Welcome To Rehabilitation Counseling

It is the mission of the Counseling Program to train individuals in the theory and practice of the profession of counseling such that they become thoughtful and responsive practitioners. The profession of counseling is grounded in the view that counselors facilitate and maximize the development and potential of all persons. Counseling is concerned with the development of appropriate repertoires of adaptive behavior within the environmental context in which the person resides. The counselor respects the ethnic background and diversity of each individual and attempts to promote development congruent with the person's beliefs, values, and personal background.

The University of Massachusetts Boston Counseling Program prepares its graduates to be professional practitioners in a variety of community settings and institutions: hospitals, schools, rehabilitation agencies, career planning centers, employee assistance programs, clinics, residential treatment facilities, and other mental health agencies.

The primary goal of rehabilitation counseling is promoting the vocational achievement of those with disabilities. The unemployment rate over the past 20 years for those with disabilities is consistently over 60 percent. One fifth of Americans have some type of disability and one in ten have a severe disability. The need for rehabilitation counselors is clear with over twenty million Americans with severe disabilities. The Rehabilitation Counseling curriculum is organized to identify the potential and to facilitate the development of its students and the individuals with disabilities with whom they work. The emphasis is on developing empathy and respect for the social foundations and cultural diversity of all persons by fostering each individual's self awareness, respect, and esteem, and through its hiring policies of faculty and recognition of multicultural students. Students are provided opportunities to recognize, develop and promote their own resources as a means of adapting effectively to their own environment and life conditions, which, in turn, as tools they may share with the individuals with disabilities with whom they work. The curriculum attaches particular importance to the role of adaptation in a person's life. Students are prepared to make significant practitioner-oriented contributions to rehabilitation counseling and prepare them for further study at the doctoral level if they so desire.

Contact Information: Rick Houser, Ph.D.: rick.houser@umb.edu