Rehabilitation Services

Have you ever wondered what services career counselors can offer individuals with disabilities? Are there programs that are tailored for clients who have severe, long-term, physical or mental conditions that limit their functioning day-to-day activities? Brown (2012) emphasizes the importance of understanding what it means to be disabled, since it is a word that is often misused and misunderstood. By understanding that being disabled is having any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in a manner considered normal for a human being, can help with the exploration of fields that counseling can be implemented in. Before reading up on Brown, I used to think that being disabled only included people who were mentally retarded or had a terminal genetic disorder such cystic fibrosis, or down syndrome. This chapter really helped open up my narrow minded view point on people who are mentally disabled, which could viewed as ignorant to an idiographic perspective needed in counseling.

Rehabilitation counseling services are not limited to the idea of attaining employ-ability in the workforce for people who are unlikely to join the workforce because of psychological or health issues. It also includes finding out what services individuals that are geared toward self-esteem, and self-satisfaction without certainty of ever reaching employ-ability. According to Patterson (2008), the future of rehabilitation counseling services is a bright one, despite its high need for marketability and low awareness in American society. There are a lot of job opportunities that are coming out rehabilitation counseling services, which are within federally funded programs providing government jobs. Rehabilitation counseling can be one of the most difficult fields but also the most rewarding ones when it comes to helping professions. Outside of job security, and job availability in helping professions like counseling, I have chosen this field because of my desire to help those who need an uplift in self-esteem, self-satisfaction, that struggle with mental illness.

            Switching gears and looking at last week’s class assignment on multi-culuralism, I was able to learn a lot about understanding the values and counseling techniques when seeing clients who are apart of ethnic minority groups. Having an etic perspective, by taking account of one’s cultural differences in verbal styles, and generalized values seem to be helpful in building rapport, establishing a safe ‘holding’ environment within the career counseling process. I myself, being part of an ethnic minority group as an African American, learned that my verbal communication style should be taken into account and not disregarded because of someone’s lack of exposure or ignorance. 

Brown, D. (2012). Career information, career counseling, and career development (10^th ed.) New York: Pearson Education, Inc. ISBN: 978-0132821391

Patterson, J. B. (2008). Professional identity and the future of rehabilitation counseling. Journal Of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 39(4), 60-63.