Rehabilitation Students Association

Mission

To train empathic, culturally competent rehabilitation counselors to work in partnership with persons with disabilities and chronic illnesses and their families, in a manner that considers the barriers and assets of each individual and his/her environment, in order to facilitate and empower the individual to achieve optimal access and community integration.

Program faculty accomplishes this mission by facilitating training that is:

• Responsive to the contemporary needs of those we serve;
• Grounded in multicultural competency and social justice;
• Integrated with community partners including persons with disabilities and chronic illness;
• Clinically rigorous; students complete two full years of field work prior to graduation.

Program Objectives

The RCTP recruits, admits, and retains a culturally diverse student body that is prepared to work in a variety of rehabilitation counseling and allied settings. The program strives to prepare professionals who are multicultural competent and able to provide rehabilitation counseling in a legal and ethical manner, adhering to the Code of Professional Ethics and Scope of Practice for the profession. The RCTP program provides a high quality learning environment which stimulates interactions and communication with faculty and with other students. The program provides opportunities for students to have exposure and interaction with leaders and workers in the profession, consumer and advocacy groups and other helping professionals. Students are encouraged to develop skills for lifelong learning through involvement with professional organizations, access to rehabilitation publications, and other conference participation.

The RCTP is committed to a culture that is inclusive of, but not limited to, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual identity sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, national origin, disability, age, and indigenous status. Therefore, we encourage persons from all cultural backgrounds to apply to our program.

The Field Of Rehabilitation Counseling

What is Rehabilitation Counseling? Rehabilitation Counselors are trained to provide an array of counseling-related services in partnership with persons with disabilities and chronic illnesses to address the social, psychological, environmental, vocational, educational and living needs of the individual and his/her family in order to assist the individual in achieving optimal access and community integration. Rehabilitation counselors perform multiple roles including counselor, advocate, and case manager, and are trained to consider the interaction between the individual and his/her environment in service planning. “Disability” refers to a situation in which significant life activities and community participation are substantially limited due to factors related to a person’s health condition and his/her environment. For additional information about the field and history of rehabilitation counseling, please see the following articles: Rehabilitation Counseling (Berven, 2008) and Foundations of Rehabilitation Counseling (Chan, Chronister, Allen, Catalano & Lee (2004).

Program Faculty & Instructors

• Julie Chronister, PHD, CRC – Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty and Program Coordinator
• Mya Vaughn, PHD, CRC – Rehabilitation Counseling Faculty

Please go to the rehabilitation counseling program webpage for further information: http://counseling.sfsu.edu/rehabCoun.aspx

Degree Requirements and Curriculum Information

Situated within the broader Department of Counseling which offer training in six counseling specializations, rehabilitation counseling students have the opportunity to obtain an MS degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with rehabilitation counseling as their only specialization, or by graduating with a dual focus with rehabilitation counseling as either the primary specialization or the secondary emphasis. For example, Rehabilitation Counseling may be combined with specializations in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling (MFCC), Gerontological, Career, College, or School Counseling.

To obtain a master’s degree, SFSU requires a minimum of two years (60 units) of academic coursework including two academic years of 12 and 16 (minimum) hours of supervised clinical fieldwork. Rehabilitation Counseling Graduates are trained in the core counseling curriculum which covers such areas as individual and group counseling theory, skills and techniques; developmental, psychological, social and cultural foundations of counseling; and research and assessment. In addition, students take five rehabilitation courses in the areas of professional issues, medical and psychosocial aspects of disability; assistive technology, and occupational information. Students are required to do fieldwork in a rehabilitation counseling placement, preferably under the supervision of a CRC.

Students who specialize in providing rehabilitation services to those who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing take additional coursework that covers information and techniques specific to working with these populations. Competence in sign language is required for the certificate in deafness but not for the certificate in deafened and hard of hearing (contact Dr. Zwillinger for more information about this program).

Curriculum