About the field of Rehabilitation Counseling:
Our graduates are in high demand.
As a whole, our students are heavily recruited by agencies within and outside of the region. Many students have job offers prior to graduation and virtually all of our students find employment shortly after graduation. Many of our graduates have become leading figures in human services management in New England.
Typically, graduates are employed in a number of public, private, nonprofit, and proprietary settings including public agencies such as the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, private nonprofit agencies such as Goodwill Industries or proprietary entities (private for profit agencies) such as UnumProvident.
Our graduates currently hold positions as rehabilitation counselors, vocational evaluators, work adjustment specialists, and vocational placement specialists, in various state rehabilitation agencies; program directors, and coordinators in agencies that provide services to individuals who are hearing impaired, orthopedically impaired, visually impaired, chemically dependent, developmentally disabled, brain injured, mentally ill, and impaired via multiple disabilities.
The field of rehabilitation has maintained a consistent pattern of growth over the last two decades and will continue to expand into increasingly important areas such as school to work transition, veterans with disabilities, injured workers, individuals with autism, spectrum disorders, and multicultural issues. Entrepreneurial students can look forward to increasing opportunities in private sector rehabilitation.
The important role of a rehabilitation counselor...
The primary goals of the rehabilitation counselor are to empower individuals with disabilities to achieve their goals in life by assisting them to identify their strengths and weaknesses, build on their assets, enhance their abilities, and positively alter the environments in which they function.
To effectively and efficiently assist the rehabilitation client to accomplish these objectives, the rehabilitation professional focuses on several major roles and functions including:
• Counseling
• Career Development
• Case Management
• Disability Management
• Job Analysis
• Vocational Assessment
• Consultation
• Mediation
• Consumer Advocacy
• Environment Modification
The Worcester, MA region offers tremendous opportunity in the human services fields.
Worcester is a major human services center in Massachusetts. The Institute for Social and Rehabilitation Services has an excellent relationship with a large number of agencies in the community, as well as those in Boston, Providence, and Hartford. This makes many meaningful internship opportunities available during your course of study, and excellent job opportunities after graduation.