Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling

Rehabilitation counselors also focus on the environmental context of disability by working to change and improve the social and physical environments within which people with disabilities live and work. Rehabilitation counseling grew out of the medical model and clinical rehabilitation counselors typically need strong knowledge about the medical aspects of disabilities. Clinical rehabilitation counselors need to be aware of physical or social barriers and how to help clients work around those barriers. Clinical rehabilitation counseling was initially a separate profession developed to provide services specifically for people living with disabilities, typically through the state-federal vocational rehabilitation system, with a focus on case management and counseling. Rehabilitation counseling as a profession grew out of federal legislation and funding, particularly with a focus on helping people with disabilities to obtain or maintain employment. Clinical rehabilitation counselors provide services throughout the rehabilitation process from outreach and determining eligibility for services to assessment and treatment planning to provide counseling and related services to follow-up.