Activities	Help people deal with the personal, social, and vocational effects of disabilities. They counsel people with disabilities resulting from birth defects, illness or disease, accidents, or the stress of daily life.
Outlook	Faster-than-average-job growth
Median Income	$32,350 per year in 2010
Work Context & Conditions	Usually have a private office and work a standard 40-hour week. May work evenings to counsel clients who work during the day. The job can be stressful.
Minimum Education Requirements	Master's Degree
Skills	Social Perceptiveness, Learning Strategies, Monitoring, Management of Personnel Resources, Management of Financial Resources, Critical Thinking, Instructing, Active Listening, Writing, Service Orientation, Time Management, Systems Evaluation, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Coordination, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Systems Analysis
Abilities	Oral Expression, Problem Sensitivity, Written Comprehension, Speech Clarity, Oral Comprehension, Flexibility of Closure

Job Category		Community & Social Services
Job Description		Rehabilitation counselors help people deal with the personal, social, and vocational effects of disabilities. They counsel people with disabilities resulting from birth defects, illness or disease, accidents, or the stress of daily life. They evaluate the strengths and limitations of individuals, provide personal and vocational counseling, and arrange for medical care, vocational training, and job placement. Rehabilitation counselors interview individuals with disabilities and their families, evaluate school and medical reports, and confer and plan with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and employers to determine the capabilities and skills of the individual. Conferring with the client, they develop a rehabilitation program, which often includes training to help the person develop job skills. They also work toward increasing the client's capacity to live independently.
Working Conditions		Persons interested in counseling should have a strong interest in helping others and the ability to inspire respect, trust, and confidence. They should be able to work independently or as part of a team. Counselors follow the code of ethics associated with their respective certifications and licenses. Rehabilitation counselors usually work a standard 40-hour week. Self-employed counselors and those working in mental health and community agencies, often work evenings to counsel clients who work during the day. Counselors must possess high physical and emotional energy to handle the array of problems they address. Dealing daily with these problems can cause stress. Because privacy is essential for confidential and frank discussions with clients, counselors usually have private offices.
Salary Range		The median annual wage of rehabilitation counselors was $32,350 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $20,770 and the top 10 percent earned more than $56,720. In May 2010, the median annual wages of rehabilitation counselors in the top employing industries were as follows: State government, excluding education and hospitals - $42,930 Local government, excluding education and hospitals - $38,790 Individual and family services - $30,310 Vocational rehabilitation services - $29,100 Nursing and residential care facilities - $28,110

Education Required		Most often, rehabilitation counselors must have a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling or a related field. Some positions require certification or a license. Most employers require a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling or a related field. Most master’s programs in rehabilitation counseling accept a bachelor’s degree in almost any field to enter. These programs focus on evaluating clients’ needs, formulating and implementing job placement strategies, and providing mental health counseling. They typically require a period of supervised experience, such as an internship. Some employers hire workers with a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation and disability studies. Generally, these workers cannot offer the full range of services that a rehabilitation counselor with a master’s degree can provide. Bachelor’s degree programs teach students about issues that people with disabilities face and about the process of providing rehabilitation services.
Recommended High School Courses		English
Postsecondary Instructional Programs		Therapy and Counseling, Customer and Personal Service
Certification and Licensing		Some employers prefer to hire licensed rehabilitation counselors, but a license may not be necessary in many settings. However, it is required to work in private practice. Licensure requires a master’s degree and 2,000 to 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience. In addition, counselors must pass a state-recognized exam and complete annual continuing education credits. Contact information for state regulating boards is available through the National Board of Certified Counselors. Some employers prefer rehabilitation counselors who are Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRC). Applicants must meet advanced education, work experience, and clinical supervision requirements, and pass a test. Once certified, counselors must complete continuing education requirements. For more information, contact the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.

Interest Area		Social Involves working and communicating with, helping, and teaching people.
Work Values		Achievement Get a feeling of accomplishment. Social Service Do things for other people. Security Have steady employment. Ability Utilization Make use of individual abilities. Activity Busy all the time. Autonomy Plan work with little supervision. Responsibility Make decisions on your own.
Skills		Social Perceptiveness Be aware of others' reactions and understand why they react the way they do. Learning Strategies Use multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things. Monitoring Assess how well someone is doing when learning or doing something. Management of Personnel Resources Motivate, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job Management of Financial Resources Determine how money will be spent to get the work done and account for these expenditures. Critical Thinking Use logic and analysis to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. Instructing Teach others how to do something. Active Listening Listen to what other people are saying and ask questions as appropriate. Writing Communicate effectively with others in writing as indicated by the needs of the audience. Service Orientation Actively look for ways to help people. Time Management Manage one's own time and the time of others. Systems Evaluation Look at many indicators of system performance, taking into account their accuracy. Active Learning Work with new material or information to grasp its implications. Judgment and Decision Making Be able to weigh the relative costs and benefits of a potential action. Coordination Adjust actions in relation to others' actions. Reading Comprehension Understand written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. Speaking Talk to others to effectively convey information. Complex Problem Solving Solving novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings. Systems Analysis Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Abilities		Oral Expression Able to convey information and ideas through speech in ways that others will understand. Problem Sensitivity Able to tell when something is wrong or likely to go wrong. This doesn't involve solving the problem, just recognizing that there is a problem. Written Comprehension Able to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. Speech Clarity Able to speak clearly so listeners understand. Oral Comprehension Able to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. Flexibility of Closure Identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.

Related Jobs		Physician, Family and General, Social Worker, Child, Family, and School, Therapist, Physical, Therapist, Recreational, Nurse, Registered, Therapist, Occupational, Social Worker, Mental Health and Substance Abuse
Job Outlook		Rehabilitation counselors held 141,000 jobs in 2008. Overall employment of counselors is expected to grow faster than the average for all occupations through 2018. In addition, numerous job openings will occur as many counselors reach retirement age. Demand is expected to be strong for rehabilitation counselors for a variety of reasons. The increasing availability of funds to build statewide networks to improve services for children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances and their family members should increase employment opportunities for counselors. Under managed care systems, insurance companies increasingly provide for reimbursement of counselors, enabling many counselors to move from schools and government agencies to private practice. Counselors also are forming group practices to receive expanded insurance coverage. The number of people who need rehabilitation services will grow as advances in medical technology continue to save lives that only a few years ago would have been lost. In addition, legislation requiring equal employment rights for people with disabilities will spur demand for counselors. Counselors not only will help individuals with disabilities with their transition into the workforce, but also will help companies comply with the law.
More Information		Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, American Counseling Association, American Counseling Association, National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
References		Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition, Rehabilitation Counselors, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/rehabilitation-counselors.htm O*NET OnLine, on the Internet at http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/21-1015.00