This book attempts to provide a comprehensive review of the career development and employment issues, theories, and techniques that impact rehabilitation professionals in their work with people with disabilities. It starts out by introducing the reader to the centrality of work. The psychology-of-work framework provides the reader with a foundation for understanding how and why work is central to individuals’ lives. The centrality of work also provides significant meaning and value to the work that rehabilitation professionals undertake to enhance the career development and employment of individuals with disabilities. In addition to the centrality of work, the book introduces the Illinois Work and Well-Being Model (IW2 M) as a framework to guide career and vocational development. Specifically, the IW2 M provides a structure that researchers and practitioners can use to examine the core factors that impact all phases of the career development process. The book continues to underscore the impact of poverty on the career development and employment prospects of individuals with disabilities. Although the awareness of poverty as a factor impacting career development has increased over the last 10 years, poverty is still undervalued as a career driver in the rehabilitation counseling literature. The issue of poverty will be extremely relevant in the post-COVID-19 world. Finally, the book provides a comprehensive review of the major theories related to career development and employment, including job satisfaction, work analysis, labor market research, and transferable skills analysis. Given the uncertainty of our time, the book helps the reader to either find reinforcement or develop a new-found appreciation regarding the career development and employment of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions. The book serves to be an important resource that can help facilitate their own career development and the career development of people with disabilities with whom they work.

This book borrows from the school of urban political economy and a preexisting political science theory called the ecology of games to create a consistent and orderly conception of the salient practice areas and issues in the partial hospitalization program and intensive outpatient program (PHP/IOP) settings. The focus of the book is on understanding what will create successful, sound, and sustainable program delivery in these settings. Each chapter is an exploration of the puzzle found in each practice area or cohort and the game or set of strategies used to address the puzzle. The first chapter reviews the theoretical nature of the PHP/IOP levels of care and the recurring theoretical themes and paradigms in the book. Chapter 2 focuses on team work, and discusses the ongoing cooperative game of providing a therapeutic milieu based on setting up and maintaining order and eschewing control as a goal. Chapter 3 discusses the game of initial treatment planning which is a game of joining with the patient in as little time as possible. The fourth chapter discusses the game of identifying treatment progress while documenting the necessary acuity to buy more treatment time from managed care organizations (MCOs). Discharge planning is explained in the fifth chapter, which also provides a discussion on understanding the available aftercare resources. Chapter 6 discusses the game of group therapy as it is the primary treatment modality in the PHP/IOP setting. The book also talks about psychoeducation, regular adult cohorts, older adult cohorts, mentally ill patients, and children and adolescents.