GOALS AND DUTIES
Rehabilitation counselors assist the disabled in becoming employed or leading fuller lives. The goals and duties can be classified into these eight categories:
- Interviewing clients, administering tests, and determining a plan of services to provide
- Identifying suitable occupations for the client
- Providing vocational counseling—identifying suitable occupations and assisting clients in adjusting to their disabilities
- Job placement
- Case management
- Coordination of vocational, medical, psychological services
- Provision of financial maintenance
- Professional development
Individual counselors may specialize on a single facet of the occupation, such as cultivating good relations with potential employers, or on a single disability.
Rehabilitation services are provided by state agencies to the deaf, blind, mobility impaired, emotionally disabled, and mentally retarded. Government programs also provide rehabilitation counseling for recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, and prisoners. Recipients of worker's compensation also qualify for rehabilitation services in many states. Typically, these services are provided by private companies or private practitioners who are paid by insurance companies.
A counselor's caseload can range from 20 to 150 clients; some cases can be closed in three months or less, but more than 40% take more than a year to resolve. Clients may be referred to the counselor by hospitals, doctors, educational institutions, insurance companies, and worker's compensation boards.
Duties of counselors differ somewhat depending on whether they work for a government agency or a private firm. For example, more than 40% of the clients of rehabilitation counselors are mentally ill or retarded; generally, however, only counselors with state agencies are likely to have clients with these conditions. The 20% or so of clients suffering from impaired use of a limb or amputation, however, are more likely to receive counseling through an insurance or worker's compensation program. Counselors in public agencies often deal with more severe handicaps and disabilities and have larger case loads. They must also seek remedies for barriers to employment of the handicapped and disabled such as inaccessibility to wheelchairs.
EMPLOYMENT AND OUTLOOK
The job outlook for rehabilitation counselors is good. It is projected to grow 13% from 2016 to 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, US). An increase in the elderly population, including veterans and people with disabilities makes the demand higher for these counselors. The need to replace workers also keeps job prospects good.
Counselors employed by the state work in agencies for the handicapped or disabled, mental health institutions, hospitals, schools, and penal institutions. About half the counselors work in the private sector. Private firms vary widely in size, ranging from one-person operations to companies that employ sixty or more full-time counselors. Overall, this occupation has recently been growing at a rapid rate, almost all of it in the private sector. This private-sector growth is expected to continue, along with slight growth in state agencies in some regions. Many counselors might begin their careers in the public sector and move to private practice.
Employment growth in private companies depends on state laws. Typically, when a state first makes rehabilitation a mandatory part of its worker's compensation laws, employment of rehabilitation counselors in private companies grows very rapidly.
This occupation has a surprisingly high turnover rate, especially considering the extensive education required. Much of the turnover, according to several people in the field, results from the ability of counselors to move to more attractive positions with other agencies or to become administrators.
SALARY, BENEFITS, WORKING CONDITIONS
The median wage for rehabilitation counselors was $34,860 in 2017—with the lowest ten percent earning less than $22,040 and the highest ten percent earning more than $62,780
Here are the median salaries according to top industries:
- Government (state)- $48,380
- Individual/family services- $33,510
- Nursing/residential care facilities- $30,800
- Community/vocational rehabilitation services: $30,350
* statistics taken from Bureau of Labor Statistics, US.
Beginning salaries in state agencies averaged less than in the private sector.
Fringe benefits enjoyed by counselors depend on their employer. Counselors with state agencies and most private companies enjoy the usual benefits, such as paid vacations, health insurance, and pension plans. Private agencies may also provide an automobile for counselors.
Rehabilitation counselors perform most of their duties in regular offices. They must also visit employers, however, both to arrange placements and to follow up on the placement of clients.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS AND CAREER LADDER
States show some variety in hiring requirements. Most agencies require either a bachelor's degree and two years of experience or a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and no experience. Some state agencies hire inexperienced holders of bachelor's degrees, while other agencies require that even master's degree holders have work experience.
Private companies have the same hiring standards as state agencies, which is to say that holders of a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling are preferred but that other people are also sometimes hired. Increasingly, however, employers seek certified counselors, and a master's degree as a prerequisite.
A degree in rehabilitation counseling includes courses on the principles of rehabilitation, the psychosocial effects of disability, counseling techniques, and assessment.
Advancement for counselors is usually a matter of promotion within the same agency or company. In fact, most state agencies do not hire above the entry level, preferring to promote from within. Some hiring at the mid-level does take place among private companies. Advancement may mean increased specialization in a particular aspect of rehabilitation, concentration on a particular form of disability, or increased administrative duties.
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