Welcome to the Department of Rehabilitation!
We are very pleased that you are visiting our home page and hope that you find it informative and helpful. Please follow the links on the left to obtain information about the department's programs and people. If you have additional questions, please EMAIL or call us at (410) 651-6262.
The goals of the Department of Rehabilitation are to prepare highly qualified professionals for human service positions in a variety of public sector, private not-for-profit, and private for-profit rehabilitation settings. Additionally, the department prepares undergraduate students to continue their education to enter graduate programs in Rehabilitation, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and a variety of other allied health and human service programs.
The Master of Science degree program is accredited by the Commission on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) and the Bachelor of Science degree program is a member of CORE's Registry of Undergraduate Rehabilitation Programs.
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 other causes. 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 both individuals with disabilities and their families, evaluate school and medical reports, and confer with physicians, psychologists, occupational therapists, and employers to determine the capabilities and skills of the individual. They develop rehabilitation programs by conferring with clients; these programs often include training to help clients develop job skills. Rehabilitation counselors also work toward increasing the client’s capacity to live independently.
Counselors held about 635,000 jobs in 2006. Employment was distributed among the counseling specialties as follows:
| Educational, vocational, and school counselors |
260,000 |
| Rehabilitation counselors |
141,000 |
| Mental health counselors |
100,000 |
| Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors |
83,000 |
| Marriage and family therapists |
25,000 |
| Counselors, all other |
27,000 |
Jobs for rehabilitation counselors are expected to grow by 23 percent, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. The number of people who will need rehabilitation counseling is expected to grow as advances in medical technology allow more people to survive injury or illness and live independently again. In addition, legislation requiring equal employment rights for people with disabilities will spur demand for counselors, who not only help these people make a transition to the workforce but also help companies to comply with the law.
Projections data from the National Employment Matrix
| Occupational title |
|
Employment, 2006 |
Projected
employment,
2016 |
Change, 2006-16 |
|
| Number |
Percent |
Counselors
|
|
635,000 |
771,000 |
136,000 |
21 |
|
|
Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors
|
|
83,000 |
112,000 |
29,000 |
34 |
|
|
Educational, vocational, and school counselors
|
|
260,000 |
292,000 |
33,000 |
13 |
|
|
Marriage and family therapists
|
|
25,000 |
32,000 |
7,400 |
30 |
|
|
Mental health counselors
|
|
100,000 |
130,000 |
30,000 |
30 |
|
|
Rehabilitation counselors
|
|
141,000 |
173,000 |
32,000 |
23 |
|
|
Counselors, all other
|
|
27,000 |
32,000 |
4,500 |
17 |
|
|
|
|