Background

The program is designed for students who want to work with individuals with physical, mental, or emotional limitations, whether congenital or acquired. A major goal of the program is to develop each student as a counselor and coordinator of rehabilitation services. The program prepares counselors to work in a variety of human service settings, including state and federal rehabilitation agencies, community-based rehabilitation programs, mental health centers, correctional facilities and programs, alcohol and drug programs, independent living centers, employee assistance programs, proprietary (private) rehabilitation programs, educational settings, halfway houses, group homes, and other human service programs serving individuals with various adjustment problems, disorders, and disabling conditions.

Professional Identity
The demand for comprehensive rehabilitation services is rapidly growing as new treatment approaches, vocational programs, and various specialized services are identified. Economic factors such as unemployment and high technology are creating problems necessitating more highly skilled professionals to help persons with physical, behavioral, and mental limitations deal with these challenges. The changing roles and demands of the professional rehabilitation counselor are creating many new job opportunities in a variety of settings. Historically, rehabilitation counselors primarily served working age adults. Today, the need for rehabilitation counseling services extends to children and the elderly. Rehabilitation counselors may also provide general and specialized counseling to the non-disabled population in public human service programs and in private practice settings.

Rehabilitation counselors assist individuals to move from a position of psychological and economic dependence to one of independence. The concept that "it's ability, not disability, that counts" is fully supported by the rehabilitation counseling profession. The rehabilitation counselor is the primary professional who manages components important in the rehabilitation process and helps prevent fragmentation and gaps in services. The key functions of a rehabilitation counselor are to assist the person with a disability to attain (l) self-sufficiency and (2) economic and life adjustment. In our society, the opportunity and ability to work usually leads to some measure of success and independence. The ESU rehabilitation counseling program therefore requires course work in the areas of vocational/career counseling, psychological adjustment, and understanding the value of employment as it relates to personal work satisfaction and adjustment and the significance of the ability to be independent.

Philosophy
The foundation of the rehabilitation counseling profession is firmly grounded in specific values and beliefs. Basic philosophical underpinnings of the rehabilitation counseling profession include the concepts of a holistic perspective about the limitations people experience, rehabilitation potential and capacity, wellness, opportunity for self-responsibility and decision making, uniqueness, equal opportunity for health care and economic involvement (success and employment).

To help a person with a disability, the rehabilitation counselor draws on knowledge from several fields - counseling, psychology, medicine, psychiatry, sociology, social work, education, law, and the world of work. The rehabilitation counselor works with the professionals from these areas marshaling for the person with a disability the internal or external resources required for rehabilitation success. Although other human services and health care providers may serve people with disabilities, it is rehabilitation counselors who are uniquely qualified to provide vocational and psychological counseling to people with disabilities and their families.

Mission / Objectives
The overall mission of the rehabilitation counseling program is to provide a comprehensive educational program to facilitate the development of competent, professionally qualified certified rehabilitation counselors (CRC’s) to meet the needs of individuals who experience the limitations of disability. Graduates should be able to effectively provide and coordinate all aspects of the rehabilitation process, including: assessment; individual, group, family, and vocational/career counseling, job development and placement; case management; medical services; vocational and educational training; follow-up services; and other rehabilitation services that will help a person with a disability become more fully functioning and/or independent.

The main goals of rehabilitation counseling are 1) to assist individuals to attain or regain employment and independence, and 2) to minimize negative societal attitudes and the limitations imposed by a disability so that an individual can exercise self-determination and obtain full inclusion and integration in American society. The Emporia State Rehabilitation Counseling Program therefore requires course work in vocational/career counseling and psychological implications as they relate to employment and adjustment.

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