UA News

The UA's rehabilitation counseling program is the only one of its kind at a state institution in Arizona, and it is meeting the need for master's degree-level rehabilitation counselors for state government and within the private sector.

With the nation's aging population and advances in medical technology, rehabilitation is a growing field that requires professionally trained specialists at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

While the demand for trained rehabilitation counselors is outgrowing the need, the master's degree-level rehabilitation program at The University of Arizona is training counselors and Arizona Department of Education employees to serve in the profession.

The need for such professionals has "never been greater," said Amos Sales, who heads the rehabilitation program in the UA department of disability and psychoeducational studies, which is in the College of Education.

Additionally, higher levels of education are being required from rehabilitation counselors. A federal mandate requires that all state level rehabilitation counselors hold a master's degree. Also, legislation has been passed to improve rights for those living with disabilities.

The UA's 60-unit master's program in rehabilitation counseling, which is accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education and is among the top ranked programs in the nation, is helping to serve those demands.

The program collaborates with state government under an agreement to offer the program via interactive television to students in Phoenix, Flagstaff, Yuma, Window Rock and elsewhere. Faculty members use both UA and state facilities to offer the videocast courses, and summer courses are being held now through August.

"What this also does for us is give us a mix of training between the students who are brand new and those who are experienced counselors," said Linda R. Shaw, who heads the UA's disability and psychoeducational studies department.

"The communication abilities are kind of amazing," said Shaw, who is currently teaching a group counselor course. "This is a really great example of the way in which the community and a state agency that serves people in several communities can partner to make good things happen."

Each new cohort in the program consists of 12 to 14 students, and the program is averaging about 26 students annually.

The program, which has been offered at the UA for more than three decades, is the only one of its kind being offered by a public university in Arizona.

The program has concentrations in psychiatric rehabilitation and also in disability and courses on topics such as substance abuse, sexuality, aging, counseling skills, psychosocial issues and also research methods focusing on the medical aspects of disability. Students in the program must also complete two practicums.

"It's a unique situation," said William Downey, an adjunct assistant professor for the program and the National Council on Rehabilitation Education president.

"We're really focusing on developing a working alliance with the clientele," said Downey, who began working in counseling and vocational rehabilitation during the 1960s.

"Too often in the past, people used a medical model where the patient became their disability," he said.

The more modern approach, he said, is an empowerment model that enables patients to have more control in their recovery and in their lives.

"We look at the person first and the disability second," Downey said, noting that this model is emphasized in the UA program's teachings, as is practical experience.

Rehabilitation counselors aid individuals in the "personal, social and vocational effects of disabilities," the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

This involves aiding people who are recovering from an illness, injury or who were born with a disability, among other situations. They provide counseling, vocational training or making arrangements for medical care while also working with physicians, occupational therapists and psychologists, the federal agency also noted.

But the federal bureau also noted that jobs openings "are expected to exceed the number of graduates from counseling programs." The bureau noted that jobs specifically for rehabilitation counselors were expected to grow by 23 percent between 2006 and 2016, which is "much faster than the average for all occupations."

In Arizona, rehabilitation counselors are most often employed by individual and family services, child day care centers, vocational rehabilitation service centers, community care facilities and outpatient care centers, according to Arizona Workforce Informer, a product of the Arizona Department of Commerce.

The agency also reports that the demand for rehabilitation counselors in each area is expected to continue to grow.

Aaron Dion Foster, a graduate student in the program, said he was drawn to the field of study because he would like to work with individuals recovering from substance abuse or mental illness.

Foster, who graduated from the UA's undergraduate program in rehabilitation in 2007, said he was drawn to the program because of the faculty's expertise.

"We have people who have been doing this work since the 1960s and 1970s, and they have a wealth of information," Foster said, adding that he was also attracted to the program's format and the range of possibilities the degree will open up for him.

"If I want, I can take a job doing job coaching or skills training or group counseling," he said. "This opens the field to all sorts of things."