilities, case management and planning, assistive technology, and vocational counseling and training.

Rehabilitation counselors often work in hospitals, as well as different kinds of nonprofit or federal agencies. They can also offer their services in correctional facilities, private practices, halfway houses, and vocational rehabilitation agencies.

To become a certified rehabilitation counselor, a person must have a master’s degree in counseling. The classes required cover different psychology courses and experiences in a clinical setting. 

Most states require a license. Depending on the work setting and specialty, a counselor may need to fill in additional requirements such as national certification.

The Process Of Rehabilitation Counseling

The path toward becoming self-reliant for disabled individuals is pretty complex. As such, the process that includes a certified rehabilitation counselor involves multiple distinct steps:

1. Consultations

A certified rehabilitation counselor will interview the disabled person and their family, evaluate all relevant psychometric test results, and analyze medical and school reports.

The counselor can also interview their patient’s physicians, psychologists, and other therapists who worked with the patient and might work with them in the future. If needed, the counselor can refer the patient to other healthcare providers. 

The main goal behind these interviews is to accurately assess the capabilities of the disabled person in order to develop an appropriate rehabilitation program. 

Counseling can take place in different settings, from inpatient care to other clinical settings. 

2. Establishing goals

After the initial assessment, the certified rehabilitation counselor and the other parties involved will have a good understanding of the patient’s disability and their limitations. At this point, it’s possible to establish clear goals for rehabilitation counseling.

These goals can be physical, such as training to use the stairs or finding accessible routes to public places like grocery stores, doctor’s offices, etc.

Additionally, this might involve helping the disabled person find employment and learning how to manage the physical requirements of the job, as well as helping the person live independently in their own home.

This process may include the implementation of adaptive technologies such as electric wheelchairs, telecommunication devices, prosthetic limbs, or tactile maps for visually impaired individuals.

The goals can also be of social kind, aimed at helping disabled individuals establish friendships and valuable social circles outside of their close family. Furthermore, there are psychological goals with the aim to help the patient regain some of their problem-solving abilities, return to activities they enjoy, and even overcome emotional issues that stem from their disability.

The counselor can determine if any interventions are necessary to successfully overcome social and physical limitations while the patient is trying to reintegrate into society. If by chance the nature of the ailments changes, the counselor can help reassess the situation and establish a brand new set of goals.

Ultimately, this process will minimize impediments while maximizing opportunities for a greater quality of life. 

3. Advocacy and case management

If required, the rehabilitation counselor can advocate for their patient in the community by recognizing anything that hinders the disabled individual from being independent. 

For instance, these obstacles could be environmental limitations such as a staircase in the home of the disabled person, or they could be attitudinal, such as a landlord who doesn’t want to rent an apartment to someone with a disability.

The counselor then has to educate the community that surrounds the disabled person, such as their family, employers, neighbors, and the likes. If a disability is particularly serious, the counselor can accompany the patient during their daily activities until they are equipped enough to do them independently.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is.

For example, a visually impaired individual will have a hard time living alone and completing their daily tasks. The job of the counselor, in this case, could be to educate any people involved like local bus drivers about their client's impediment and their needs.

This extends to employers, or in the case of younger individuals, teachers and professors. These parties need to be made aware of the needs of someone with a disability or a serious behavioral condition.

Since many patients also require living assistance from the government or a nonprofit agency, the counselor may advocate for their client to connect the organizations with the disabled individual.

Lastly, the counselor may also offer case management services. This involves the coordination of all the services required to increase the life quality of the disabled person. For instance, the counselor is there to ensure that the patient can become organized, keep appointments, and complete any paperwork required for different social services.

Empowering Those With Disabilities

While it doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people, disabled individuals are often invisible in society. This is why rehabilitation counseling is so important as it empowers people with disabilities to go out into the world and make a difference.

This goal is only possible with assistance from a certified rehabilitation counselor who can equip patients with resources they can use to become self-sufficient.