This book is useful to a wide range of readers and can readily serve as a core textbook or resource to explain the history, development, and current practice of rehabilitation counselors (RCs) within the context of the contemporary practice of counseling. Although most clearly useful to counselors-in-training in an introductory course, people think that those RCs at the doctoral level or already in practice interested in the field and its broader positioning and potential will find this book appealing. The book consists of 22 chapters that are divided into parts that emphasize different themes important to understanding both the people and types of situations with which RCs work and the specific roles and skill sets that describe professional practice. It consists of basic information about the structure and professional practice of rehabilitation counseling, and serves the important role of introducing the readers to the RC’s most important partner in the counseling process, the person with a disability. The book also focuses on the professional practice of rehabilitation counseling and introduces the new work in the field that sharpens the emphasis on evidence-based practices and research utilization in the field. It describes in detail, the specific functions that constitute the work of rehabilitation counseling: assessment, counseling, forensic and indirect services, clinical case management and case coordination, psychiatric rehabilitation, advocacy, and career development, vocational behavior, and work adjustment of individuals with disabilities. Further, the book introduces the competencies that provide the types of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that must infuse the practice of rehabilitation counseling because of their pervasive and overarching importance in all aspects of practice.

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.

The field of counseling is an exciting and challenging career choice. It is a profession that has a prolific history of enabling person-centered counseling approaches for individuals, couples, partners, and families, and facilitates therapeutic services for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. This book offers an excellent resource for graduate-level coursework that relates to an orientation to the counseling profession, professional issues, and special topic seminars, as well as other counseling-related coursework. It provides both contemporary insight and practical strategies for working with the complexity of real-life issues related to assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of diverse clients and their families. The book provides professionals with chapters organized into the 10 CACREP and CORE content areas that address the awareness, knowledge, and skills required to work with children, adolescents, individuals, groups, couples, families, and persons from diverse cultural backgrounds. The content areas are: professional counseling identity, ethical and practice management issues, case management and consultation issues, multicultural counseling awareness, counseling theories and techniques, career counseling and human growth, assessment and diagnosis, counseling couples, families, and groups, counseling specific populations, and contemporary issues in counseling.