What Rehabilitation Counselors Do

Rehabilitation counselors help people with emotional and physical disabilities live independently. They work with clients to overcome personal, social, and professional effects of disabilities as they relate to employment or independent living.

Duties

Rehabilitation counselors typically do the following:

• Provide individual and group counseling to help clients adjust to their disability
• Evaluate clients’ abilities, interests, experience, skills, health, and education
• Develop a treatment plan in consultation with other professionals, such as doctors, mental health counselors, and psychologists
• Create treatment plans based on clients’ values, strengths, limitations, and goals
• Arrange for clients to get service, such as medical care or career training
• Help employers understand the needs and abilities of disabled people
• Assist clients in creating strategies to develop their strengths and overcome their limitations
• Locate resources, such as wheelchairs or computer programs, that help clients live and work more independently
• Monitor clients’ progress and adjust the treatment plan as necessary
• Advocate for the rights of people with disabilities to live in the community and work in the job of their choice

Rehabilitation counselors help people with physical, mental, emotional, or social disabilities at various stages in their lives. Some work with students to develop strategies to live with their disability and to move from school to work. Others help veterans cope with the mental or physical effects of their military service. Still others help elderly people adapt to disabilities developed later in life due to illness or injury. Because rehabilitation counselors deal with employment issues, they typically work with older students and adults rather than young children.

Some rehabilitation counselors work in private practice. These counselors must spend time marketing their practice to prospective clients and working with insurance companies and clients to get paid for their services.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition