This chapter reviews the current scope of practice in rehabilitation counseling and the impact that counselor licensure legislation has on the field concerning eligibility for counselor licensure and becoming an independent rehabilitation practitioner. It defines the foundational skills and scope of practice required for effective, competent, and ethical rehabilitation counseling practice. The chapter explains a psychosocial model for rehabilitation counselors (RCs) who want to structure therapeutic interactions with clients who have chronic illnesses and disabilities. The counselor uses the counseling relationship to help clients draw from their personal history, knowledge, coping abilities, resiliency skills, and overall life experiences to derive meaning. Counselors across a variety of work settings and theoretical orientations must be proficient, competent, and ethical in working with a range of people with disabilities who may be culturally different. There are both universal and specific counseling approaches, programs, and services used during therapeutic interactions for people with disabilities.

Rehabilitation counseling concepts and models have evolved progressively over the last century. This chapter describes fundamental philosophical values that characterize rehabilitation counselors (RCs) and how they approach their work. It discusses four traditional models or conceptual frameworks of disability namely, moral model, medical model, labor market economic model and ecological model. The chapter also explains four newer models such as social model, disability culture model, technology model and consumer economic model that propose alternative interpretations and responses to the stimuli that disabilities represent. An asset-oriented approach or strengths-based orientation of uncovering and exploiting the positive aspects in both the person and the situation is the widely endorsed current expectation for RCs. The interdisciplinary team has been a primary model for the delivery of comprehensive rehabilitation services, especially in large clinical settings. RCs who work in vocational programs have an essential partner in employers, sometimes called the “second client”.

This chapter addresses the most significant areas of knowledge for rehabilitation counselor (RC) competencies-general scope of use of technology, counselor and client competencies, assistive technology, distance education, and the future role of technology in the field. Although high and low technology advances hold the potential of a better quality of life (QOL) for people with disabilities, technological access to those individuals with physical, mental, and cognitive functional differences continues to lag behind that of the general population. The first legal mention of assistive technology devices or services is found in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1990). The individuals involved in the provision of assistive technology are considered to be from a multidisciplinary profession. There are a number of technologies holding promise for the future that may have profound effects on the field of assistive technology. Self-driving vehicles may be the most dramatic of these developments.

This chapter describes the value of case management for rehabilitation counselors (RCs) and discusses the purpose of medical, psychological, and vocational case management. RCs use case management skills in a variety of work settings, including public rehabilitation, private for-profit rehabilitation, behavioral health treatment programs, community-based rehabilitation, private not-for-profit rehabilitation programs, and managed care. Case documentation may include case notes documenting the RC’s interactions with the client and other service providers Psychological case management may require assisting the client in referral to a mental health professional. A psychological or neuropsychological evaluation may be completed if additional information regarding the client’s cognitive and emotional functioning is required. Vocational case management requires that RCs have knowledge of their clients’ educational background and prior work and volunteer experiences. The chapter also explains how Lewy body dementia (LBD) can affect a client’s rehabilitation.

This chapter provides an operational definition of clinical supervision and examines initial considerations when seeking or providing clinical supervision. It describes a framework that exemplifies good clinical supervision and, in particular, one consistent with multicultural practice. As part of the clinical supervision process, rehabilitation counselor (RC) supervisors demonstrate appropriate ethical practices to promote counselor awareness, knowledge, and skills directed toward achieving successful rehabilitation outcomes. One of the most important considerations that counselors and supervisors address pertains to the basic understanding that supervision is provided in an ethical manner consistent with accepted standards of practice. Clinical supervision involves an evaluation process, which, by its nature, means that an unequal partnership exists with the supervisor usually having greater power. As a result, it can introduce anxiety, defensiveness, and tension for the supervisee. Supervisors have several options to review client–counselor interactions.