This chapter offers practical utility to help expand rehabilitation counselors’ (RCs) and other mental health professionals’ thinking about the various considerations that underlie a culturally competent social justice approach to rehabilitation counseling practice. Rehabilitation counseling has demonstrated its commitment to the importance of cultural competency in improving the quality and availability of counseling and rehabilitation services to clients from traditionally under represented racial/ethnic groups. The chapter describes the multicultural and social justice counseling competencies (MSJCC), with particular attention directed to the social justice framework and how it may be used to assist in working toward equity in the context of changing demographics in American society. It then explains how individual and group racial, sexual identity, cultural, and identity development may impact the counseling process. The counseling literature recognizes LGBTQ individuals as inclusive under the umbrella of multicultural populations, as well as intersecting with other groups because of multiple identities.

The aging population is at a state of development that is not as focused on employment, and thus has difficulty finding its place in a society that defines people by their careers. Research is needed on the issues of aging workers, such as training needs, career transition issues, and retirement planning. Research is also needed on which accommodations, workplace modifications, and changes to policies and practices positively impact the retention and continued productivity of an aging workforce. Counselor practitioners are in a unique position to contribute to needed research design conceptualization, metrics, and analyses to test the multiplicity of interventions we will be exploring in the coming years to keep our aging workforce healthy and intellectually engaged in the employment environment. Counselors are experientially qualified to provide the needed services to keep this population productive and more fully engaged in their communities and continuing employment.

This chapter presents specific issues faced by older adults in response to adaptations to chronic illness and disability. Some individuals have congenital disabilities and others acquire a disability early in life and are able to adjust fairly easily, aging with their disability. On the other hand, some individuals acquire a disability later in life and may experience great difficulty making the adjustments to their condition. The chapter presents information on the age-related concerns of older adults, components and perceptions of aging, assessment issues associated with older adults, vocational interests, and death and dying perspectives. It also discusses the implications for service delivery in the context in which older adults are served along with laws and regulations that apply to the population. Aging and geriatric persons often utilize a variety of services from multiple entities (e.g., social, legal, medical, financial, and counseling).

Ethics refer to a standard that guides a professional’s behavior and practice in the performance of their duties or delivery of services. The standard is expected by all members of an organization or profession that is entrusted to serve. In addition, ethical standards are a minimum threshold that associations envision members must meet to ensure both credibility and safety to the public. It is equally important to understand what ethics is not. Although ethics informs laws and legal systems, ethics differ from laws, even though both are created by a society and are codified. This chapter addresses basic ethical principles that most professional fields espouse while integrating and connecting ethics, the active fiber connecting these disciplines, and acknowledging the intersectionality of both ethical behavior and several human services professional disciplines.

The proper diagnosis and the delivery of quality services do not change because the veteran has military culture–related experiences. This chapter explores how rehabilitation services can be an integral part of the veteran’s overall plan of care, whether directed by the Veterans Administration or community, state, or other human services providers. It presents information on multiple trauma, military culture, military cultural competence, and unique challenges the military culture creates for veterans and their family members during transition. The chapter gives special attention to the needs of women veterans, especially military sexual trauma. Finally, the chapter focuses on specific, evidence-based strategies that can be utilized to support transition and reintegration of veterans with disabilities into their families, communities, and work spaces. Service members’ needs are best served when practitioners have military cultural competence and are able to work across disciplines to delivery evidence-based practices.

The prison system serves as an institution not only for punishment of crimes committed but as a facility for rehabilitation of offenders. The process of reentry or reintegration may be varied among ex-offenders owing to life circumstances and abilities and is rarely a linear process. Many adult ex-offenders have disabilities that may allow them to apply and qualify for vocational rehabilitation services such as psychiatric disorders, substance abuse and addiction problems, intellectual disabilities, chronic health issues, and dual diagnoses. This chapter presents evidence-based practices for assisting ex-offenders with disabilities from an interdisciplinary and a multiservice provision perspective. Information is presented on barriers to community reintegration including legal concerns, barriers to employment, employers’ hiring practices, and self-imposed barriers. The intent is to present the systematic ways in which ex-offenders with disabilities are unrecognized as vulnerable and marginalized populations that can benefit from an array of services.

The aging population is likely to result in increasing numbers of people with disabilities in the workforce, who may have difficulty staying employed. Effective counseling practices must increasingly include attention to preparing both individuals and their workplaces for the impact of the aging process. Proactive education about ways to maximize the productivity of an aging workforce, effective case management, and workplace accommodations can significantly contribute to maximizing aging worker retention. A better understanding of aging is more closely aligned with the developmental model. Career development may be presented as a lifelong, dynamic process that requires individuals to engage throughout their lifetime in the ongoing assessment, analysis, and synthesis of information about the world of work and self. Counselor educators can prepare counselors-in-training for this task by including aging issues in the counselor education curriculum.