Rehabilitation Counseling

Synonyms

Vocational rehabilitation counseling

Definition

Rehabilitation counseling is a profession whose goal is to assist people with disabilities (cognitive, mental, physical, psychiatric, developmental, and/or emotional) to achieve the fullest, physical, mental, social, vocational, and economic independence of which they are capable. The focus of rehabilitation counseling services considers the holistic nature of the person, within an ecological context versus the functional limitations of a chronic illness or disability label. A holistic and ecological perspective includes the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of the person as well as the relationship to his/her family, education, employment, community, and the total environment. People are seen as more than individual components, that is, they are not divided into convenient parts such as the physical, mental, psychological, cultural, and economic in order to conduct an evaluation. The roots of rehabilitation counseling are...