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Rehabilitation Counseling Concentration
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Credits:
18
Concentration Description
Rehabilitation Counseling is an elective, clinical concentration for students who wish to pursue national certification as a rehabilitation counselor (CRC) and state licensure as a rehabilitation counselor (LRC). Coupled with the MEd in Mental Health Counseling, students simultaneously complete the academic requirements for Mental Health Counseling licensure.
Learning Outcomes
A focus on rehabilitation counseling helps practitioners to more comprehensively serve the mental health and vocational needs of individuals with cognitive, developmental, psychological, medical, intellectual and physical challenges seek employment, maintain employment or return to work. These individuals include veterans who face mental health and rehabilitation complications, and a host of other issues related to the interface of disabilities and mental health.
Careers
Graduates will be qualified to pursue national certification and state licensure as rehabilitation counselors, and for the more general licensure in mental health counseling, allowing for significant career flexibility.
Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification and Licensed Rehabilitation Counselor by the Mass. Board of Allied Mental Health and Human Services. Candidates must also pass an exam and have had 36 months of acceptable employment.
Rehabilitation counselors typically work in settings such as mental health agencies, the Veterans Administration, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, insurance companies dealing with disability, non-profit agencies, employee assistance programs, disability management firms and consulting agencies, among others.
Curriculum
Take CCP727 or 729; these courses are not applicable to School Adjustment Counseling students.
This course acquaints students with the process, history and philosophy of rehabilitation counseling. Class discussions will focus on the organizational structure of the rehabilitation system, the professional identity of the rehabilitation counselor, and legal and ethical issues in the practice of rehabilitation counseling and how it complements the area of mental health delivery of services. This course includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
This course provides an orientation to individual appraisal, standardized testing, and test and measurement principles found in psychological testing for mental health assessments, but expands and provides increased focus on vocational and career interest testing. It includes standard test areas such as achievement, aptitude, interest, personality, situational testing, behavioral observation, work samples and functional evaluations. This course will also address career alternatives for the rehabilitation counselor. This course includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
This course acquaints students with case and caseload management, delivery systems for public, private and nonprofit settings for individuals with cognitive, intellectual, medical, physical and psychiatric disabilities. This course will address laws and ethical standards that impact rehabilitation counseling and the range of community resources available to the counselor whose goal is the effective and comprehensive mental health recovery of individuals, including achieving maximum independence and employment. This course includes the fundamental occupational tasks of assessment, case presentation, case collaboration, team membership and client interaction.
This course provides an experiential approach to career development for mental health, school and rehabilitation counselors to support clients with and without disabilities across the lifespan in both individual and group settings. Orientation to key assessment instruments, online resources, labor market information, transferable skills analysis, job placement strategies and work-related supports will be made to support the career guidance process and to develop comprehensive plans of action for clients.
This course addresses the following Massachusetts State Standard for School Counseling: i. Career counseling.